It interesting how ofton we see people asking what diet works. Then Many People give their 2 cents and how ofton do you hear "I did X Diet and it worked great for me but then I stopped and gained it all back"

Well it seems to me that X Diet plan didnt work! If you werent able to Keep the weight off then it didnt work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What works is something that allows you to lose the weight and KEEP it off. If you dont keep it off then it was all a waste of time.

Anyone can tell you what to do to lose weight...after all Every diet plan out there makes you lose weight. But who can tell you how to lose it and keep it off?

The First thing anyone should consider is that if a Plan has a "weight loss" Phase and the a "Maintenace" phase. then the Plan is not good. This Leads to yo yo dieting.

Any plan that you choose should not have an end to it! If you can only do it for a period of time...then it is no good! You will just gain everything back.

I beg everybody that wants to lose weight and keep it off to not Follow any Diet plan that has a name! If it has a name then it just wont work!

If you want to lose weight and keep it off then you need to Change yourself. You dont need to Cut Any thing out of your diet. You need to teach yourself Moderation. You need to Learn to read labels. Get to know how many calories are in everything you eat. Learn to make better choices.


Be Satisfied with slow progressive weightloss! losing 1lb a week is great! Dont Get Fixated on Quick Weight loss, It never lasts.

Losing only a lb or 2 a weeks will also lead to Greater Weight loss.
Many Studies have shown that People that lose 1lb-2lbs a week will have lost more weight after 1 year then people that lose more weight early on.

Now I know what goes through everybody's mind....I have done it myself! You say to yourself.. " I know that losing the weight fast is not good, and I know I shouldnt cut my food back drastically, but I just want to lose some weight quickly and then I will just start eating better after that weight comes off, Or I will deal with the maintenance once the weight comes off!" It is sooooooo tempting to do this! but it just doesnt work! (well for very few people it will work) People that only need to lose a few lbs can get by with this strategy...But if you need to lose 50lbs or 100lbs etc then I can almost guarantee you that it will not work.


Be Strong, Dont fall for the quick fix. Change yourself! Make the Change permenant! We can all do it!

I couldn't agree more, I did low carb last year, lost some weight but I couldn't keep up the eating habits, and gee whiz I gained the weight back! I started my new lifestyle just over 3 months ago and it's something that I plan to stick to for the rest of my life. When I started I was just doing a low calorie plan, I counted everything I put in my mouth. Now I don't count everything but I'm still on track because the past 3 months I've learned so much about food, what kind of calories (good or bad) are in foods and I've learned how to say no to food when I'm not physically hungry and I've learned about what portions are appropriate. I didn't cut anything out of my diet, I've still been able to eat pizza and desserts, I still have a cheeseburger when I want it and alfredo pasta when I want it, and that's what makes this "diet plan" something that I can do for the rest of my life.

This is the first time I've stuck to a "diet plan" for more then 1 month, and I'm very proud of myself. :)

The First thing anyone should consider is that if a Plan has a "weight loss" Phase and the a "Maintenace" phase. then the Plan is not good. This Leads to yo yo dieting.

WHAT??? I strongly disagree with this statement. All diet plans should have weight loss and maintenance phases. The weight loss phase is designed to help you get the weight off, the maintenance phase is to help you keep the weight off. Think about the simplest of dieting concepts – calorie counting. The weight loss phase is quite simply to cut your calories or burn enough calories in exercise to lose weight. The maintenance phase is to adjust your calorie count to stay at a moderate level where you maintain your weight. Even more complicated “quick fixes” go with the same strategy. Weight loss phase: cut the calorie count as low as you can while still getting safe and proper nutritional requirements; Maintenance phase: adjust the calorie count to a level so that your body takes in enough calories to maintain your goal weight.

It doesn’t matter which “diet” plan you choose, the maintenance phase is still the same. If you follow the maintenance plan for either of these, you will keep the weight off. If you go back to your old eating habits, you will gain the weight back – regardless of how slowly or quickly you lost it.

In my opinion, rapid weight loss during a professionally directed course of lifestyle change may prove far more helpful than harmful in the long run. This does not include crash dieting, but medically supervised diets that have support and offer a maintenance plan. I believe that working very hard in the early stages of a weight loss effort may prove very encouraging and help dieters believe they can accomplish their weight loss goals.

Think about it, on the weeks that you lose more weight than you expected (3-5 lbs or more), aren’t you more excited about your weight loss than you are when you “just lose a pound?”

Please don’t judge a diet as being good or bad for you just because it is a plan that you don’t agree with, or in some cases, don’t completely understand. We are all different and we have to find the plan that clicks with our brains.

By the way, I lost 87 lbs using a “quick fix.” I’ve maintained that loss for almost two years.

I think you missed the entire point of my post.

I never said that you couldnt do it that way...Great for you! just remember you are part of the 10% of people that lose weight and keep it off!

My point of "Weight loss" phase and "Maintenance" Phase was that Anything that emphasizes 2 ways of eating are not good. The best is to learn one way of eating and stick with that. Can you eat a bit more when once your weight is off? Sure you can...but you should be Eating the same way you ate before you reached your weight.

I completely agree with you, Pipermac. The only weight-loss plan with a name that I wholeheartedly believe in is Dr. Phil's Seven Keys to Weight-Loss Freedom. I picked up the book not long ago and started reading everything that I had learned during the course of losing most of my weight. I think I caught on to it early though (and boy am I ever grateful I did) because many people go so much longer than I did with unhealthy habits and yo-yo dieting without figuring out what works. I'm glad Dr. Phil is there to explain it to everyone.

I have to agree with biggun. That people have to pick the plan that clicks in their mind.

I think you missed the entire point of my post. ...

My point of "Weight loss" phase and "Maintenance" Phase was that Anything that emphasizes 2 ways of eating are not good. The best is to learn one way of eating and stick with that. Can you eat a bit more when once your weight is off? Sure you can...but you should be Eating the same way you ate before you reached your weight.

First, please don't take this in a harsh way or as a personal attack, you and I are simply having a difference of opinion (and sometimes those can get blown WAY out of proportion when we have to rely on the written word). :)

I didn't miss your point at all, I just disagree with you that a weight loss plan shouldn't have two phases.

The weight loss phase in most organized diet plans (HMR, Weight Watchers, Optifast, etc.), use the strategy of helping you lose weight while teaching you behavior modifications to help you keep the weight off. That way, as you reach your goal weight, you know what tools you need to be successful. What you don't seem to be taking into account is that by the time you reach the maintenance phase in most of these plans, you have incorporated the healthy strategies into your lifestyle so that you are practicing them while you are going through the maintenance phase. You aren't just turned loose and out there on your own. You have support. You also know how to count calories, you know which exercises you should be doing, you know how to make healthy choices, and most importantly, you know what it takes to be succesful (and you still have support).

Now, I will agree that this approach will not work for everyone, just as a I believe that your approach will not work for everyone. There is not a single diet plan that will work for everyone (not even your plan), we each have to find out what works best for us. But, please don't sit here and tell people that choosing an approach that you don't agree with is wrong -- it's just a way of losing weight that doesn't work for you.

:hug:

I not really Promoting a "Plan"

I am also Being Very general. I acknowledge that there will be 2 seperate stages in just about every "Plan". your example of weight watchers is very good. Weight watchers is probably one of the best commercial plans out there because of what you point out.

I am Directing the negativity towards anything that distinguishs any real differences between "Weight loss" and "Maintenance". Where as if you want to greatly increase you chance of mainaining weight loss there should be very little difference between the two..the only reall differences should be a small amount of calories.

I recognize that there are exceptions...some people can do this.....but it has been shown that the vast majority can not.


I also agree with you about each individual doing what "Clicks" or what Works...to an extent! as what is a large point of my post is that just because someone can choose a plan and lose weight with it does not mean that it truly "Works" to truly work you must be able to lose it and keep it off.

How ofton have you heard somebody say something like " Every time I need to lose weight I do X! " sounds great right? Not to me...it means that this person is constantly going up and down with their weight. If something truly worked for them they would be saying something like "When I lost my weight I used X!"

I agree with you as well about if someone loses a lot of weight in a short period of time...I agree it can do wonders for the self esteem. My point was that if you are losing even just 1lb a week you should also be Thrilled about that. Or even better Even if you dont lose a thing..but you keep up with your exercise and eat better overall then be thrilled about that as well. Besides the fact that most of the time any loss over 2lbs in a week is usually water and/or muscle.

One of the things I think is most important is patience! If you try to lose weight too fast, you won't keep it off. My goal when I started was to lose 1 pound a week. That seemed realistic. I have continued that for about 8 months for weight loss of about 40 pounds. Set realistic goals with choices that create habits you can continue. Not quick fix diet plans.

I agree with all sides of this discussion! :) I think everyone makes some really good points. I kind of fall on the side, though, of believing that some plans that "have a name" are very good and useful, but they have to become our own plan over time ... e.g., we have to decide what works for us individually and do it.

I also lean towards thinking that it is a good thing to have an implementation of weight loss plan and a middle-ground, stay-the-course-whilst-losing plan and then a maintenance plan. It's all individual.

I don't believe in quick weight loss unless, as I think someone said up thread, it is medically supervised. I believe that this is sometimes indicated in cases of extreme obesity where an individual's very life and well-being are in danger by the excess weight.

One thing no one has said that I think is important to say ... and this makes some people mad or strikes them as negative or attacking them personally, which is not the case ... :) ... is that I don't believe that over-the-counter diet pills are helpful at all, nor are they desirable as they may have unexpected side effects at best and are a waste of money at best and somewhere in the middle they are a lie that people tell themselves, a compromise that there is maybe an easier way to take care of our bodies regarding weight without actually making the long-term changes that we need to make in our attitudes, thinking, eating and activities. I personally believe that advocating for the use of "magic" over-the-counter pills is a disservice to the weight loss community in general ... and yes I have been guilty of using these pills in the past ... following each period of doing so, I gained more weight until I finally got wise to myself! :laugh:

Bethy, ye said the magic word: PATIENCE! :)

Along with a healthy lifestyle conducive to good weight management ... it works every time.

The exception, again, is when medical intervention is truly needed and then kudos to those who seek professional help and stick with it.

Good topic, Pipermac!

As I bit of a side note....I will say that I was speaking in a very general sense.

There are too many "Name" Programs out there to Say that none of them are good. My Point is to be much more weary of anything that is "Named" The vast majority are not Lifestyles...they are just DIETS. And Just because you lose weight on your Plan does not mean that the plan Truly Works.....I dont think a plan should be judged by if you can lose weight on it or not. It is if you can lose the weight and keep it off! That should be the real criteria if it works or not. After all ANYTHING that gets you to eat less then you burn will make you lose weight.

As I bit of a side note....I will say that I was speaking in a very general sense.

There are too many "Name" Programs out there to Say that none of them are good. My Point is to be much more weary of anything that is "Named" The vast majority are not Lifestyles...they are just DIETS. And Just because you lose weight on your Plan does not mean that the plan Truly Works.....I dont think a plan should be judged by if you can lose weight on it or not. It is if you can lose the weight and keep it off! That should be the real criteria if it works or not. After all ANYTHING that gets you to eat less then you burn will make you lose weight.

I absolutely agree w'ye, Piper!