Dieting

[Rich Riddle]

Any of you have luck with dieting. I can't post the words used to describe it on this forum. Nothing like being hungry for months at a time. If you lost, did it stay off?

[ray hampton]

one way to diet is to hire a bad cook, I lost my excess weight because I am not good at cooking

[David Weaver]

The only luck I've ever had with dieting is cutting sugar out and intentionally changing my mindset from eating when I want to eat and as much as I can fit in, to eating when I'm hungry, and eating enough to not be hungry and no more.

I just saw an article the other day about exclusionary diets, criticizing them, but I can't find a whole lot of fault in eliminating white flour and refined sugar - it just gets you in a bind when you go to a holiday meal or something, because it pretty much eliminates desserts and dinner rolls and such things.

I've always found that the things that I like to eat late at night involve white flour or sugar, and when I cut them out, I have to stop and think what I'd rather eat late, and at worst it might be a piece of fruit or vegetables. It really highlights the difference between "i want to eat" in general and "I want to eat junk food".

[Erik Loza]

My experience: "Dieting", regardless of which plan you follow, is useless without regular exercise.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Jason Roehl]

I think diets are mostly doomed for failure because they imply a start and a finish, and then the dieter goes back to their old, unhealthy habits. What is healthy is to life a lifestyle that is beneficial to your body. That means activity/exercise and the proper fuel for it. Learn to like healthy foods so that they are the vast majority of what you eat, but don't deny yourself the treats once in a while, too. All things in moderation.

[Rich Riddle]

Erik,

Lack of exercise isn't a problem. The enormous outside project offers copious amounts of expended energy.

Jason,

You might be correct about the start and finish line. My start was New Year's Day and the goal is to finish when a certain weight is achieved. I did not change the types of food but lowered the quantity of those foods. A few things like soda were given up, but those aren't all that much missed. I eat everything I like and every once in a while have a snack. Started at 250 and am down to 195 but want to lose 30 more for old joints and back.

[Stephen Musial]

You really can't successfully diet, but you can just change the way you eat. And as mentioned, exercise - not essential to losing weight but essential to staying healthy. To lose weight, your caloric intake "just" needs to be less than your caloric output. There are many ways to achieve that so pick what's best for you be it grazing throughout the day, 2 lighter meals,1 bigger one, etc.

One of the best things to do is once you lose the weight, get rid of all your old clothes and get ones that fit. That way, if the weight starts coming back, you'll know it and have to do something about it. If you keep the old clothes, it's a lot easier to just give in and put on the bigger pants.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I'm one of those people who has never needed to diet, but have been surrounded by family that seem to be on constant diets. Back in the 80's, a co-worker was apparently reading some book about diet & lifestyle. She wanted to be thin like Elle M. and the new breed of supermodels while she had a fabulous figure like a young Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor. She asked me "Do you eat when you are hungry or do you eat at specific times of the day?" and "Do you eat 3 meals a day or more?" and "Do you fill your plate or do you eat small portions?" "When you crave something, do you eat it?" and "Do you grocery shop often? and "Do you sometimes forget to eat?" and several other questions I can no longer remember.

She then explained to me that the book pointed out how thin people have a tendency to eat what they want, when they want. They eat just enough to satisfy their hunger. They will eat 4-6 small meals a day. They don't plan their meals days in advance. They don't eat by the clock. (i.e. lunch at noon, dinner at 6pm) They don't eat when they are bored. They don't continue eating to clean their plate even after they are full. If they crave something, they eat it.

She explained how people who have weight problems and yo-yo dieting have a tendency to eat at specific times of the day. If they crave something, they will avoid it, yet then eat everything else trying to satisfy that craving. They eat big meals 2-3 times a day. They are planning their next meal sometimes while eating their current meal. They eat larger portions and they finish eating the whole plate even though they are full. (The whole "Finish your food. There are starving children in ____" our parents drummed into us.) They starve themselves while on a diet and once they meet their goal weight, the go right back to their old over-eating habits.

There are always exceptions to the rule, such as medical issues, but it was a conversation that really stuck in my mind because up until that point, I had never really given much thought about food other then Like vs Don't Like. What it came down to was thin people have a different lifestyle when it comes to their eating habits.

A few months ago, I saw some article about how some guy lost a tremendous amount of weight without any special surgery or diet plan. He mentioned he had a lifestyle change after reading "French Women Don't Get Fat" and it reminded me of the questions that co-worker had asked me 25+ years ago. I picked up the book and found it was very similar to what the co-worker told me. It's not about dieting. It's about living the rest of your life with healthy eating habits while still enjoying food and eating what you want.

[Mel Fulks]

I can go without food easily if I have my mind busy. But when I do eat I can really pack it away,it's eating that makes me
hungry. Getting so I can make myself stop before everything is gone.

[curtis rosche]

ive been pretty happy with a paleo diet. haven't been hungry and ive lost almost 20lbs

[Dan Hintz]

The biggest benefit I ever saw from dieting was to do one thing and one thing only... stop eating when I was satisfied, not when my plate was empty.

If you always eat until your plate is empty, you will overfill your stomach, causing it to slowly get larger, leading to a domino effect.

[Phil Thien]

Lots of great advice so far.

A lot of different diets or lifestyle changes (or whatever you want to call them) will work, but a few things will make any work better.

More water.

Drink coffee. The caffeine boosts your metabolism, and coffee is terrific for digestion. Don't go nuts, a couple cups of coffee is what I'm talking about, not a couple of pots. And drink just back coffee, I'm not talking about one of those Starbucks milkshake things.

Skip the soda. Even the diet stuff. I'm convinced it is an appetite stimulant. You drink a diet cola and think, "boy, some Doritos would go great with this."

Exercise, even if it is just a brisk walk.

Reduce snacking, and when you do snack, try to eat vegetables or a protein like a hard boiled egg or something.

[Mike Henderson]

I lost quite a few pounds by being careful what I ate and by making the evening meal very small. Sometimes just crackers and cheese.

As a limited time diet, I found that by eating nothing after 3pm I could lose weight quickly.

Mike

[Chris Padilla]

I eat well but too much. So I exercise like a mad dog. However, one day I will not be able to exercise so much and so I need to learn to eat better.

[Mike Henderson]

I eat well but too much. So I exercise like a mad dog. However, one day I will not be able to exercise so much and so I need to learn to eat better.

In my younger days, I was a marathon runner (even ran Boston). It was great from an eating point of view. I could eat as much as I wanted and I was skinny. However, when I quit running that much, I started putting on weight. I realized I couldn't continue to eat like I used to.

Mike

[Moses Yoder]

I think the first thing you should do when trying to lose weight is to have your thyroid function checked. If it is on the slow side, I recommend "Thyroid Complex", an over the counter capsule. When I switched jobs from setting behind a computer all day to building range hoods I lost 35 pounds. I am at about 190 now, steady as a rock. I don't think I will ever have the body of a 21 year old again, and don't plan on wasting my time trying. I fit into a 36 waist now and am happy with that. My wife is an anti-sugar Nazi and has eliminated all the sugar in our house. I still drink Dr Pepper, not nearly as much as I used to, and we indulge in the occasional ice cream and other treats. My wife and her mother are naturally skinny, my wife weighs about 130. I think every body has a weight that it will naturally conform to if you eat healthy and get excersize; that weight is not the same for everyone.

[Bill Bukovec]

The Michael Mosley 5 - 2 diet works for me.

You eat your regular meals 5 days a week, eat 500 calories 2 (non consecutive ) days per week. This doesn't mean yo can eat 10,000 calories per day on your 5 days.

You will feel hungry on your fasting days, especially at first. The hunger is only temporary.

Good luck.

[Jim Matthews]

I try to eat the same size bowl of fruit, berries and Oat Bran every morning.
The only thing that works for me is using smaller plates.

You get older, you slow down - you need fewer calories.
Problem being that food is one of the few remaining pleasures.

Measure your belt line and dine accordingly.
If it's tight, eat light.