To ask which diets you have had success losing weight with?

[ophelia275]

I want to lose a small amount of weight (about 10 pounds) but get rid of my mummy tummy. I intend to do a bit of exercise when I get the chance but focus on my diet.

There are so many out there. I am thinking more along the lines of a paleo/natural food diet (Marisa Peer style) but also thinking about a low carb diet. However, I know others have had good success with Slimming World.

So, can I ask what diet has helped you lose weight and you enjoyed doing?

Low carb. Enjoyed it at first. Lost loads of weight, but sadly put it back on again .

I lost 50lbs using the old Weight Watchers points method. I am now getting old finding it harder and am currently on a low-carb regime.

Weight watchers. I have lost 3 stone, not really a diet, more a healthy eating plan. Combine it with exercise and try to stay for the meeting, it really does help IME.

I did Slimfast for a week (lunches only) to give me a kickstart and start me thinking seriously about portion sizes - once you've had a week of those bloody horrible shakes, you notice what you're eating. After that, just kept an eye on myself to make sure it stayed off.

A long time ago I used to do Weight Watchers, and at my first time of going I lost 2 stone with them. However, subsequent attempts were less successful as eventually I got fed up with having to count the 'points' of everything I ate. And I got fed up with the cost of it .

Recently, though, I have lost 2 stone. What's my secret, people keep asking me. Well, nothing fancy, no particular diet. Just eating less and choosing healthier options, e.g. fruit instead of cake, fat free yogurt instead of thick and creamy. Controlling my portion sizes. Because I realised that I have to do something that I can do for the rest of my life and not feel like I'm on a diet. The main thing is, for the only time apart from that first time I did WW, I'm really committed to it and want to do it. I'm now 100% convinced that this is the only way to lose weight and keep it off.

Oh, I have to add, that I was in an MN weight loss thread for about 3 months which helped with the initial motivation.

The only say you will sustainably lose significant weight is to change the way you eat (because eating the way you do has led to this weight gain) and stick to it for the rest of your life.

Not sure what you call "low carb" but I suppose that depends on how much carb you eat in the first place. The best general advice I got from my fantastic dietician was that carbs should make up only 1/4 of your plate (=1 slice of bread or several tablespoons of pasta or rice etc).

Maybe start with Weight Watchers to get an intuitive feeling for the quantities you should be eating at each meal.

I only wanted to lose a small amount of weight to get a better waistline too.

I didn't go on any diet plan. I just ate normal amounts of healthy food but was ruthless about never eating biscuits, cakes, sweets, ice-cream, crisps, no Coke or similar and very little alcohol. Obviously avoided fatty foods with creamy sauces, ate plenty of chicken, fish, etc but normal amounts of rice, pasta, potatoes etc.

I think you have to find an approach you can live with and sustain, and for me anything that involved a lot of faffing about just wouldn't work.

I lost weight with WW, SW and Sainsburys online. However I find SW easier long term and the only one I am not starving on. WW was easier for eating out and ready made stuff though. SW is the only one I could do long term.

I lost 5st with Weight Watchers and have so far kept it off for 3 months by continuing to count points. To be honest there's a lot about WW that I can't stand but what it does for me that works is it makes me plan my food and focus on eating healthily. Not rocket science! But I have been unable to do it for myself for some reason, and thank God for WW providing the framework that helps me do it. I'm now at the stage where I really want to stop counting points but continue to eat healthily and am reading the Beck Weight Loss Workbook which is excellent-it's about changing your habits.

I've got about the same to get rid of too, and for the same reason

It's just so difficult when you've shaved everything off what you eat to get to a point where any more and you might as well be on a bread and water diet and you exercise as much as is comfortable.

I lost half a stone a couple of months ago and it's stayed off (whoohoo ) but it's such hard work and I've lost my motivation.

I'd hate to lose my carbs and alcohol trading them off to lose the last few pounds doesn't seem worth it especially when I can cover it up with fleeces/coats in a few weeks

Slimming world. I've lost a stone without any effort. I hate feeling hungry or deprived or like I'm on a 'diet' and it's perfect for me cos I can eat UNLIMITED FOOD. it completely changes the way you think of food too. I'm completely disgusted at how unhealthy my diet was before

smaller portions and healthy meals. no cakes/sweets/choc/fast food. Choose carefully when you eat out.
People I know who follow different diets always seem to be the ones who struggle, although I have a (not overweight) friend who swears by weight watchers when she wants to lose 7lb or so.

Anyone who's cut down their carbs, have you felt a drop in energy levels?

I saw a program a bit ago that gave one set of cyclists just carbs and another just proteins and the carb ones went on like duracell bunnies, well after the proteins were shagged out.

I lost just over a stone with slimming world after having Dd. I put it all back on and more when I went back to work though. This time I am just trying to eat sensibly and bf ds.

Boring but....

Instead of lining the pockets of a diet company that you will quite likely keep having to return to, just lose the 10lbs with healthy eating, good portion control and of course lots and lots of nasty exercise.

You'll stand far more chance of keeping the weight off if you do this as you'll be eating 'normally', rather than going on a diet.

For such a small weight loss I would recommend weight lifting as opposed to dieting. Obviously change your diet to a healthier one if you need to as well but lifting weights burns more fat than cardio, and it has the added bonus of toning the muscles which improves your appearance. So by toning the muscles behind it your tummy appears smaller, iyswim.

Try myfitnesspal.com. It's free and the app makes it easy to update when you're out and about. The forums contain a wealth of information on varying aspects of health and fitness too.

Exercise exercise exercise. Just 30 mins a day will make you want to choose healthier food options, feel psychologically better and make more effort with appearance as you have more body confidence. Ime on,y started in jan as had pnd and done me the world of good

Zigzag, that surprises me because carbs are supposed to release energy more quickly than protein, so protein should give a longer lasting energy release.

Slimming World for me too - 1.5 stone so far and feeling so much healthier. I eat a really balanced diet with plenty of fruit, veg and low fat protein. My meals are tasty and filling and all of the family enjoy the food plan. Tonight it is SW pizza and SW chips for all of the family.

The most surprising part is that I now appreciate the benefits of exercise in helping to lose weight and found myself starting to jog last week when out with dog - something that has never been heard of!

I've lost over 6 stone since January just by using myfitnesspal and being strict about having to write everything down!! Scary to start with, when you add up all the crap that you eat and forget about, but once you're into the swing of it you don't really need to count that much to realise the second bottle of wine is probably not a good idea...

You can download the app (free!) for your phone too and zap barcodes on most foods too...

I started myfitnesspal.com about 2 months ago and have lost a stone. You type in how much you weigh, your height etc and how much weight you want to lose and how much you want to lose a week ( from .5lb - 2 lbs a week is the option they give you). With that information they give you a daily calorie intake guide for you to follow. The lowest they will give you is 1200 calories a day but most people seem to stick with 1500 calories a day, I am on 1700 a day.

You just keep an online food diary every day ant myfitnesspal keeps track of your calories consumed and also calories burnt through exercise. It is very easy because every food on the planet already seems to be in their database.

I did WW years ago and lost 3 stone. We recently moved to Canada and I went to a WW meeting only to be dismayed that the meetings cost $16 (about £11) each time and they have no monthly pass option or WW online (at least not in my province).

Check out Myfitnesspal.com and let me know what you think. It has helped me a lot with regards to calorie and portion awareness with out having to follow any special diet.

The issue with exercise is an interesting one - if you just expect someone to perform well when you remove their carbs, then they won't. But if you give them 2 weeks to shift from carb-burning to fat-burning, (i.e. becoming ketogenically adapted), then they will perform just as well.

The best thing about My Fitness Pal is that it's free, so if you find it doesn't work for you you haven't lost out on anything, unlike other slimming companies which come with costs attached left, right and centre.

Sliming world for me - i lost 2 stone over a 4 month period with really very little effort and just minor changes to diet. Never felt deprived or hungry and 12 months on maintain my target pretty easily. I do find for me it is key to keep attending the group otherwise it would be easy to slip back into bad habits.

I signed up to the cook yourself thin website. I only wanted to lose 8lbs. It really helped me cut out fat and think of alternative ways of preparing the same food i loved. Also made me realise portion size and actual calorie content.

When i saw 600 cals per portion i would think that's okay, but then i realised my portions were double! So the pounds had been creeping on despite me eating relatively healthy food.

I have kept that weight off (well not atm as i'm up the duff) by still using the same recipes and just being aware.