If/when you diet, how do you do it?

[Alice]

If / when you diet, how do you do it? I'm curious.

See, I've wanted to lose about ten or 15 pounds since I was about 17... and sometimes I've lost them and sometimes I've gained more. But I'm getting that feeling again... "I wanna lose weight!"

To be honest the only ways that worked for me were... going on raw diet and exercising. (Which, ironically, I did for other reasons!) And being very depressed and not eating. (But I don't want to do THAT one again. XD;;; )

I'd probably have to change the things I eat without eating less food if I wanted to lose weight today. (Just eating less is not really an option right now.) Sounds like more vegetables...

Well so yeah anyway, what methods have been successful for you guys? I'm curious.

[Mangafanatic]

Excersise+cutting back on meal portions=good diet.

That's the way I've always done it. Admittedly, I've never done a bonafied diet. Just discipling exercises like cutting out any between meal snacking since that's always been a bit of a weakness of mine.

[Aka-chan]

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same. I'm still at the lucky hyper age where I can pig out and lose weight anyways, but for health's sake I try to avoid the candy (unless it's chocolate--then resistance is futile) and play extra rounds of DDR. ^__~

[Shao Feng-Li]

My metabolism slowed down...

Just eat plenty of veggies. And drink water. Often if a person is thirsty it's mistaken for hunger. Only eat your fill and no more. And have a little desert after dinner.

[Syaoran]

If I do diet I would just be bones and nothing easl....so no I don't diet.....I am on a high carb Diet. and protean(sp)

[PrincessZelda]

Excersise+cutting back on meal portions=good diet.

That's the way I've always done it. Admittedly, I've never done a bonafied diet. Just discipling exercises like cutting out any between meal snacking since that's always been a bit of a weakness of mine.

^Word.

[kazekami]

Well since my health has been pretty crappy I usually don't have the energy to exercise. And apparently my Aunt laid some weird story on my mom about my asthma. But the reason I was sick after exersing was actually my gall bladder. But the only diets i've been on were forced on me be my mom. She decided to put us all on a diet. We ended up going off because I complined that no one was following it and I was eating by myself all day. I don't eat enough as it is. Not eating enough can make you gain weight as well. I need to get in shape now I'm healtheir then i was. =) To bad I have no one to fence with. =D. I say exercise and makeing sure you have the right amount of caleries consumed is the best way to go.

[Conner999]

Body for Life is a great book to read for health, dieting, increasing muslce mass, and fitness.


The basic principles are:


1. Drink lots of water. Lots. Whenever you can, and with every meal.

2. When you get up in the morning, do a 20 minute cardio workout. No more than 20 minutes are needed, and do it BEFORE you eat. (Speeds up metabolism.) You don't need to go all out exercising for hours every day. You'll just wear yourself out and you won't give your body time to recover.

3. DO NOT CUT BACK ON FOOD! That is bad for your body, especially if you're exercising a lot too. What you need to do is eat more OFTEN. Small portions of food throught the day is the best way to go. The more often you eat the right amount of food, the faster your metabolism will go. Fast metabolism = body converts food to energy faster, leaving less calories converted to fat, while exercise burns off the fat. 6 meals per day is suggested in the book.

4. Avoid eating late at night if possible. I think you were supposed to avoid eating about 1.5 to 2 hours before you go to bed.

There are some more things to it, like exercising (other than the 20 minute cardio in the morning,) and when you should do it, but I can't quite remember the rest of it. :/




Anyway, my friend lost over 40lbs and kept it off doing the Body for Life routine.

I know someone who was sucessful with the diet just changing they way they ate. Not the amount they ate, or what they ate really, just when they ate it and how much they ate at a time, paired with water and exercise. Of course, eating healthier does help a lot. :p




Edit: Oh yes, an example of why eating more = better:

If you eat only once a day like I know some people do, your body sees that it isn't getting food often, so it stores the food as fat.

If you eat several times per day, your body doesn't need to store the food for later, and it is constantly burning the calories off as energy.

[~Natsumi Lam~]

mines easy.....


eat as much as you can actually exercise off plus some. If i planned to eat 5 candy bars.... not gunna happen. Now if i eat one... just practice my tap for an hour, situps.

When i went to college i gained 40 pounds all in 2 semesters. I have had to work it off slowly. I think i enjoy life too much!! I discovered Jack in the Box tacos. Man thats bad news. So i say : match exercise with eat and you be ok. I am proving it now as i am working it off.


~Natsumi Lam~

[Mave]

I generally watch what I'm eating (cut down carbs/oils intake, which was most likely overloaded by switching to alternatives). I've found it hard to cut back the portions so changing my diet was the better plan. I love vegetables so that wasn't much of a problem.

Ex: Salad dressings ---> vinegar, nuts and fruits/dried fruits

I would like to say exercise...but I don't. I'm still working on that.

[Rita]

Well, at the moment, my whole family is supposed to be on the "Liver Cleansin Diet" which means no red meat, no dairy, no processed food, no white carbs, and virtually nothing nice. My mum decided we'd all do it, only today I found some M&M's in the cupboard and was naughty. But my mum did it a few yearsago, and as well as losing weight, had heaps more energy and felt healthier.

[yukinon]

I don't recall tap involving that much exercise, Natsumi. But the last time I did it I was like....4, so I could be wrong.

And DDR is totally the best exercise program.

You definitely need to involve exercise as well. Just doing a diet based on what you eat isn't gonna help much and you'll probably gain it back. I would avoid specific diets as well. (Atkins, South Beach, etc.) or any supplements to curb your meal or whatever. My Mom put the whole family on a diet decades ago, and she simply went walking two miles everyday and counted the fat grams in everything. You can get little books to help you with that, but I honestly don't remember where. We also switched to things like skim milk and Butter Buds, which taste just as good.

[Alice]

Yeah, I think if / when I do it, I'll have to go with just switching some of the things I eat. Eating a lot less isn't an option for me right now, nor is a lot of exercise. (Mild to moderate exercise at most for me right now! I still have some of that exhaustion, which can make any exercise hard.)

But I already eat rather healthy food -- I basically avoid sugar and white flour. Guess I just need more fruits and veg. ^__^

[agasfas]

Diets are odd. People think the less you eat the more you loose. But studies have shown that ones metabolism adjusts itself and it usually takes a little time for the body to do so. So most people don't lose weight right away. But, eventually the metabolism will adjust and then you'll see some weight loss if you stay on the diet. So after awhile your body could be burning calories at lets say 1700 cal/day instead of 2500 cal/day. ANyways by then, most give up and go back to eating the way they once did. So because ones body is now regulated to burning 1700cal/day and you are taking in the old 2500cal/day people gain much more weight (excess calories). ANd that's the main reason why diets fail- not giving it time.

Personally the best way that works for me is moderation. Eating good portions is the best way. Studies show when you wake up, a good thing to do is to drink a glass of water. It helps the metabolism start. And eating a lot of fruits and veggies is also good because it's easy for you body to burn. Though you still need plenty of protien.
I always try to eat breakfast. Studies show that a good breakfast also helps the metabolism start working effectively. Most tend to wake up late, rush out the door and then eat fast food or something for lunch. By doing this our metabolism is still in a sleeping mode, and to kick start it with something not healthy and hard to digest is a bad idea..

Then exercise. Doesn't have to be hard core, as long as you get your heart rate up, it helps. Aerobic exercises are good to help your body burn fat. Walking is something that's easy but still gets the heart rate up.

Although I've always been kind of thin these past few weeks I've lost about 5lbs by running more and eathing more fruits and veggies (and eating breakfast). I've always lifted weights so that helped.

Anways, there are many different ways of dieting, just make sure you use a safe one.

[bbboy21]

Play video games...hey worked for me loosing 30 pounds in just 3 months doing nothing but playing video games...serously.

[yukinon]

If you don't exercise much to begin with, then it needs to be built up. So you should probably start out with mild exercise and build up as you can handle more anyway.

And I agree with Agasfas, a big part of diets is patience. My Mom didn't lose much right away, but she stuck with it and the results were impressive. And walking is awesome. If you can find a friend to walk with, you can talk and you'll be exercising before you know it. And with walking, you can build up your distance little by little.

[Maledicte]

I pretty much do it on a day-by-day basis. If I do a lot of exercise, or if I know I will throughout the day (walking all over campus, doing chores and such) I eat plenty. If I won't be doing much that day, I cool my jets a little.

Also, decreasing food amounts, even only slightly, can help. Instead of eating that 1 cup of cereal that the serving size is on the box, try 3/4 of a cup. Most likely it'll fill you up just as well.

[Kisa]

the key is never eating til your full, only til youre satisfied. only eat things which are good for you and don't snack ^^ exercise daily too

[yukinon]

Oh yeah, and if you have a tendency to snack a lot, snacking on dry cereal (not the sugar-covered kind) instead of popcorn or chocolate or ice cream is really helpful.

[Alice]

Well, I guess I won't be dieting any time soon.

I need to eat until I'm quite full otherwise I often feel bad on the vitamin pills I have to take. If I don't eat enough with them I get queasy and sometimes throw up and I'm not going to risk that.

Thanks for the advice anyway, guys.

[Dunedan]

I lost 300 pounds by eating only cheetos and mountain dew and carrots. I have pictures to prove it, too, but they aren't pictures of me.

[Conner999]

Snacking is fine. Actually, snacking is good. Like I said before... If you eat small amounts, many times throught the day, you raise your metabolism and burn more. I eat crud loads of food every day and I never gain weight.

[TurkishMonky]

Diet? i tried that once. i said i would just eat the types of food my sister eats (aka healthy foods). i quit halfway through breakfast.

Excersise? i do that too! i have a 6 lb. laptop i carry absolutely everywhere, from the moment i get up to just before bedtime! that's gotta let me burn some calories...

EDIT: Oh, but btw, my brother burns 1000 calories a day on DDR alone. If i could actually finish a song, maybe that would help me too...

[~Natsumi Lam~]

umm i dont really diet... never have. I just limit my suger intake and exorcize.... dont eat fast food that much. Gained 40 lbs in one yr on Jack in the Box Tacos.



No worries i lost a lot already.


~Natsumi Lam~

[Stephen]

I try to watch what I eat. IE at work, rather then grabbing those microwaveable items...I go for salads. I also try to stay active. (hunting, hiking, kickboxing, etc) The important thing...is STAYING active. You can diet till your blue in the face, but if you sit on your butt all day long...it aint gonna help much.

[yukinon]

I have decided to not care at all about what I eat this December. My sweet tooth is coming out and I am giving it full reign. I'll work it off later.

[shadowblade]

Diet? What diet? I usually just play DDR. And I carry at least 20 lbs in my bookbag every day (that's how much my bookbag weights without any schoolwork lol). On weekends, I use a smaller bookbag, but it still weighs at least 10 pounds. So I guess that helps a bit too. Lol.

[Sakura15]

I havent succesfully lost the weight I want to yet, so I can't really help you. I just drink a meal replacement shake for breakfast and lunch. And try to exercise everyday. Although, it's not always an easy thing to do, mainly because I have like no motivation. I'm talking to my mom about maybe taking some dance classes, or karate or something that will keep me active. I wanted to do basketball, but found out my homeschool grp doesnt have it.

But anyways, im still trying to lose 30 pounds. I plan to be there by march, I just have to keep my eyes on my goal. With God's help of course, I'll do it.

[Nate]

Losing weight is simple, scientific, and logical. Don't pay any attention to carbs and fat or anything else except for one thing.

Calories.

If you eat 1,000 calories in a day and burn off 2,000 calories, you WILL lose weight. No ifs, ands, or buts. If you burn more than you consume, it is 100% without a doubt guaranteed that you will lose weight, period, end of story.

All you need to do is ignore all the nutritional info except calories (and cholestorol, if you're worried about heart stuff), and make sure that you are using more calories than you are eating.

[Heart of Sword]

I don't need to diet. I'm blessed with my mom's metabolism...lol...I'm pretty thin...not that I care, I don't care about things like that. But I should probably exercise more.