Let's talk about diets!!

[Lynda]

What diets have you tried? How long for? How much weight did you lose. was there any side effects?

I really need to motivate myself to lose 30 pounds but it seems such a mountain!

[MathFox]

The diets that I believe in have three aspects

Eat less
Eat healthy
ExerciseBurning more calories than you absorb (explains points 1 and 3). Despite less food, you should get your essential nutrients (point 2). Aim for a two pounds per week weight loss, more than that requires medical oversight.

The good stuff: Vegetables (raw) and fruit
Limited: Starchy foods and meat/fish/cheese
Avoid: refined sugars, snacks, fat


The planning is to have three meals a day (breakfast is important!) and then allow for two or three (healthy) snacks. (An apple, granola bar, yoghurt...)

And drink your coffee and tea without sugar, avoid sodas. Drink pure water.

[Rebecca]

Wow, what a popular thread! :lol:

I'll tell ya what, how come we've been on earth for what, untold millennia, and we still don't know the ideal human diet? You can get SOUND arguments by qualified teams of researchers about what we should or shouldn't eat, and they contradict each other wildly. Eat meat! Don't eat meat! Soy is the answer! Don't eat soy! Antioxidants are good! Antioxidants are a hoax! Coffee is bad! Coffee is good! Eat dairy! Don't eat dairy!

Then there's the supposedly health-promoting macrobiotic and Auyervedic diets with their suspicious cultural/religious influence.

Gad!

But yes, at least we do know that eating more calories than we burn makes us fat. :(

(And that food eaten while flying has no calories .... )

[Dachiri]

73 pounds modified South Beach diet...been off for almost 5 years now (well, I started by losing 40 rather quickly, then a slow trickle down another 15 over about a year, stuck there for a while, and recently dropped the last bit, about a year ago). "Modified" because when I started the only meat I ate was fish...so only eggs and fish and dairy and vegetarian meat-less products for protein. Now I eat poultry, too, so there's a little more spice in the diet.

[CanGipsy]

After I've had my second child I had gained at least 70 kg, yes, 70 kg, and I went to Weight Watchers, where I found out that I need to eat 5 small meals a day instead of 2 or 3 larger once. Also, count your calories and try to eat no more than 5% fat, no tans fat at all and instead of having chips or chocolate have carrot sticks or other vegetables that you like. It takes some getting used too, but it is worth it!!!! I got my old weight back and have only gained 3 kg since my diet which was 8 years ago.

Have you had your blood sugar checked?

Good Luck.:cheers:

Corina

[forcedtofly]

I know this thread is really old, but I thought today would be a good day to get it going again, since it is New Year's Day. This is one of my goals this year. I usually don't do New Year's resolutions, but since I have been doing this since October, it's more like...New Year's motivation.

I found out in October that I have diabetes, so I am trying hard to live a healthier lifestyle (though during the holidays, that went out the window). It seems like all of the adults in my family end up with it, but it hit me earlier in life at 29. My dad didn't get diagnosed with his until he was close to 50, but when he did, it was having some horrible effects on him. He had probably had it for years without knowing. Now he controls it well and is doing fine.

So far I have lost close to twenty pounds and still have a good way to go before I hit my goal. I put on some pounds over the last few years, now I am having to put it in reverse. :rolleyes:

I have always wanted to become a vegetarian because I am an animal lover, but I am trying to find a good way to keep from eating too many starches and carbohydrates while still avoiding meat. I plan to continue to eat eggs and occasional dairy, however.

There is an ayurvedic vegetarian restaurant in town (gotta love New Mexico), and almost everything is carb-based. Rice, grains, bread. These are all no good for type 2 diabetics.

I will find a way, though. I am exercising at least once, sometimes twice, every day, and that has helped tremendously both with my blood sugar levels and my weight. It is probably the best thing anyone can do if they want to get healthy.

One thing that seems to be true is that everyone has specific dietary needs. Starches and carbs have bad effects on me, while some people do really well with them. Some people can eat diets based entirely around butter, dairy, and high fat meals and live to be 105, while some people eat those things and drop dead at 45. My grandma and grandpa were raised on farms in the South, and ate bacon and butter and eggs every day of their lives, and both have lived to ripe old ages, my grandfather dying close to 80 (from cancer, not heart disease) and my grandmother is still doing very well at 82. Everyone has to find what suits their physical, nutritional needs. Stress control has a huge impact as well, which is another thing I am working on.

Anyone else have similar goals for 2010 and beyond?

[Lynda]

Since I started the post a year ago, I made one good attempt for a couple of months. I stopped the diet when we went on holiday to US and have since not got in to it again. Usually once I get the diet started after a few days I am ok it is just getting to that stage that is a problem,

I am about 14 pound lighter than this time last year which is ok but if I had really tried hard enough I could have had all the excess weight off. I do find it hard to lose weight as I have a underactive thyroid for which I take thyroxine.
( Have not done a post Christmas weight yet but did not hugely overeat)
I did the GL diet last year and found it worked for me, not as quick as Atkins but I am sure it is healthier.