weight loss diet

I agree with Aardork.

What I'm currently doing is trying to make a "lifestyle change"; diets do not work!!! Depressing, but true. In my eating disorders class, we learned that 95% of people who lose weight by dieting gain it back within 2 years. And 98% gain it back eventually. If you're gonna make a change, it's gotta be for life.

That being said, I'm trying to learn how to eat fewer calories. I really really think people eat more calories than they realize. Keep careful track of your calories for the next few days, then see how many you need to cut out to be at 2,000 (or whatever your specific need is). I'm currently keeping my calories between 1650 and 2100 per day, and I'm very very slowly losing weight (probably about 1 pound per week).

But losing weight slowly is good. The slower it comes off, the slower it'll come back! It may take me a year or more to get to my desired weight, but once I'm there, I'm there!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

Wow - really? What are you doing to keep from getting hungry but yet maintaining a <2000 calorie diet?

I'd love to know, because I could probably use a life style change. My diet usually consists of red meat and coffee.

Do you have to put up with the bullshit of eating rice cakes and shit like that? I just LOVE food too much to be able to sacrifice taste. ;_;

TRUST ME, I struggle with this stuff too. I'm convinced that I must have an amazing metabolism, because I was definitely eating about 4,000 cal/day... I have a food fetish.

Now you might not like to hear this, but... try the sugar-free foods. I know, I know, I balked at the idea at first, too. Like diet soda? Took some getting used to. That stuff is nasty when you first drink it. But honestly, it took me less than a week, and then I was fine with it. Switching to diet soda alone helped me cut out about 600 cal/day. Just try it for a week, and if you still hate it, you can go back to regular... if you drink soda at all.

Some sugar-free foods are pretty good. There are these really good chocolate-mint cookies at publix that are sugar-free... they still have calories, but not as many as your average cookie. Sugar-free jell-o is quite good, too; most people say it tastes like regular jell-o. My newest discovery is hot tea, which is zero calories (the peppermint kind) and pretty good--just add a bit of honey, honey.

But you know what? It's really hard at first. Well, it's still really hard now... I've only been doing this for a coupla weeks. But I feel good about it, and I think... I think... maybe I'll be able to make a lifestyle change. I've been looking up calories for fast food and stuff. I don't restrict what I eat, but if you're only going to allow yourself 2000 cal per day... you're gonna be less likely to go for that 1100 calorie sub from jimmy john's (R.I.P. veggie sub). And you will get hungry. But I imagine that will diminish over time.

My dad is an inspiration to me. He's a big man (about 250 pounds, I think), but he's recently made a lifestyle change and cut out sugar. He still eats chips and peanuts and fattening stuff, but no more donuts. That alone is helping him lose weight--I can tell he's thinner every time I go home! He and I made a deal that if I took at least 3 insulin shots per day, he'd lose at least 1 pound per week.

There's nowhere I can't reach.