Gladys, you sound at your wits’ end with this and I and others can feel your pain!

Here’s the best advice that I can offer.

The best way to lose weight appears to be not to diet!

UCLA researchers have pointed out that diets often cause more harm than good because they create disordered eating habits and provide few or no long-term health benefits.

Individuals who do reach and maintain a healthy weight make sustainable lifestyle changes, rather than going on a quick-fix diet and some of these changes are:

Exercising regularly

Although it’s possible to lose weight without exercising, it’s hugely important for health reasons to be active so you should be doing at least thirty minutes of moderate activity five times a week which might mean cycling to work and back for fifteen minutes each way, or going for a thirty minute jog every weekday morning.

Emotional factors

If you overeat due to stress, unhappiness, boredom or other emotional factors, you’ll need to address these in order to make permanent changes.

If you can’t stand your job, you might need to consider switching to a different career path.

If you’re in a difficult relationship, it could be time to leave.

If you eat because you’re bored, take up a new hobby, go out for a walk!

You might need to talk to a medical professional or counsellor about the emotional issues that are holding you back and please don’t feel any shame in doing this because being willing to seek and accept help when you need it is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Making permanent changes to eating habits

Ultimately, you will only lose weight by making successful and permanent changes to your eating habits which might mean breaking the habit of having a cookie with every mug of coffee, or it might mean getting into the habit of eating your five fruit and vegetable portions every day.

Try to introduce new habits slowly, rather than changing everything all at once.

well i agree with a lot of Michael’s reply but i’ve got some to add. Having successfully lost 63# 2 years ago and pretty much kept it off i would love to share some tips. the first is that this is not a diet, this is a lifestyle change. to lose the weight i ate 10 calories for each pound i weighed, so my calories went down with my weight loss e.g 1800 at 180# and 1400 at 140#. i absolutely did not count carbs or fat, just calories. i also made sure to eat 5-7 small meals a day. this means i can eat all throughout the day and never be hungry. i tried to load up on veggies so i could have a lot to eat. and that also ties in with Fiber intake. 25-35mg per day keeps you fuller longer and regular. an easy way to get there is a high fiber oatmeal with a tablespoon of psyllium husks and 1/2 cup of berries for breakfast. you are super full and pretty much at your fiber goal for the day. there’s also simple things to substitute to lower your calories throughout the day: a sandwich thin vs. 2 slices of sourdough, crystal light vs. sweet tea, light condiments vs full fat, light oatmeal, etc.and i rewarded myself every night with 1/2 cup of regular ice cream(140 cal per 1/2 cup, not ben & jerry’s) that i ate out of the measuring cup!!! one of those meals was a protein shake mid morning when i went to the gym. i would do 30 mins of cardio followed by 30 minutes of strength training 5 days a week. and i did different muscle groups each day to isolate. monday biceps/triceps tuesday thighs and butt wednesday chest and shoulders thursday calves and abs friday back. at least 5 different exercises with 3 sets: 15,12,10 reps. losing weight is 90% what goes in your mouth. and with that….sometimes you will really goof. my rule of thumb is never do it 2 days in a row! allow yourself one day a week to eat what you want without counting calories but without going absolutely hog-wild. and don’t weight yourself everyday and especially the morning after your “day off”…..you will drive yourself nuts! limit yourself to 2x’s a week. and onto maintenance. you will find the right amount for you to stay stable in your weight, but about 14 calories per pound worked for me. thats 1680 for me which isn’t alot, but i’ve gotten used to eating less by slowly reducing my calories (the weight loss took me a little over a year) and learning to make better food choices. i hope this is helpful Gladys.

i forgot to mention with the strength training that as you lower reps with each set you also add weight. shoulder press: 15 at 10#, 12 at 15# and 10 at 20# for example.

Thank you Michael and Liza!

I hadn’t read anything before about reducing my calorie intake as my weight goes down, and I now see that I’ll have to sort out some of the emotional stuff in my life before starting on a new diet.

You both stress how necessary it is to change my eating habits, and I’ll ponder that.

Thank you Liza for the details on what to eat and when, and congratulations on being in the 5% !!!

Gladys

The above advice is excellent but we should perhaps ask ourselves more about why diets fail.

Because according to the stats above they fail 95% of the time – and that’s big time failure!

They basically fail because all diets make us feel hungry and deprived.

If you cut your calorie intake significantly, you’re bound to be hungry and this leads to cravings for the foods that you’re most trying to avoid – the high-fat, high-sugar products.

And the human mind tends to react badly to any foods being forbidden.

Telling yourself that you’re not allowed chocolate may lead you into a binge.

So take the above advice and don’t expect to lose weight too quickly; just aim to lose a couple of pounds a week.

Eat lots of small meals, and keep an eye on those calories.

Liza was very careful and should be praised, so try to follow her advice.

But if you can’t, then everybody with any experience of dieting knows what things are super fattening, and if you’re not sure then just check it out, and if it’s really high in calories but you’re craving it, then spoil yourself sometimes and maybe cut back on the cals for the next meal or two.

All diets are short-term fixes to a long-term problem !

People who are overweight rarely became that way in a short period of time, and if they did then they most likely took off the weight in a short period of time too.

So if you’ve struggled with your weight for most of your whole life, then you need to recognize that you’re not going to be able to fix that in a month or more of dieting.

When most people diet, they often eat in a way which is not sustainable long-term !

And that’s the number one problem!

So as soon as the diet ends, they go straight back to their old ways.

And this is a particular problem with weird and faddy diets, that are often popularised by celebrities, so don’t even think about following them.

Just follow the advice by the previous posters and you’ll get slimmer and you’ll keep off the weight.

I thought I’d first mention a couple of crash diets because nobody else has yet, and then offer what I hope will be helpful advice.

THE GRAPEFRUIT DIET

The grapefruit diet has been around for decades and was originally known as The Hollywood Diet.

It’s based on the false premise that grapefruit contains a special "magic" ingredient that helps the body to burn fat, but there is little to no evidence to support that claim.

The diet is a low carb, high protein diet, and half a grapefruit is added to meals, averaging between 800 and 1000 calories and the aim is for quick weight loss.

Unfortunately, the weight loss is mostly from fluids and not fat, and results from cutting carbs and calories, not from the grapefruit.

The Bottom Line:

There’s nothing wrong with eating grapefruit. It’s a very nutritious low-calorie fruit, loaded with Vitamin C and fiber, but it’s really cutting the calories, not adding the grapefruit that will do the trick.

THE CABBAGE SOUP DIET

The cabbage soup diet is basically a "modified fast" and promises to help dieters shed at least 10 pounds in one week.

With this diet, you’re allowed bottomless bowls of cabbage soup along with some low-calorie vegetables, so of course you’ll see weight loss, but you’ll experience extreme boredom too!

The cabbage soup diet doesn’t work long term because almost all of the weight loss is from fluids, which will come back once you go back to your normal eating habits.

The Bottom Line:

You lose out on a lot of nutrients with this diet, and another word of caution: cabbages do cause gas, which might prove to be uncomfortable and also embarassing

THE BEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT?!

Like others have said, it’s the " lifestyle changes that will bring weight loss that lasts".

Diet and exercise are key and the golden equation is that you need to use more calories than you consume.

By reducing 500 to 1,000 calories per day, you can lose up to two pounds a week, which may be not as dramatic as fad diets, but you will have more success in the long run.

And by making simple changes like drinking skim instead of whole milk, you can shave off the weight.

It all adds up!

You can still have some of your favorite foods, but remember that it’s all about balance.

• Eat plenty of low-calorie vegetables to help you feel full.
• Drink plenty of water so you don’t confuse hunger with thirst.
• Clear the house of tempting foods.
• Stay busy to prevent eating out of boredom.
• Eat only from a plate, while seated at a table.
• Always eat three meals and one snack daily.
• Don’t skip meals.

Thanks for your post BigThoughts and to everyone else that’s posted or will post. After all that’s how we all learn!

Here’s another fad diet which should be avoided!

BABY FOOD

This diet supposedly became popular after some Hollywood stars tried it.

There are several different versions of the diet, but the most popular is to eat fourteen jars of baby food throughout the day in lieu of breakfast and lunch and then eat a normal dinner.

The idea is that baby food is loaded with vitamins and is neatly portion controlled.

Also, if you think chewing is too much work, you’re in luck!

But the key to many diets is to eat more bulky food that requires chewing to give you a sense of satiety and satisfaction, so to go to pureed food for reasons other than health issues or being a baby won’t work in the long run.

Baby food is designed for babies and they don’t have the nutrient power for adults.

After eating bland baby food, bingeing will be a big risk, as well as overeating if you eat too much baby food and adult food.

My List Of Ten Diets That Should Work.

I did a little research and the following are diets that should work, but as always, it will depend on your goals.

Be aware however, that packaged food programs such as theJenny Craig and NutriSystem are generally short-term solutions or fixes.

• Glycemic Index
  Foods: certain fruits and vegetables; whole grains such as oats, barley, and bran; basmati rice; some pasta; quinoa; chick peas; plain yogurt; and skim milk
• Macrobiotic Diet
  Foods: brown rice; soy-bean products; local fruits and vegetables; beans, seeds and nuts in moderation; fish in moderation.
• Organic
  Foods: pesticide-free fruits and vegetables; whole grains; free-range eggs, chicken and beef; hormone-free milk
• Raw Food
  Foods: sushi, fruits and vegetables, nuts, seared fish and meat
• Sonoma Diet
  Foods: lean protein, feta cheese, almonds, bell peppers, blueberries, broccoli, grapes, olive oil, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, whole grains and wine
• Jenny Craig
  Foods: cereal with skim milk, Jenny Craig-style chicken fettuccine, fruit, vegetables, Jenny Craig-style Pumpkin soup
• NutriSystem
  Foods: Nutrisystem-style apple-cinnamon oatmeal, cream of broccoli soup, beef tacos, whipped sweet potatoes with cheese
• South Beach Diet
  Foods: Phase 1: vegetables, eggs, cheese, nuts, beef, fish; Phase 2: reintroduce bread, cereal and potatoes
• The Zone
  Foods: Meals based ratio of carbohydrates (40%), fat (30%) and proteins (30%).
• Weight Watchers
  Foods: Depends on which plan is chosen.

Dieting always seemed harder for me to do when at work than at home, so here’s some rules or tips that I came up with that help me.

Don’t Skip Breakfast

I’m sure you’ve heard or read "Don’t skip breakfast", a million times before, but that’s because it’s a truism!

My problem was or is, that I’m never hungry until a few hours after I wake up. So what to do?

Just keep some breakfast food at work!

Most offices have at least a fridge and a microwave oven, so regardless of what you want for breakfast, you can most likely have it.

Keep Some Fruit On Your Desk

Put 2-3 pieces of fruit on your desk and when you’re hungry just eat one of them. This is a winner and will keep you away from the vending machine.

Get Out Of The Office

Plan to get out at lunch time.

Go for a walk, clear your head, and make time to eat.

Keep Healthy Food In Your Desk Draws

Here’s what I have in mine:

Small packets of nuts.
Small tins of tuna or salmon
Small cans of beans
Rice Crackers
Whole-wheat pitas

And in the office fridge you can have some hummus or cottage cheese, or even sliced meats.

The best diet of 2012 is the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, according to new rankings released by U.S. News & World Report.

This is the second year in a row the DASH diet, which aims to prevent and lower high blood pressure, has won the category of "best diet overall".

Second place was won by the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet, which aims to lower cholesterol, and third place went to the Mayo Clinic diet, which focuses on weight loss.

Living an active lifestyle requires me to consume protein and healthy carbs. I go easy on sweets and junk food. Vegetables and fruits makes me feel full but not bloated and heavy. Though I haven’t tried a specific diet, I think it’s okay following them as long as you can sustain it.