What eating plan are you currently on to lose weight (aka: what is WORKING?)

[Alexigail]

Weight Watchers is the only thing I've been able to stick with. I use emilybites.com for dinner recipes. I've tried Whole 30 and it worked but once it was over I didn't know what to do. It's not sustainable in the long run, though it is great for kickstarting or eliminating some irritants.

[katilac]

On 6/13/2018 at 10:41 AM, DawnM said:

I like the idea of Whole 30 because it allows fruit, where other low carb plans are so restrictive of any carbs.

 

 

I hate the idea of Whole 30 because it's so restrictive of any junk food ? and I am not going 30 days without alcohol and a highly preserved protein bar. 

Seriously, though, both Whole30 and most low carb plans have something in common: they restrict food during an induction phase and then slowly reintroduce them to see how your body reacts. If you do an Atkins-type program, you might start very low carb (I think they recommend staying on the 20 or 40 carb plan for at least two weeks) but you are gradually adding in more carbs both by number and by type. The idea is to add them in one at a time to see which ones might be triggering foods for you, which ones might make you feel tired, and so on. As anyone who struggles with their blood sugar knows, the same food can garner a very different response from different people. 

OP, I do low carb pretty consistently, and intermittent fasting pretty often, mostly trying to go 12+ hours without eating (eat dinner early-ish, sleep, don't eat breakfast). It is the only thing that has worked for me once perimenopause reared its ugly head. No S used to be a simply one that worked pretty well, counting calories was less simple but always worked when I was younger. I kinda-sorta do Atkins. It's been 10 months so I mostly just keep the carbs on the low side, spending a couple of days paying better attention if I go off the rails. Once this crazy summer is over, I will probably do another induction phase to try and lose a bit more. I come off of the induction phase with no problem, I don't gain the weight back when I move on to a more manageable phase. 

You may have to try a few different things. Some people like to make slow adjustments and see gradual improvement over a long period of time. I do not have the patience for that. I can stick with low carb because I see quick results with it, both in weight and overall feeling. It was pretty easy to figure out the cheat foods that wouldn't set me off into further cravings - for me, usually good quality, high fat ice cream. I can eat a nice big scoop and even the cone and be very satisfied, no cravings. But if I eat candy? That's bad, lol. It takes me days to get back on track. 

 

[SarahCB]

8 hours ago, JennyD said:

 

It's great to hear about people having good results with this.  I've done 5:2 in the past and successfully lost weight but I just couldn't stay with the program long-term.  About a month ago I started limiting eating to an 8hr window.  So far I haven't lost much (maybe a pound or two -- I'm trying to lose 15)  but it sure seems like I'm eating less, so I continue to be hopeful.  

One thing that is tricky for me is that I love to work out and the only time I have to do that is early morning.  At the same time, I can't really skip dinner with the family.  So 6 days a week I get up at 5:30 am to work out hard for an hour, but then I don't eat until 11:30 or noon.  I'm guessing this is not ideal but I can't make it work any other way.  

I love working out fasted and I've read that it can have some great benefits. I often workout at about hour 36 of a fast. I've worked out on day 4 of a fast. I ran a half-marathon on hour 15 of a fast and felt fantastic! I usually have more energy when I'm fasting so I feel better during the workout. And my progress has been really great - fasting definitely isn't hurting my muscle building ability at all.

[DawnM]

8 hours ago, SamanthaCarter said:

PLEXUS!!! OMG!! ❤️❤️❤️

 

 

 

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

 

 

 

just kidding - never used it. 

 

Oh geez, I was like "WHAT?"

[Guest]

2 hours ago, SarahCB said:

I love working out fasted and I've read that it can have some great benefits. I often workout at about hour 36 of a fast. I've worked out on day 4 of a fast. I ran a half-marathon on hour 15 of a fast and felt fantastic! I usually have more energy when I'm fasting so I feel better during the workout. And my progress has been really great - fasting definitely isn't hurting my muscle building ability at all.

I just passed out reading that. 

This does not seem to be true for me. If I am still in a fasting state, I am a weak lifter and a sluggish runner. 

How do you have energy in a fasted state?? Where does it come from? I admit to being intrigued, but I also feel like I would actually die if I tried to run - even a 5k - in a fasted state. 

[SarahCB]

13 hours ago, Quill said:

I just passed out reading that. 

This does not seem to be true for me. If I am still in a fasting state, I am a weak lifter and a sluggish runner. 

How do you have energy in a fasted state?? Where does it come from? I admit to being intrigued, but I also feel like I would actually die if I tried to run - even a 5k - in a fasted state. 

Well, I think it comes from being fat adapted. I'm low carb as well as a faster, so my body runs smoothly on fat (from food or from the body). I don't hit a bonking point when running. I just got home from an 18.2 km run (much of it uphill - 533m elevations!) and I feel fantastic! I started running with this particular group as one of the slowest - so slow that I would get lost on long runs. After training for a year (all fasted), I'm able to keep up with the leaders. Yesterday I had bacon and eggs for lunch and then tuna, cheese, and a dill pickle for supper. No breakfast this morning. Tons of energy. I don't really know how it works, but it works well for me. 

[LarlaB]

40 minutes ago, SarahCB said:

Well, I think it comes from being fat adapted. I'm low carb as well as a faster, so my body runs smoothly on fat (from food or from the body). I don't hit a bonking point when running. I just got home from an 18.2 km run (much of it uphill - 533m elevations!) and I feel fantastic! I started running with this particular group as one of the slowest - so slow that I would get lost on long runs. After training for a year (all fasted), I'm able to keep up with the leaders. Yesterday I had bacon and eggs for lunch and then tuna, cheese, and a dill pickle for supper. No breakfast this morning. Tons of energy. I don't really know how it works, but it works well for me. 

 

Agreed. It is being fat adapted, meaning bringing fat for fuel instead needing constant carbs/sugar.

i was on KETO level low carb and fat adapted and running 1/2 marathons for 6 months in a row.  Never ever felt better in my life!!!

ETA I started down that road after reading “art and science of low carb performance” by Volek and Phinney.  I wanted to train for and run a full marathon and avoid the bonk and loved the scientific approach presented in that book.  Due to unrelated injury I wasn’t able to increase distance so stayed at 1/2 marathon level and started to decrease time instead.  Very empowering to feel in control of my energy and eating (albeit not in control of injury LOL) 

[bethben]

Intermittent fasting https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Fasting-Intermittent-Alternate-Day/dp/1628600012/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1529167578&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=intermittent+fasting&dpPl=1&dpID=51EcmzwjoUL&ref=plSrch

i like it because it’s easy to use and I don’t have to count calories. I was at a point where I was slowly gaining weight even while excercising/ building muscle and eating less food (and no, it wasn’t just muscle—it was fat). I’m not good at having to constantly think about what I’m eating.  I fast from 7pm to 10:30 am and one day a week.  I just eat healthy the rest of the time and don’t beat myself up if I really want some chips and salsa.  It’s worked for me.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, LarlaB said:

 

Agreed. It is being fat adapted, meaning bringing fat for fuel instead needing constant carbs/sugar.

i was on KETO level low carb and fat adapted and running 1/2 marathons for 6 months in a row.  Never ever felt better in my life!!!

ETA I started down that road after reading “art and science of low carb performance” by Volek and Phinney.  I wanted to train for and run a full marathon and avoid the bonk and loved the scientific approach presented in that book.  Due to unrelated injury I wasn’t able to increase distance so stayed at 1/2 marathon level and started to decrease time instead.  Very empowering to feel in control of my energy and eating (albeit not in control of injury LOL) 

I’m intrugued. I would like to read that book. 

I’m generally on the low carb side, but I always seem to encounter some issues because I don’t eat that much fat normally. I don’t eat much dairy because it aggravates my IBS; only occassional plain greek yougurt and some hard cheeses. I don’t particularly like avacadoes. I do eat eggs but I get tired of them because I only like them “dry”. 

I did just read some of the book The Obesity Code and I am going to do intermittent fasting (more). It feels like vindication because I have always been one of those people who doesn’t want breakfast and have been lectured a thousand times about breakfast being the “most important meal of the day.” But I know that the times in my life I have been thinnest, I frequently did not eat until 1:30-3:00. 

[SarahCB]

1 hour ago, Arctic Mama said:

I haven’t eaten in sixteen hours and am not hungry, or tired.  I can’t do it on carbs or out of the blue, but when my metabolism is firmly ketotic and running off of fat, dietary or stored, I don’t bonk or get low blood sugar or feel ravenously hangry when I go without food.  It’s a thing ?

 

And SarahCB, I say this as an exercise avoider, you’re kind of my hero!

I was an exercise avoider my whole life! I started going to classes at the gym about six years ago. Just once a week at first. I hated running and did my best to avoid ever having to run - when I was in school I'd get a note from my doctor saying my asthma prevented me from running. I can't stress how much I didn't like to exercise. Anyway, that once a week in a group bootcamp turned into twice a week which eventually turned into a TRX class that met three times a week. Then I started running two years ago with the Couch to 10km app. I remember running for a minute straight and feeling like that was the longest minute of my life. Last year I started training with my running group and started lifting weights with a personal trainer. I find it so weird because I actually love it now. I would never willingly miss a gym day or a run. I still find it hard to believe that I can do these things. It feels good, though. I like feeling strong and fast. As a former die-hard exercise avoider, I highly recommend it.

[Murphy101]

My current plan is mostly swim 3-4 hours a day 4-6 days a week and walk 5 miles on days I don’t swim and eat whatever the heck I want. Though my appetite has gone down. 

For some reason my feet are killing me at week 4, but otherwise happy as a duck in water.

Maybe I need some new sneakers. Something high quality for hiking and standing/walking long periods of time.

I’m going to the Chiro next week just to keep everything aligned.  

[shawthorne44]

1 hour ago, Quill said:

I’m intrugued. I would like to read that book. 

I’m generally on the low carb side, but I always seem to encounter some issues because I don’t eat that much fat normally. I don’t eat much dairy because it aggravates my IBS; only occassional plain greek yougurt and some hard cheeses. I don’t particularly like avacadoes. I do eat eggs but I get tired of them because I only like them “dry”. 

I did just read some of the book The Obesity Code and I am going to do intermittent fasting (more). It feels like vindication because I have always been one of those people who doesn’t want breakfast and have been lectured a thousand times about breakfast being the “most important meal of the day.” But I know that the times in my life I have been thinnest, I frequently did not eat until 1:30-3:00. 

That is something I find hysterical about the intermittent fasting thing, that it is opposite the Must Eat Breakfast from the 'experts'.  I'd never found the data on the breakfast thing very convincing.  It seems to be based on taking people that normally eat breakfast, then telling them to not eat breakfast and then watching how much they ate for lunch.   Well, duh, they are going to eat a lot because there stomach was expecting food hours ago.  But, they never did the reverse.  I often wondered how much of the Must Eat Breakfast was funded by the cereal companies.  

I'd checked out the audiobook, "The Case Against Sugar" from overdrive and found it very interesting.   Some of it in the beginning was annoying when it quoted people wanting to restrict access to sugar.   But everything else was interesting.  

[FriedClams]

Weight watchers. I'm down 65. I have 15 to go. I love it.

[Joker]

I'm one who added breakfast to my day after not eating it since around my middle school years and I've lost just over 20 pounds since the beginning of April. I have scrambled eggs and fruit (usually always strawberries and frozen blueberries) every morning around 8:30, which is about two hours after I wake up. I don't feel well now if I miss it.

I also finally fixed my sleeping issues and now am able to go to sleep around 10pm every night and I usually wake around 6:30am. I added in about an hour of exercise M-F after breakfast. The rest of my food has pretty much stayed the same except for alcohol. I've cut it almost completely out until I lose what I need to. Dh and I walk once a month to our favorite local pizza place and I'll have a beer or two then. I haven't cut anything completely out of my diet because I know that wouldn't last long term for me.

ETA: I'm not sure what exactly is considered intermittent fasting but I tend to normally eat only between 8:30am to 7pm. So, I regularly go around 13 hours with no food but I definitely need breakfast before I exercise in the mornings. I just think everybody is different and it takes time to find what works for you.

[Guest]

56 minutes ago, shawthorne44 said:

That is something I find hysterical about the intermittent fasting thing, that it is opposite the Must Eat Breakfast from the 'experts'.  I'd never found the data on the breakfast thing very convincing.  It seems to be based on taking people that normally eat breakfast, then telling them to not eat breakfast and then watching how much they ate for lunch.   Well, duh, they are going to eat a lot because there stomach was expecting food hours ago.  But, they never did the reverse.  I often wondered how much of the Must Eat Breakfast was funded by the cereal companies.  

I'd checked out the audiobook, "The Case Against Sugar" from overdrive and found it very interesting.   Some of it in the beginning was annoying when it quoted people wanting to restrict access to sugar.   But everything else was interesting.  

I read The Case Against Sugar earlier this year. I found it very interesting. I like Gary Taubes in general. I thought the info on how those who profit from sugar buried results throwing sugar in a bad light was intriguing. I don’t doubt that has happened historically and probably still does happen. 

[Annie G]

After dh had a heart attack we started eating breakfast on the advice of the nutritionist he was seeing. she claimed he would lose more weight eating breakfast becuase it would jump start his metabolism to burn calories. I heard that for years- that skipping breakfast just made your body adapt to not getting calories until lunch. After a decade of that, and menopause, I started skipping breakfast and eating lunch and dinner between noon and six and nothing after that.  I feel better! I’m LESS hungry skipping breakfast.  Won’t work for everyone but I’m happy with the changes. 

‘However, I do LOVE breakfast so about half the time I eat breakfast food for either lunch or dinner. It’s a win all around. Breakfast food is cheap, fast to fix, and very tasty. 

[shawthorne44]

1 hour ago, Quill said:

I read The Case Against Sugar earlier this year. I found it very interesting. I like Gary Taubes in general. I thought the info on how those who profit from sugar buried results throwing sugar in a bad light was intriguing. I don’t doubt that has happened historically and probably still does happen. 

 

One thing I was thinking about while reading the book, was that there was no Fat Lobby.  

[Wheres Toto]

I just looked through a bunch of old posts and articles and I think I'm going to try intermittent fasting.  I'm going to try eating only between noon and 8pm, so skipping breakfast.  I didn't do this sooner because I have hot tea in the mornings and if I drink it without food it irritates my stomach and I feel nauseous.  But, it's so hot now that I can drink unsweetened cold brewed ice tea in the morning, and it doesn't irritate my stomach.  Dh makes me breakfast but he leaves for work hours before I wake up, so he just leaves it for me.  I can just wait and eat what he makes for lunch (usually oatmeal with berries or eggs loaded with veggies).  

Some of the old threads and articles talked about IF not working the same for women but the cautions mainly seemed to be around fertility and periods.  I'm postmenopausal, had my tubes tied and an ablation so those ships sailed a while ago.  I'm wondering what else I should look out for as far as problems, if anyone knows?    

[DawnM]

How interesting to see the different results......no breakfast helped me lose weight, eating breakfast helped me lose weight.....

[HS Mom in NC]

I lost 15 pounds and have kept it off for over a couple of years by:

1. reducing soda consumption to 1 a week
2. eliminating white bread and replacing it with whole wheat and replacing white rice for brown
3. eliminating sweets and replacing them with 1 oz. dark chocolate each evening
4. Reducing red meats to twice a week
5. increasing veggies and legumes
6. reducing meats to every other day
7. snacking on a handful of nuts instead of other munchies
8. increasing water and tea (no sugar in it) to 8 glasses a day
9. eating at home more and meal planning

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

On 6/13/2018 at 2:48 PM, Hilltopmom said:

For those who are doing keto- any particular website or book you used to get your info?

I’m almost on summer vacation and have time to plan

thanks

 

Art and Science of Low Carb Living

The FAQ on the reddit keto page

 

On 6/16/2018 at 3:10 AM, Quill said:

I just passed out reading that. 

This does not seem to be true for me. If I am still in a fasting state, I am a weak lifter and a sluggish runner. 

How do you have energy in a fasted state?? Where does it come from? I admit to being intrigued, but I also feel like I would actually die if I tried to run - even a 5k - in a fasted state. 

 

Another fasted runner here.  My ideal running time is first thing in the morning, after about 10 hours of fasting.  Second best is 6pm, after eating lunch at noon.  I hate, hate, hate running with any food in my system!  I'm also keto and I think that's what helps.  I switch to body fat-burning pretty easily once the food is gone.  Now that it's hot, I do take salt and Mg with a glass of water about 30 minutes before I run.

[Pen]

 

I did not have weight issues (other than too thin for a while when sick with Lyme) till turning 50 but since then with hormone changes I have been having problems with very easy weight gain. And hard to get it off. Basically healthy unprocessed food in high fat low carb way is the system that works for me. 

No S / Jason Fung IF / Mercola: Fat for Fuel / Fat Chance / Grain Brain /  Organic and more natural—avoiding processed   / keto 

Periodic house sugar purging... though I find having some available (for example I could make brownies if I really really wanted)if I really want it makes it easier for me to avoid it. 

Also am judging by waistband fit not scale kilograms weight. 

Biggest problem currently that I am having is keeping my own regimen going while cooking/stocking pantry for people with other needs. Especially I find it hard to IF as I am preparing food for others  

 

[Pen]

ETA above to be no Added sugar 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Pen said:

 

I did not have weight issues (other than too thin for a while when sick with Lyme) till turning 50 but since then with hormone changes I have been having problems with very easy weight gain. And hard to get it off. Basically healthy unprocessed food in high fat low carb way is the system that works for me. 

No S / Jason Fung IF / Mercola: Fat for Fuel / Fat Chance / Grain Brain /  Organic and more natural—avoiding processed   / keto 

Periodic house sugar purging... though I find having some available (for example I could make brownies if I really really wanted)if I really want it makes it easier for me to avoid it. 

Also am judging by waistband fit not scale kilograms weight. 

Biggest problem currently that I am having is keeping my own regimen going while cooking/stocking pantry for people with other needs. Especially I find it hard to IF as I am preparing food for others  

 

I do think this is one of the less practical aspects of IF, at least as it applies to parents who normally cook and shop for the family. When I was unmarried and had no kids, it was such a simple thing to be “too busy to eat.” I often fasted simply because I was involved in other things and am not highly motivated to eat. With no one else expecting or needing dinner, I many times ate something simple for dinner and little to nothing else the rest of the day. (For which I was constantly criticized however.) 

I would like to do a three-day fast but I think that is not going to happen unless I go on a retreat without anyone, or if everyone else is out of the house for a long weekend. 

[milovany]

Thanks to this thread, I started intermittent fasting (IF) last Thursday, choosing a 18:6 plan (fast for 18 hours, eat for 6) because I have at least 40 lbs to lose.  I'm the heaviest I've ever been. I have tried 5:2 before but it didn't work very well for me.  I thought it would because we already fast two days a week in Orthodoxy (no animal products) but for some reason, the two didn't mesh.  Maybe I didn't like combining my spiritual practice in this regard with something that I equate with having to do with my looks.  I don't know.  Once I'm down closer to my goal weight, I can adjust to a 16:8 plan.  I loved reading the benefits to the body of going for extended periods without food, weight loss just being one of the many.

The reason I love IF now is because with it, I can insert the practices from several of the plans/programs that I've been drawn to in the past.  First, I've read about Bright Line Eating* recently, and the "bright lines" are lines you just never cross.  In that program, it's no sugar, no flour of any kind, eat three meals a day at set times and weigh the set types of food allowed to specific weights amounts. I knew parts of that plan weren't doable for me so I made my bright lines those start eating / stop eating times (for me, 12 noon and 6 pm).  I just don't cross those lines.  Next, I'm very big on waiting for hunger and eating only until satisfied working as a weight loss method.  In my experience, it DOES work -- if I do it.  The trouble is, it's such a struggle all day every day.  And I know there are ways I could try and deal with my compulsion to eat for emotional and not physical reasons, but with this plan of IF, my struggle is only six hours long each day.  I haven't been 100% successful at it, but at least I'm not overeating all day most days. And honestly, it hasn't been THAT huge of a struggle.  Those bright lines are really helping. I have definitely eaten more than I needed to since last Thursday (when taking hunger/fullness into account), but there's just a built in limit.  Next, when it comes to food choices, I can also choose the HFLC (high fat, low carb) food options that I'm also drawn to. I really do think too many carbs is not healthy and that our bodies need more fat. This is more difficult, though, as an Orthodox Christian (who isn't super creative with food) when we're in an extended fast because we can't have most animal products, but it's doable. Once the current fast we're on is done, I'm looking forward to implementing this more. Because I do love sweets, and thinking of life without any sugar or any flour just doesn't work for me, another bright line I'm implementing is a major hit of sweets once a week with my favorite sweet food -- donuts.  One morning a week, I'll get 2-3 donuts (one of them chocolate) from the local bakery and make that the first meal of that day (then I'll hold off having my second meal until just before 6pm).  That way I'm not having to totally deny myself, I just have to wait a few days before I can have sweets again.

Anyway, just wanted to thank those on this thread who talked about your intermittent fasting.  It did encourage me to give it a go and I can see making this a lifestyle.  I thought I could make just Thin Within a lifestyle (the eat when hungry/stop when satisfied) but as described above, I just don't/can't do only that long term. I can see doing daily IF in some form or fashion long term, as a way of life.  It feels good to be in control again and I'm losing a little bit of weight (three pounds since last Thursday).

~~~~~

*I didn't see Bright Line Eating mentioned in this thread.  The book with that name is by Susan Peirce Thompson and this program is working really well for a lot of people. There's a morbidly obese woman at our parish who is doing BLE and she's dropped a lot of weight. She's committed to the program as a way of life and it's really going well for her. 

[Slache]

I haven't read the thread. I've been on Whole30 for... 3 months? I've lost almost 20 pounds and I do *not* lose weight easily. I've plateaued so I'm working out more.