Diets that worked for you

[AboveUp]

It's not so much a change of diet you need, it's a change of lifestyle.

A thread like this will probably just get comments saying you should eat less or do exercise, but it's a bit more than that. You have to make a conscious effort, for yourself and not just because some doctor or whatever told you, to take on a different way of life. The mental shift in that is more important than you'd think.

It's not all mental motivation mumbo jumbo though. It's hard work. There's a reason we look up to fit people. It takes effort to be just that. Start the day of with some light exercise to get the blood flowing. It's quite ideal to start the day that way, because not only does it wake you the fuck up, the morning shower afterwards takes care of the sweat you might have worked up (and you better have worked it up).

Eating less? Depends on what you eat, really. Lay off the snacks. Not all the time, of course. You're human, a snack every now and again is fine. Get a balanced diet going. Try and look up information about nutrition and follow it. Soda? The less the better. That's actually the worst thing most people indulge in, especially considering how frequently they do so. The best choice of drink is water. Drink it frequently. It cleanses your body. Besides that, milk and malted soy drinks tend to be good as well. Not to say you can't have the odd soda every now and again, but not all the damn time like most people drink it. You know how people say you drink stuff like water when you drink it frequently, right? It's because you're supposed to be doing that with water.

Go out more. Get a bit of an active lifestyle going. I don't care how. Go for walks. Nature hikes. Bicycle routes. Jogging. Mug an old lady. Just go out and do things.

It might sound like a hassle, but it's going to power you up. After a while of this, you'll notice you'll feel more tired when you don't go for that quick dash or did the routine exercise in the morning.

Most importantly: shift into this gradually. Don't fucking jump into it in one go. You'll never be able to hold onto it and you'll find yourself demotivated before you know it. As much as your brain craves it and advertisers promote it, good lasting changes are never made instantly.

 

[martin's a madman]

I drink water or pure fruit juices only, used to drink a lot of milk. I've not seen much difference even though I used to actively run and during that period I was told that the difference was apparent. But I've slacked for a while now and am trying to start again. I've recently become vegetarian (as an experiment, not moral issues), So I'll see if that has any effect.

Really, excercise is the most important thing, and healthy eating is definitely what you need. Portion control, drink lots of water, the 500ml of water before a meal thing can really help your body feel full.

 

[HerrBobo]

Has anyone had a diet that worked really well? I was recently at the doctor and she wanted me to lose 30 lbs. I currently weigh 235 lbs. and I have been trying really hard to lose weight and it just doesn't seem to work. I have been working out, better choices and smaller portions, but the weight just doesn't go away.

I hear ya. I'm 252lb my self. Feeling good though, I have lost 11lb in the last five weeks.

Nothing to it man; eat less, move more.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I should also note I got really sick so I had to stop playing football. I weighed about 250 lbs. and went down to 235 lbs. I spent more than a year lifting heavy weights and doing lots of cardio so I was in great shape. Then illness struck I got really weak and I haven't had the energy to work out on the level I'm used to so where my muscle was fat has replaced.

Should have had this information with your original post.

First off try walking, doesn't matter where just walk for around 30 min a day to build up your strength then try swimming. As for dieting try to have lots of fruit and veg (potato chips don't count) if the illness put you out for a long time go slow and consult a medical professional.

 

[thedoclc]

Weight training is not going to help you lose weight at first, but resistance training is absolutely essential in the long run. Cardio burns calories while you are performing the exercise, which is going to add an immediate benefit. Adding skeletal muscle, however, gives you a tissue that is always hungry for fatty acids to burn for energy. Fat doesn't become muscle; muscle preferentially burns fat.

Nutritionally, most gimmicky diets either really don't work or have side effects. A diet which is super, super high in protein only makes sense if you're doing serious weight training. Otherwise, the side effects of these diets are generally not worth it. If you see a nutritionist, they'll usually recommend something very simple; modest carbohydrates, lower fat, higher protein, but they'll usually stay away from an Atkins-style or other ketogenic style diet. If you can cover it under your nation's health system and your insurance, or just pay out of pocket, visit a nutritionist rather than listen to people on the internet. If you can also afford it, consider a personal trainer.

Pharmacological interventions can work, but they have side effects and can be a bit expensive. Orlistat is sold in many countries and works by blocking fat uptake in the intestines. (It basically stops the enzymes your pancreas uses to rip fat apart so you can digest it.) This has two weight loss benefits; first, you won't uptake all of the fat you eat, and second, since that fat has to go -somewhere-, you'll avoid fatty foods just to avoid buying new trousers. In the US, it's sold as Alli (over the counter) and Xenical (prescription), and sold in a ton of other countries. Check with your MD and read the information provided if you want to try that, as there are some drug interactions and so on you need to watch out for. And beware counterfeits sold outside pharmacies. And it's not a magic bullet; your body will happily convert excess carbohydrate or protein calories into fat if it gets them.

http://www.medicinenet.com/orlistat-oral/article.htm

Supplements are harder to verify the effects of, but carnitine has some promise if only because it's one of the few that makes sense. Carnitine is used by muscles to move fatty acids in place to burn them. The thinking is that more carnitine means more energy in the muscle which means more fat is able to burn faster which means a harder workout, less fatigue, and (finally) a better result. The jury's still out on it. The form your body uses is L-carnitine; do -not- take D-carnitine. For what it's worth, my personal experience is that carnitine seems to work, but I can't get too excited over my personal, subjective experience.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/carnitine-l-000291.htm

And, like I said, don't put too much credence in anything you read from some yutz on a forum; do a little research. Depending on what kind of background you have, you can find everything from the latest journal article to consumer-level info for free.

http://www.pubmed.org - From the US National Institute of Health. Go ahead. If you're American, it's your tax dollars. And if you're not, mooch off the Americans. It's win-win.

Good luck.

 

[SlayerN]

The only diet I'll ever need:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKs0oEIVOck

 

[The_ModeRazor]

None.
But I've been going to the gym 3 times a week for 3 months, and 4 times a week for 2 months. I didn't really lose weight, but I look much better. So that's my advice to you.
(actually, I'm still trying to lose some weight - what I do apart from gym is: eat less, with more protein, drink more water, and go for a run each day that consists of running for 50 meters, doing push-ups, running another 50 meters and doing sit-ups; this is done 25 times)

 

[Canadian Briton]

Having only one snack/dessert a day.

 

[Lilani]

Has anyone had a diet that worked really well? I was recently at the doctor and she wanted me to lose 30 lbs. I currently weigh 235 lbs. and I have been trying really hard to lose weight and it just doesn't seem to work. I have been working out, better choices and smaller portions, but the weight just doesn't go away.

Weight Watchers worked wonders for me. It does cost money, yes, but it is a realistic and more permanent way to lose weight. They teach you how to use food correctly and control portions. They give you strategies for avoiding the munchies, healthy eating patterns, and alternatives for the foods you can't control yourself on.

And the best part is, they don't just teach you how to lose weight. Sure, eating only celery and cheese all day will probably get you to lose weight, but how long can you keep something like that up? Weight Watchers teaches you how to keep it off for good.

Also, exercise is important. If you're a woman, I've heard Curves is amazing, but I've never tried it. If not, just find something you enjoy, like walking or biking.

 

[thedoclc]

None.
But I've been going to the gym 3 times a week for 3 months, and 4 times a week for 2 months. I didn't really lose weight, but I look much better. So that's my advice to you.
(actually, I'm still trying to lose some weight - what I do apart from gym is: eat less, with more protein, drink more water, and go for a run each day that consists of running for 50 meters, doing push-ups, running another 50 meters and doing sit-ups; this is done 25 times)

Exactly. My plan is pretty similar. Why lose twenty pounds, all fat, if you can instead swap 20 lbs of fat for ten of muscle? Eventually, you crest and weight just starts flying off. Congratulations, BTW.

 

[newuseforvintage]

A combination of two things:
Regular gym sessions, preferably with a personal trainer if you can afford it, lots of cardio with toning work. Don't stress the heavy weight lifting etc. just a balanced work out.
Diet adjustment. Rather than eating less reevaluate what it is you are eating. If you are going to the gym 4 times a week you'll be hungry as hell the trick is to eat food that has a lot of proteins whilst avoiding stuff like McDonalds and other high salt/sugar/fat foods.
So, using myself as an example, I used to eat:
Toast with butter, fried egg
Large red rooster/burger kind/what ever equivalent
Steak, chips.
Probably some chocolate during the day.

Now I am going to the gym before work I eat:
3 poached eggs, wholegrain toast without butter, spinach
foot long wholemeal roll, chicken or ham (low fat meat) and vegetables (again no butter, no added salt)
Dinner varies but again, low fat meats, eating chicken you cut the fat away, lots of green vegetables. And it's good to remember if you have a good frying pan you don't need oil in it Pastas etc. but sans cheese.

I eat a hell of a lot more now than I used to yet I have drop 6.5 kilos since I started at the gym (10 weeks ago).

You don't need to starve yourself to lose weight, in fact cutting food from your regular diet can be the worst thing to do. Your body is used to you eating what ever it is you eat, if you take that away it freaks out and goes in to famine mode so when you do eat it stores all that fat away.

Gym is hard, it takes commitment. Changing your diet is hard, especially if you eat a lot of fast food, as your body does freak out a little at first. But pull it off and the rewards are so worth it. You'll:
feel better physically and mentally
sleep better
look better
live longer
be happier.
And leaving the gym after a hard session makes you feel great. Yay natural high.

Hope this was the sort of advice you were looking for and good luck, you can definitely acheve this no matter how you go about it.

NewUse

 

[credop]

Okay, i'm getting annoyed at overweight people being advised stupid things. It doesn't matter how much/little you eat. You need to go out and excerise. You could eat nothing but a piece of pasta, but if you do nothing to use that energy, then it will just get turned into a stored form. This is fat. Just work out, even if it's a tiny bit, and you can keep your diet the same.

I know this because my dad was obese and he lost loads due to excersice and he eats exactly the same crap as he use to.

Same as me, i easily go through at least 3 times my calories a day. I weigh 9.5 stone (thats british). Because i work it off.

Diet can be important, but no matter what, if you keep shovelling it in and don't work it off nothing will happen.

On the food subject, try Tuna and rice, it's surprisingly delicious and amazingly healthy.

 

[liamwazhere]

Lost 30 pounds by going to the gym and eating right. No diet, but of course I'm a teen so its easier for me.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

There's a really good book by Michael Pollan called Food Rules: An Eater's Guide. He contends that traditional diets were rules on eating codified over thousands of years, and that they are much healthier for us. Considering it from an evolutionary sense, what he's saying is that the cultures that ate these diets did better in a Darwinian sense, and those that ate other diets did worse.

He suggests a lot of simple rules that you could implement, but the core of what he has to say (though he elaborates on it a lot) is

Eat Food, Mostly Plants, Not Too Much.

To expand on that a bit, Pollan contends that most of the processed foods we eat (everything from McDonalds to Twinkies) are not foods so much as they are edible food like substances. So when he says "eat food" what he's really saying is eat things that your evolutionary ancestors would have considered food, because 100 years ago, no one would have stumbled upon high fructose corn syrup (even if it had existed then) and thought it was food. If you look at the ingredients on a food product, and there are ingredients that you wouldn't find in any kitchen in the entire universe, then you might want to think twice about eating it. Our bodies evolved to eat an omnivorous diet, and so when you eat processed foods which are made mostly from corn and corn fed animals (as well as some entirely synthetic chemicals that our bodies haven't had time to adapt to in an evolutionary sense) you're really not giving your body the variety of nutrients it needs to be healthy, and so it's not healthy. Switching to a diet consisting of a variety of foods from your local farmer's market, and preparing any meals that you can yourself, will make a tremendous difference. I lost about fifteen pounds eating this way over a period of a couple months, and even though I've gotten too lazy to keep up with it (a problem made worse by the fact that by not eating this healthy diet, I then have even less energy), and I kick myself every day for not having taken the effort to get back to it yet.

 

[newuseforvintage]

I should also note I got really sick so I had to stop playing football. I weighed about 250 lbs. and went down to 235 lbs. I spent more than a year lifting heavy weights and doing lots of cardio so I was in great shape. Then illness struck I got really weak and I haven't had the energy to work out on the level I'm used to so where my muscle was fat has replaced.

Just noticed this post so my advice up there probably isn't a surprise to you. So let me just say: Ease yourself back in to your old routine. Like you said "I was in great shape" so what ever you were doing worked. Just move back towards that.
If you can find it read a book called The New Psycho-Cybernetics. Set yourself a goal and go for it. You've been there before so you can do it again.

 

[hurfdurp]

Eat less, move more.

 

[Broady Brio]

I just eat my main meals. Almost no snacks.

But I've always been very thin.

 

[bad rider]

Not eating/forgetting to eat. Don't know how I do it, but that's just how I role.