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?

[cozietoesie]

Cutting out all added sugar (no chocolate, cakes biscuits, cakes, sugared drinks etc etc) and all animal fat (apart from my blue-top milk which I adore and the fat within lean meat.) Eat whatever I like of the rest. Fruit, porridge, salads, vegetables, stir-frys, you name it. If I become hungry, I eat eggs, fruit, salad or prepare a plate of vegetables. Or a dish of porridge or a slice of meat. Or a 'dry' toast sandwich. (Toasted wholemeal bread with ham in it but no spread and cut up into small squares.)

Thing is that your tastes change. I don't actually fancy chocolate or cakes these days. If I feel like a sweet taste, I nibble from my dish of grapes. (pre-picked and rinsed.)

You won't lose more than your body can sustain (say 3-4 lbs a week) but you'll lose it pretty permanently and your tastebuds will alter so that you can keep it going. You feel good as well.

[PeshwariNaan]

"success" = crash dieting cycles (cutting too many calories too fast, many times)

"healthy success"= South Beach, which was very good, and going vegan, which was the only time I've dropped weight without really trying. Vegan food is delicious. Sadly, I was eating too much soy so added dairy back, but I am still a huge advocate for a plant-based diet with lots of lentils and nuts!

[squoosh]

Sugar is the real baddie not fat.

I listen to Marisa Peer's cd, it ecourages you to visulaise yourself as slim. I find that helpful and really picture myself at my ideal weight.

I think the real key in shedding pounds though is understanding why you overreat in the first place.

[vnmum]

If you fancy eating Paleo style then it is essentially low carb anyway providing you don't go mad on fruit and nuts. With Paleo you tend to not be in ketosis but the carb levels will still be low enough for you to lose weight. this site has loads of good info on paleo. After doing SW unsuccessfully, WW successfully but struggling to shift that last stone, I would reccomend low carb or Paleo over anything. Much healthier and natural way of eating, no frankenfood diet foods filled with chemicals and artificial ingredients, bags of energy (after the inital few days) and no more cravings for sweet things or blood sugar highs and lows. Better muscle tone if you exercise, clear skin, improved PMS symptoms, need I go on

[cozietoesie]

I'm tempted to agree with you squoosh. If I ease up, it's to put some butter or so back in to food and not to go back to sugar. (I've just lost my taste for that.)

When I see the young 'uns grazing they just want a constant stream of sweets, chocolate biscuits and fizzy drinks. Worrying.

[misssilverwings]

Dukan. I lost 2 and a half stone, in 4 months. Am 41 and have 2 babies under 3. Its the ONLY diet that works.!

[keely027]

I do vegan diet in combo with keeping to 1450 calories and go for two hour walks a day. Doing this I drop one pound a day

[squoosh]

Someone once said 'only fat people eat diet food'.

Diet soft drinks, fat free yogurts, low fat spreads . . . look at the ingredients list, full of crap.

Another piece of advice I heard is to only buy stuff that your great grandmother would recognise as food i.e. not stuff like cheese strings or sugary cereals.

[Spuddybean]

i agree, i stopped having to yo yo diet when i started eating proper food like butter and stopped using anything 'low fat'. Just in moderation.

I agree with others re sugar, I have never liked sugar, i don't have a sweet tooth, so i am lucky.

Just making lots of conscious little choices really makes the difference.

[HerRoyalNotness]

None! The only time I've lost weight is upping my exercise and eating properly.

In the past 2mths I've stopped eating lunch in the foodhall and have made salads instead, this has made a huge difference and I've dropped 5kgs!! I have another 5 to go. I'm trying a "clean eating" plan, which basically is NO sugar and no refined carbs (white rice, pasta, bread), and limit to one fruit per day, no processed foods. I guess it's really a whole foods type of diet, which is what we should be eating anway.

It also calls to cut out fruit juice and alcohol, and most dairy. So I'm not doing the extreme of it, just trying to adjust to healthier snacks and making sure I eat properly. IT's evenings I struggle with, the boys are fed by the time I get in, so I just eat junk in front of the TV for my dinner. Once I crack that nut, I should be okay.

I'm also doing the Callenetics. It's made a big difference, and I don't do it very often , but it has really slimmed the saddle bags from my thighs and my back muffin top.

[WithoutCaution]

Slimming world for me too. I didn't like weight watchers

[stargirl1701]

None. Only exercise worked. Lost 3 stone over 18 months and kept it off.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Another vote for looking at the My fitness pal or Noom apps.

[MarysBeard]

What is the Dukan diet?

[squoosh]

It's basically a low carb diet rejigged by a French doctor.

Kate Middleton is said to be a fan and I think that's what's brought it so much publicity.

[lauratheexplorer]

Calorie counting and unintentional diets. By unintentional I mean I just don't eat when I'm not hungry and when I am I eat well.

[sea74]

Being italian but live in london now, when i want to lose weight i just do the mediterranean diet that is the best and healthiest. (diets rich of proteins are wrong and also the ones with sweeteners like weight watchers slim fast etc).
Basically avoid butter and spreads.

Breakfast milk/coffee and cereals. Just one teaspoon of sugar.
Morning snack: a piece of fruit (apple, pear, banana, 2 kiwis, strawberries, anything reallly) or a yogurth OR 4 slices of parma ham, 3 or 4 crackers, light cheese. Salad or vegetables (as much as u want)
Lunch 50 gr of pasta with your own made tomato sauce or pesto.
Afternoon snack:a fruit
Dinner: proteins mainly anything slim like grilled chicken breast or turkey breast with salad of iceberg, tomatoes and cucumbers. U can also have a smalll ball of icecream or 2 little square of chocolate.

Remember avoid butter/margarine/ ketchup/ mayo/salad cream/ shop bout vinaigrette. Use only extra-virgin olive oil.
You will see resultsin just 10 days, but overall it is healthy!

[MarysBeard]

That sounds nice sea74. I think I did used to eat more like that when I was slim.

[Pixieonthemoor]

Weight watchers. It's a doddle and really gets you thinking abut portion sizes. Plus nothing is forbidden which is brilliant - if you have the points allowance free then have that glass of wine!! For me, it is the diets that cut things out totally that lead to failure as, inevitably, those are the things your crave!

[dontpetthesweatythings]

What stuntgirl said about weight lifting. It's currently working for me. The more muscle you build the more calories you will burn without putting in the effort. Plus it does make a seriously niceanyour body, it's been 4 weeks since I started and everyone has noticed.

I have lost 3.5 stone and kept it off for 6 years. I didn't go on a diet, I think the word 'diet' is setting you up to fail. I just changed the way I ate. I still did and still do eat crisps, chocolate, cake, takeaways, bread etc just not in any quantity that I did then. I was really overeating, I would have up to 6 slices of bread a day, chocolate and crisps every day and cheese every day too - that's before you even started on meals!

So I cut all those extras out. I slightly lowered my overall carb intake, upped my protein, and had apples instead of cakes for snacks most days. That was all. Still ate spag bol, lamb chops, sausage and mash for dinner and if I couldn't resist had a bag of Maltesers..all normal.

8 months later I went from a very tight size 16 and 14 stone to a lose size 14 and 11.5 stone.

This is still slightly above what I should be, so I started exercising about a year ago and now do weights. I have changed my diet again, only this time the only thing I am doing is lowering my intake of sugar, so instead of 5 sugar teas a day I have just the one, I have chocolate/cake just once a week and have avoided cereal, fizzy drink and all those biscuits (and watch out for yoghurts and low fat/fat free food, they are all sugar!)

I started that 4 weeks ago, I have lost 8lbs and 2 inchs from my chest, one from my waist and 2 from my hips! Now a small 12/big 10, 10.10lb (5ft 8).

Sugar is baaaaaad !

[Acumens100]

Just don't eat anything white.

[MarysBeard]

Weights take a while to work though. I tend to put on weight with them at first as I build muscle easily - though I quickly get toned it can be off putting when you've worked so hard.

[cozietoesie]

It's sounding like avoiding sugar is the way to go in general?

[GoldenGreen]

myfitnesspal, with my own personal rules of never eating less than 1200 calories a day, having at least 7 portions of fruit/veg per day, and keeping back some calories for the weekend so I can eat out and have the option of a dessert if I fancy it. It has had the effect of my eating more lean protein and fewer processed carbs like bread simply because you get more for your calories that way!

[Issy]

Agree with everyone here who says that a diet isn't a one-off event but a way of life. I maintained roughly the same weight between the age of 20 and 47 and then dropped a few more pounds in the last year. There is no food or class of food I won't eat (other than shell fish which I hate!), I don't eat low-calorie or low-fat substitutes and I drink a small glass of wine a day. However, over the last few years I've realised that DH and I eat relatively low fat food, we eat small portions, we don't snack unless we're actually hungry and, although we both eat cr*p, we eat it in small quantities (a daily couple of Jaffa cakes or four squares of chocolate for me, a 'fun' sized snicker for him). I've also recently increased my running to three times a week. Oh - and I've never been pregnant (adoptive mother) which I think may make a substantial difference.

I think I may have another advantage in that I'm a bit indifferent about food. I enjoy good food, I love eating with friends, but it occupies very little mental space. For me there's no great mental effort involved in looking at a bar of chocolate in the cupboard or a block of cheese in the fridge and walking away. I'm not sure if that's completely normal or makes me a bit of a freak?