Which diet is best??

[KeepSmiling83]

Hi

I had my second baby 8 months ago and have finally got sick of looking at myself in photos and feeling like crying! I have about 2st to lose and am happy to do it over time (ideally by next summer - or at least 1st by then!)

But my problem is I don't know what to try. Years ago I lost 1st 7lbs doing weight watchers and circuit training a couple of times a week but now I have 2 DD's and I'm a teacher so spend my evenings marking and planning once the children are in bed! I also hate the gym so am happy to find any excuse not to go.

I would say I'm quite busy in the evening so don't really have a lot of time to cook things from scratch every night. I find that I can be quite good throughout the day as I'm busy in work but then feel starving when I get home and pick at things! I also have a very sweet tooth. Anybody recommend a diet plan that would fit in my life? I've thought about WW, SW, MFP or 5:2? Do any of these sound like they would work?

I think it depends on your own needs....it whatever you enjoy eating....some people can't handle going low carb, some, like me, find that eating carbs opens the gateway to gluttony...I always do best on low carb , myself.

There are some really good diets out there, I think you have to choose one that suits you best. I would choose low carb but can hardly think about giving up pasta. Not sure I could do it. Plus, I know that my main meals are healthy. For me, my sweet tooth let me down. I found sugary things really quite addictive and didn't like that. So I gave up added sugar and lost a stone over the course of 6/7 months. No complicated diet plans, don't have to think about it on a day to day basis which suits me well.

Where do you think your diet lets you down?

Re exercise - I once had a personal trainer tell me that what you look like is 80% about what you eat. You can't outrun a bad diet. I lost a stone recently without doing any exercise (!). He's so right.

Hi OP! Well, I'm trying to lose a bit of weight post-baby too. I've decided to start the 'No S Diet'. There's a thread about it on here. It sounds sensible and something I could maintain for life (hopefully).

I have done low carb, 5:2, slimfast and WW in the past and have lost weight on all of them. I think they all work equally well really, so for me it's just a matter of finding the one I enjoy doing the best.

Also agree with pp that exercise doesn't really help much with weight loss unless you are training a lot most days. It's still important for fitness and health though (obviously).

Depends on you really. I guess low ones like ww and sw might be easier in terms of pre prepared convenience foods but they're generally full of crap.

Like the pp, I find when I'm not eating sugar/carbs it's so much easier to control my eating and my appetite is suppressed plus I feel better. It does involve cooking from scratch but can be quick eg. Frying some meat & veg, batch cooking freezer stuff. I've found the mumsnet low carb bootcamp helpful.

Come over to the 5:2 thread, have a read to see if it could work for you.
I've tried low carb, low cal and crazy amounts of exercise but this is the way that has given me fastest results and feels entirely sustainable.
The first couple of fasts are HARD but they then get so much easier and you can still eat any treats on your non-fast days, perfect for this time of year.

I have lowered my carbs quite a lot as I think I suit a low carb diet, but the actual High Fat, Low Carb way of eating was too restrictive for me to keep up, and it is terribly unforgiving of slip ups.

Lulu...what results have you seen? Looking for inspiration

Well, I wasn't officially overweight at 11st 5 (I'm 5"8)on October 16th, just meandering around the top of the healthy BMI but feeling flabby and horrible.

Last week I weighed in at 10st4. I've never lost a stone that fast as I don't have loads to lose. In particular I seem to have lost weight from around my mid section - which is always a good thing.

I've still eaten food I love on non fast days and have been able to plan my fasts around socialising (My family all love food and every weekend there are big meals with puddings etc).

I love it!