What's the best diet...?

[CycleGirl20]

I'm in my 30s with about 15kg to lose. I keep flitting between weight watchers, fast800/then 5:2 or low carb/high protein.

Weight Watchers is ok, but I find calorie counting all of the time hard work. Do people just manage that long term?

The fast800 is a good way to lose weight fast and I've had success with fasting in the past. Then at least the calorie counting is contained to a period of time or a few days. Plus, I'd be able to have a few glasses of wine in the longer term without it using all my points or ruining ketosis.

Low carb is good but then you can never eat cake again 😳

What do people think?

Yes, calorie counting is a chore initially but, once you’ve done it for a few weeks on MFP, you can then just log calories at the click of a button, it takes no time at all. Yes I do it long term. It’s the reason I’ve maintained weight loss (and I can still eat chocolate & cake or drink wine). You are looking for a quick fix which isn’t sustainable, you need to focus on the long term goal really. Just eat normal, unprocessed meals, and have an occasional treat, all within a calorie target.
Work out your tdee and reduce the calories by around 20% to find a calorie target. Recheck it periodically as you reduce weight and your calorie needs change.

https://tdeecalculator.net/

@ChChChangeIsAfoot thank you. I wondered, how do you manage counting calories when you don't know what's in something? Do you just not eat it? For example, my husband does a lot of the cooking. If I ask him not to use too much oil or to weigh it, he'd think I'm being daft. Would you just not eat that or eat separately or guess? This is always my down fall with counting!

The best diet is the one that takes your current eating habits and builds on it, one small change at a time, rather than trying to force yourself into a made up diet that someone invented. Different things suit different people, we all have our own individual bottlenecks, likes and dislikes, non-negotiables, etc. Find out what is problematic for YOU and work on that. Then go to the next thing. And so on.

Low glycaemic load. Red wine and dark chocolate are on the list of foods you can eat. As it is also full of foods that are tasty and filling, it’s really easy to stick to.

The best diet is one you stick to. Which one you choose matters far less as they all work to a lesser or greater extent.

I've always advocated for a combined IF, and low carb, but lots of people find it overly restrictive.

keto/low carb for me. You can drink wine on it. I do. Clearly not every day but I can have up to a bottle at the weekend and still loose. Wine is generally keto friendly.

The best diet is the one you enjoy and can stick with long term.

Hello!

I started calorie counting almost 3 years ago as I was fairly overweight and wanted to lose it. At first it was hard work, I was weighing everything and checking labels all the time, but over time I started to work out how much to have of each food roughly without weighing it. I made sure I didn't restrict anything (I'm a chocolate lover so definitely included that in my diet - dairy milk mini bars and freddos are great for this) and whatever I was eating I would try to add extra food or vegetables to it. It took a looong time to lose the weight so not really a quick fix but 3 years later I'm at a weight I'm happy with and have found a good balance in my diet. I've also managed to keep the weight off too.

@NicSC93 that sounds like the dream ❤️. Do you still count everything? I wondered about eating as much fruit and veg as I want, then having like 1000 calories a day for everything else and just counting that

@OwlsDance I think that's where I go wrong. Try to overhaul everything together!

Not really, I do know quite a lot of under 100 calorie snacks now that are my go to, but I think I've been doing it so long now I've got a rough idea of portions.

I eat a lot of high volume, low calories fruits and veg too- so basically can fill up on more of them (broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, tomatoes, watermelon and lots of berries). But I totally still eat out and have takeaways too (and when I do I eat what I want, I don't go for the low cal options 😂) and I think not restricting in the things I want to eat has been key.

Depending on the fruit and veg you're eating, they might not contain a lot of calories so you could use more for other meals than the 1000 calories 😊.

I did intermittent fasting 16:8 with help of an app and I really enjoyed it. I lost weight and felt mentally and physically better. I regained energy and I felt more awake. It really helped my body to reset and I could feel the effect quite fast.

I did SlimmingWorld to get to my target weight and still follow it now, although I'm no longer a member.

I eat lean meat and fish, unlimited fruit and vegetables, potatoes and rice. None of it is calorie counted or weighed out.

A typical day would be mixed berries with Greek yogurt, in colder weather I have porridge. Weekends it's a cooked breakfast, no toast though.
I WFH so lunch is often soup, today it's homemade pea and ham, no bread. The ham was leftovers from having ham and chips, on SW that's unlimited including the chips.

If I'm not at home then I'd have tuna with pasta or a jacket potato.
Tonight I'll have chicken and salad, then fruit.

Because I'm at my target weight I'm happy to have treats, biscuits or cake etc but not every day. If we're eating out or on holiday I will have anything, I'm not super-strict, but I'd be then be more careful with my food choices for a few days afterwards.

I can usually look at a recipe from Good Food or PON and figure out if it's SW friendly or how to tweak it if not.

Intermittent fasting with mostly low carb and the occasional treat works well.