Anyone here ever tried a diet?

[haws bah gawd 0]

About a year ago, my Mom talked me into doing this Weight Watchers diet with her. I was 284 lbs, my XXL shirts were getting too tight, and I looked like shit. So, after a little over a year, and a LOT of Subway, I'm down to a little over 200, and large shirts are looking sloppy on me.

 

Has anyone else here ever been on a successful diet?

[Youth N Asia 0]

I've been on low carb/high protien. Since Nov 1st I've gone from 290 (in XXXL shirts) to 240 where I am now. My all time biggest was 310...I was a pretty lazy kid. Basicaly I just had shit eating habbits. I went from about 4 cans of Coke a day to 4 cans a week...although giving up potatos is a killer, the only carb killer I have no is pasta once a week (down from 2). I've seemed to peak though, I've started walking home from work a couple times a week for additional exercise (3m). If I could just fall into a regular exercise program I would be doing much better. Hopefully just from spending more time outdoors when it gets warmer out will aid in this.

[Damaramu 0]

I just quit drinking soda and eating sugar and got moderately active and I've lost like 10 pounds.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I'm on a diet right now, or at least watching what I eat.

[Nighthawk 0]

I paid attention to absolutely none of the low this, low that, carb bullshit, and said I was going to eat 1400 calories a day or less. That's during the week, and I eat whatever I want on the weekends (except no fast food ever). Lost 35 pounds in two months. I have a spectacular metabolism though.

I was so impressed with the results that I told my old man about it and he lost 70 pounds doing the same thing.

[Special K 0]

I've started working out again. Having a desk job made me flab up pretty quickly.

A good and easy move to make if you want to start eatting better is to try to make everything whole grain.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I paid attention to absolutely none of the low this, low that, carb bullshit, and said I was going to eat 1400 calories a day or less. That's during the week, and I eat whatever I want on the weekends (except no fast food ever). Lost 35 pounds in two months. I have a spectacular metabolism though.

I was so impressed with the results that I told my old man about it and he lost 70 pounds doing the same thing.

This sounds like a spectacular idea. What fast food is off-limits though? And what can you eat?

[Nighthawk 0]

That's the beauty of it, anything is ok, as long as it's within the allotted calorie range. That's probably where my metabolism comes in though, as I imagine most people would have to pay attention to good calories and bad calories and things like that, but it doesn't seem to make a difference to me. I have cut out mayo entirely and I'll usually skip cheese if it makes sense to do so.

Absolutely no fast food, except once in a while I'll have a thin crust plain cheese pizza, and sub places are generally ok (though again, no mayo or cheese).

My weekend meals are no holds barred, but still no fast food, and I only drink diet soda (I've gotten used to it anyway, regular soda is too sweet now).

[Mik 0]

IDRM, that's not a diet. That's a lifestyle change. I have a degree in nutrition and that's what we try to preach to anyone.

 

95% of people who try a fad diet will gain back all of the weight within 3 years. To lose weight and keep it off, you have to change your life. Sounds like that's what you did.

 

No fancy tricks, no bullshit. Just exercise a bit and monitor calories.

 

The low carb diet books are filled with bullshit. The real reason a low carb diet works is as follows:

1) immediate removal of water and glycogen stores - causing a dramatic weight loss (but no fat loss)

2) people seeing the positive results and getting motivated to try harder - causing further weight loss

 

All of the ketosis, thermic effect of food and whatever bull they throw at you is nonsense.

 

You're on the right track.

[Nighthawk 0]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the excercise. 50 sit ups in the moring, 50 at night, in addition to whatever activity I encounter during the day, since my job involves walking around and lifting and so forth. I'll swim on the weekends. Seems to work.

[Guest Vitamin X]

That's the beauty of it, anything is ok, as long as it's within the allotted calorie range. That's probably where my metabolism comes in though, as I imagine most people would have to pay attention to good calories and bad calories and things like that, but it doesn't seem to make a difference to me. I have cut out mayo entirely and I'll usually skip cheese if it makes sense to do so.

Absolutely no fast food, except once in a while I'll have a thin crust plain cheese pizza, and sub places are generally ok (though again, no mayo or cheese).

My weekend meals are no holds barred, but still no fast food, and I only drink diet soda (I've gotten used to it anyway, regular soda is too sweet now).

So you say absolutely no fast food, meaning like no Taco Bell, Wendy's, etc. but how is that calorie intake different from say, eating at a restaurant?

 

I like to order a Spicy Chicken sandwich meal (no mayo) with chili instead of fries and a diet coke, and that comes out to about 690 calories. What do you eat to keep it under 1400?

[franchise632 0]

I recent spent 6 months in Ecuador working on changing my lifestyle and diet. I have gone from 540 lbs to 350lbs in 178 days that I was abroad. Pretty much I drank a lot of water which seemed to be a big key. Pretty much my days was like this

 

Breakfast:

2 eggs

1/2 grapefruit

tea

 

Morning snack:

fruit

 

Lunch:

Chicken or Beef

raw green veggies

 

Afternoon snack

fruit

 

Dinner

Salad or the same as lunch

 

Not much fun but the change in my life has been amazing. I was actually on the verge of having the gastric by pass surgery. This worked for me and it was so worth it. I am home now and cant wait to get back to it and lose more weight.

[Nighthawk 0]

So you say absolutely no fast food, meaning like no Taco Bell, Wendy's, etc. but how is that calorie intake different from say, eating at a restaurant?

 

I like to order a Spicy Chicken sandwich meal (no mayo) with chili instead of fries and a diet coke, and that comes out to about 690 calories. What do you eat to keep it under 1400?

It's more of a personal thing. I like that stuff, so it's easier for me to keep from overindulging on it if I just stay away completely. I'm sure it doesn't hurt... I mean, fast food has never been known as particularly nutritional. I could be ok eating it in moderation, sure, and maybe I will once I'm more fully adapted into my eating habits.

 

A usual day could consist of like some cereal for breakfast (interestingly a lot of cereal has about the same nutritional content no matter what kind it is... frosted mini wheats and honey bunches of oats are pretty high calorie), turkey sandwich and some fruit for lunch. Dinner I can eat pasta, chicken, stir fry, shrimp, lots of stuff. If it doesn't quite fill me up, just add more vegetables. I've alway had a tendency to skip meals sometimes too, so there's that. It evens out in the end.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

I recent spent 6 months in Ecuador working on changing my lifestyle and diet. I have gone from 540 lbs to 350lbs in 178 days that I was abroad. Pretty much I drank a lot of water which seemed to be a big key. Pretty much my days was like this

 

Breakfast:

2 eggs

1/2 grapefruit

tea

 

Morning snack:

fruit

 

Lunch:

Chicken or Beef

raw green veggies

 

Afternoon snack

fruit

 

Dinner

Salad or the same as lunch

 

Not much fun but the change in my life has been amazing. I was actually on the verge of having the gastric by pass surgery. This worked for me and it was so worth it. I am home now and cant wait to get back to it and lose more weight.

You were 540??

 

Good work, guy, to lose the weight.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I drink water almost exclusively. Once you get a taste for it, few things other than that really quench your thirst. I try and squeeze in some physical activity every day, which isn't always easy, but it helps. Here are some things to avoid when trying to lose or maintain weight:

 

- Pop: This is absolutely killer. Drinking pop is a common thing among many people. Few drink just one can/bottle/glass of pop each day. They're usually working it in to two of their meals and then probably a couple of other times a day when they're thirsty. Pop has absolutely no redeemable nutritional elements; it's all sugar and empty calories. And once you get used to water, like I said, pop doesn't even really quench your thirst.

 

- Binge drinking: I know, I know, don't be a square, but you'd be surprised how much cutting down on the binge drinking will do for you. Few people my age drink casually; they down tons of beer and hard liquor during the weekends or even throughout the week. Once again, empty calories and since it's not good enough to drink - you gotta get "fucked up," right - a lot of people consume their daily amount of calories just with the alcohol. It's funny, but you can usually tell when someone drinks a lot. Even the skinny chicks have that odd looking pot belly that gives it away.

 

- Fatty foods: I hate to break it to you guys, but ranch, cheese, and mayo don't have to be part of every meal you have. It's good stuff, but my god, is it hell on your body. I grew up in a house where fast food was common and it was obvious long ago. I've longed since made the modifications to offset it, but if I were to give up fast food like IDRM, I could easily drop 10-15 pounds. It's convient to eat, but a bitch to get rid of.

 

- Bad calories: Just because the 1500 calories you consume daily consists soley of Coke and Twizzlers doesn't mean it's doing yourself good. Gotta make the calories you do consumer "smart" calories. Problem is, there are so many bad calories out there.

 

The thing with most obese people isn't so much the lack of activity in their lives, it's their diet. You cut the crap out, and things will change. It's tough, but it's actually going to be as effective for weight loss as physical activity.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

1400 calories is really low. I probably eat about 3000 a day. I am very active though.

[Mik 0]

Bruiser, physical activity is more important than diet for a few reasons.

 

Far and away number one is it has effects on the body that ALONE prevent disease apart form weight loss. Won't bore anyone with the biochem, but exercise increases glucose transporters to get it out of the blood and into cells to greatly reduce the chance of diabetes. The mechanism is completely independent of weight loss.

 

Exercise also has this effect in many other areas.

 

In terms of losing weight, all that matters is that in is less than out - any way possible. In terms of general health - NOTHING beats physical activity.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Oh, I definitely agree, Mik. I was just saying that in terms of losing weight, they'll have about the same impact.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I drink water almost exclusively. Once you get a taste for it, few things other than that really quench your thirst. I try and squeeze in some physical activity every day, which isn't always easy, but it helps. Here are some things to avoid when trying to lose or maintain weight:

 

- Pop: This is absolutely killer. Drinking pop is a common thing among many people. Few drink just one can/bottle/glass of pop each day. They're usually working it in to two of their meals and then probably a couple of other times a day when they're thirsty. Pop has absolutely no redeemable nutritional elements; it's all sugar and empty calories. And once you get used to water, like I said, pop doesn't even really quench your thirst.

Diet coke has absolutely no calories and you'll get used to the taste to the point where regular soda tastes too sweet to be good anymore.

 

- Binge drinking: I know, I know, don't be a square, but you'd be surprised how much cutting down on the binge drinking will do for you.  Few people my age drink casually; they down tons of beer and hard liquor during the weekends or even throughout the week.  Once again, empty calories and since it's not good enough to drink - you gotta get "fucked up," right - a lot of people consume their daily amount of calories just with the alcohol.  It's funny, but you can usually tell when someone drinks a lot.  Even the skinny chicks have that odd looking pot belly that gives it away.

 

Most hard liquor has practically no nutritional value to them, good or bad, and few calories. Ethyl alcohol however, is toxic to the human body, but of course that's if you drink far too much. All the poundage from alcohol comes from beer, no doubt about it.

 

- Fatty foods: I hate to break it to you guys, but ranch, cheese, and mayo don't have to be part of every meal you have.  It's good stuff, but my god, is it hell on your body.  I grew up in a house where fast food was common and it was obvious long ago.  I've longed since made the modifications to offset it, but if I were to give up fast food like IDRM, I could easily drop 10-15 pounds.  It's convient to eat, but a bitch to get rid of.

I can deal without ranch and mayo, but no cheese? Fuck right off.

[Damaramu 0]

Not to mention that working out makes you feel better and makes you WANT to eat better.

I went and played basketball for 2 hours today and afterwards I didn't want anything like heavy and greasy to eat. I had a bananna and an apple and I'm satisfied.

If you hate working out just play a sport like basketball. It's a whole lot funner than just doing an exercise bike or jogging.

[Vyce 0]

About a year ago, my Mom talked me into doing this Weight Watchers diet with her. I was 284 lbs, my XXL shirts were getting too tight, and I looked like shit. So, after a little over a year, and a LOT of Subway, I'm down to a little over 200, and large shirts are looking sloppy on me.

 

Has anyone else here ever been on a successful diet?

I did a quasi-weight watchers diet. Lost around 70 lbs.

 

I paid attention to absolutely none of the low this, low that, carb bullshit,

 

Then you are a smart man.

 

I really, really pity those who buy / bought into the low-carb nonsense. Shit, I eat TONS of carbs every week (I have a love for baked goods), but my weight never fluctuates higher than around 164, and usually stays around 160 or a little less.

[Mik 0]

In a clinical trial comparing all the popular diets, Weight Watchers was far and away found to be the most successful.

 

It's not the diet itself, but the constant emotional support people receive from others. It keeps the motivated and on the right track.

[haws bah gawd 0]

In a clinical trial comparing all the popular diets, Weight Watchers was far and away found to be the most successful.

 

It's not the diet itself, but the constant emotional support people receive from others. It keeps the motivated and on the right track.

 

I will back that up 100%. If it weren't for my parents being so supportive and encouraging, I couldn't have stuck with it for this long. My Mom lost nearly 80 lbs, and goes to the weekly support group meetings, so I take the advice from her that she gets from the meetings.

 

I pretty much go through 2 footlong subs from Subway a day. If I get hungry between meals, I have some fat free popcorn, or fat free ice cream. All I wanted to do was get to 200 lbs. I got to 199, and kind of started slacking on my diet, but I don't let my weight exceed 210. I have a problem with my right leg where at my knee cap, my bones are deteriorating, so any high impact exercise is out of the question, though situps and things like that are fine.

 

It was HELL getting myself out of the habit of eating pizzas and fast food, but after only a couple weeks of drinking water, diet soda tasted fine to me. I tried drinking a "real Coke" not too long ago, and it tasted like pancake syrup to me.

 

Franchise 632, that is damned impressive that you lost that much weight that fast. You should definitely be proud of yourself for that one. My ultimate goal is to get to 150, though I don't see myself hitting that anytime in the near future. Nevertheless, I've gone from 40 size jeans to 32, and from an XXL shirt to a L, so I am quite pleased with myself.

[Guest FromBeyondTheGrave]

No, I'm not a fatass.

[Styles 0]

Vitmain X is right! I used to always drink lots of regular coke and hated the taste of diet. Now I've switched to diet and I don't like the taste of regular, it's too sweet. Diet Coke tastes good and gives me a caffeine boost with none of the calories.

 

Anyway, I've recently started an exercize program that focues on lifting weights and doing cardio every other day, plus I do a lot of walking anyway just around campus to get to and from classes.

 

Diet per se doesn't have a real structure to it, but I'm just trying to avoid eating things that I know are bad for me, at least in moderation. I'm trying to get myself to eat breakfast in the morning which is supposed to be good for your metabolism, eat things like eggs or oatmeal or fruit.

For lunch I try to eat something like a turkey sandwich or tuna salad and use wheat or whole grain bread instead of white. I also can pasta and try to eat some vegetables too.

 

For dinner it's lean meat like grilled/roasted chicken, pork, fish (even though I hate most fish) and of course a salad with it with oil based dressing. Or something like pasta with red sauce.

 

In the early night I try to eat a snack too, whether it be a grilled chicken sandwich from the Chick-Fil-A at the student union or something simpler like cottage cheese or cheerios and milk.

 

But, yeah I think the key is to get some sort of exercise or physical activity and then just watch what you eat in terms of making smart choices.

 

I'm not really huge or anything (in fact I'm a short 5'6 but weigh about 170, so I need to lose some flab, about 15 pounds is my goal, and then hopefully some muscle to compensate).

 

It's doable, it just takes dicipline and commitment...

[franchise632 0]

I recent spent 6 months in Ecuador working on changing my lifestyle and diet. I have gone from 540 lbs to 350lbs in 178 days that I was abroad. Pretty much I drank a lot of water which seemed to be a big key. Pretty much my days was like this

 

Breakfast:

2 eggs

1/2 grapefruit

tea

 

Morning snack:

fruit

 

Lunch:

Chicken or Beef

raw green veggies

 

Afternoon snack

fruit

 

Dinner

Salad or the same as lunch

 

Not much fun but the change in my life has been amazing. I was actually on the verge of having the gastric by pass surgery. This worked for me and it was so worth it. I am home now and cant wait to get back to it and lose more weight.

You were 540??

 

Good work, guy, to lose the weight.

Was I 540? Yes I was, not proud of it but thats what it was. I come from a heavy family and depression as well as just my own poor eating lead me to where I was. I was fortunate enough to meet a man from Ecuador willing to bring me into his home and family and show me a better way to live and I was able to drop 190.

 

Thanks for the congrats. I plan on keeping up my work and be down to 220 by this time next year. That is my goal weight.

 

Its something many people take for granted but for me today to go in and buy a new Nike sweatshirt off the rack at a regular Nike store just makes me so proud and just injects me with more motivation to continue.

[Styles 0]

That's awesome dude. If you can bring about such a drastic change in yourself, it surely gives people like myself just looking to drop a few pounds a lot of confidence.

[franchise632 0]

Well that is my hope is that with my story i can inspire others to make the same choice before opting for such a drastic measure like surgery.

[Youth N Asia 0]

What I'm doing will work, I know people say low carbers put it all back on, but there's no way in hell I'll go back to eating as recklessly as I used to. I would slam 4-5 cans of coke, a few glasses of juice, and just snack alllllll day long. Now I eat a small breakfast, maybe a small lunch, and a decient dinner, mostly chicken, turkey, and salads, almost no snacks in between. 90%+ of what I drink now is water, and once you get used to it it's no longer a problem. I'll stick with water before drinking a bastardized Coke.

 

My goal weight is 200lbs even. It's moving slow right now, but I'll creep down there eventually.

[Damaramu 0]

I guess I don't have as far to go as some of you. I weigh 250 and I'd like to be down to 220.

Well actually I'm lifting weights to so I probably won't lose it. Let's just say the "beer gut" that I have I'd like gone.

Seriously that's the only place my weight resides. People don't think I have anything by just looking at my face.