What is your most effective diet and weight loss regimen?

[wildman]

Just thought I would start a thread where others could post their most effective diet and weight loss regimens.  Or maybe some programs that have worked well in the past for them.  Hopefully it could help some fellow dieters.  I know I would enjoy hearing them.  Thanks!

[Jackd]

I would also like similar advice.

I want to get my BF down to about 15% by about feb 2008.

I struggle staying/getting motivated to exercise, BUT I am fairly active, I have a physical job at least.. my diet is my downfall but i just don't know how to eat healthy but have quick to make stuff.

Looking forward to hearing peoples ideas..

[Doodley]

One way to lose weight quickly without working out is Atkins.  Not the entire diet, just the induction phase.  Basically, eat under 20 carbs a day, and if you're 200 lbs you'll lose about a pound a day for a week.

It's an extreme thing, but effective.  It will mess with your bowel movements, and you may get kidney pain. May get sleepy or dizzy.  Should take vitamins.

It's pretty amazing though.  Some people say it doesn't work, but that's just because they think they can eat out, or eat food that doesn't have the carb count on it--cannot do that.  No flour no sugar, basically, is no carbs.

There is no halfway with this diet though.  If you screw around, have an 'exception' or something, you will totally get fatter on it, because fats like meat and cheese are all you can eat.  You could accidently eat a piece of fruit, for example, take your body out of fat-burning "ketosis", and just get fatter, if you weren't very careful (because fruit naturally has carbs in it).

It's kind of an unhealthy thing to do to oneself, but it sure does burn pounds, especially the first week or so.

[KyleExtreme]

Yup yup Low Carb AND Excercise is the way to go... I am 6'3 went from 215 to 180.   THe first 20 lbs. went away FAST.  I mean I lost it within 2 months easy.  I have before and after weight loss photos posted in the photos section.  It's a relatively new topic so it's still towards the top. 

[wildman]

Yeah.  I agree about Atkins Induction.  I've had similar results with that one.  I read one success story on the Atkins page where a big guy (300 lbs) lost like 90 lbs in 100 days.  I think they just kind of got into a routine and stayed there.  I can't seem to stay on Atkins long enough though.  I get run down.  Too tired to exercise.  Maybe I need to resolve to stay on it longer.

[tunapuff]

I suggest eating 5-6 meals a day spaced 3 hours apart.  Each meal consisting of 3 parts...a low fat protein (Grilled chicken, turkey, tuna, tilapia, lean cut of steak)...a complex carb (brown rice, baked potato, whole wheat bread/pasta)....a vegetable (lettuce, broccoli, peppers, spinach, peas)
The only meal that should be different is a post workout meal which should be a fruit and a lean protein.

Aside from the diet...cardio 3x a week prefferably first thing in morning on an empty stomach
Along with weight training 3x a week concentrating more on timed rest to elevate the heart rate rather than trying to get big.

[wildman]

Thats a good tip about only eating when you are hungry and just eating enough to get unhungry jologs1.  I think thats a good tip about cardio in the mourning on an empty stomach as well.

I've lost about 50 lbs on Atkins but I'm thinking about switching over to some sort of Lean Cuisine/Healthy Choice/Subway type thing and taking Ally to sort of mix it up a bit.  I usually don't eat breakfast but a lot of people on this post and elsewhere seem to swear by small meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism up.  I think I'm going to try that and maybe Hydroxycut as well.

These have all been great tips so far.  They have given me a lot of fresh ideas and I'll take all the help I can get.  Keep the tips coming if you got 'em.  Thx

[tunapuff]

I also would not skip breakfast....i still think the cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach is best, but immidately following you should eat a fruit and a lean protein as a post workout meal.

[State_Property]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/girard5.htm

everything u need here calculators and all

[Jackd]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/girard5.htm

everything u need here calculators and all

That has been really helpful thanks! I've worked out all my "stats" , amount of weight i need to lose to meet my target BF%, learnt a bit about when to eat and worked out how many calories I can eat per day to meet a 2lb per week weight loss.

I know a lot more now, but still not sure what to actually eat... this diet stuff is so damn hard, or is it just me that finds it hard

[State_Property]

skip to about halfway down the page where the calorie calculator is fill it out, u probably already did and read everything below it very carefully.
the macronutrient ratios are right there very very important to learn then a little lower u get an almost complete list of all the carbs, protiens and fats u should be feeding urself, the amount of food ur required to eat may seem overwhelming at first as it was to me but a few basic supplements will help tremendously whey isolate will help with protien intake and i got some homemade protien bars with all natural ingredients that are a great breakfast in themselves not to mention quik. the forums have plenty of recipes for those.

[moobius]

in my experience, i've had great success utilizing the below:

CKD: cyclic-ketogenic diet. similar to atkins but more structured. i lost a lot of fat while gaining some muscle on this

DoggCrapp Diet: this is a diet/training combo plan that helped me lean out while putting on some MASSIVE muscle gains (massive food consumption -- if i wasn't sleeping or working out, i was eating)

UD2.0: Ultimate Diet 2.0 this diet was very tough, but slimmed me down and hardened the physique like no other. the fat melted off while gaining muscle mass. tougher than CKD, but the results were worth it. the depletion workouts were mentally and physically brutal


if you're looking for a more moderate approach, look at the Southbeach Diet. similar to atkins but much more "health" oriented.

[gettingrid]

I basically used calorie counting which gives me flexibility to change things so I dont get bored.

My diet (male 28yo 6'2 orig 247 lbs now 207 lbs in 4months)

1. Eat some breakfast always to get your metabolism started (e.g. high-protein slim fast shake, cereal and low fat milk) ~250 cals
2. Eat some lunch where you know how much you are getting (lean cuisine etc have a bunch of good entrees which are ready in 5 mins) ~350 cals
3. 2 Small snacks in between meals (fruits, baked chips and salsa in small calorie containers. 100 calorie snack packs) ~ 200 cals
4. Dinner (something under 600-800 cals) tofu, vegetables. I am a vegetarian so I took protein supplements instead of eating meat/fish.

Other stuff

5. Drink lots of water (supposedly improves metabolism)
6. Avoid any sugary sodas (take light lemonade, diet-sodas, diet arizona tea)...drank green tea off and on dont know if it helped.
7. Most fast food places do have things to eat under 400 cals (qdoba, jimmyjohns, taco bell, subway, fazolis etc. ) look up their nutri info on their website before eating out...small changes like halving the cheese or mayo can bring down their calories to reasonable levels without sacrificing taste...

I think this is something I can do in the long term without stressing out and thats why it worked...I did other drastic diets before which did help me lose 5-6 pounds in a week but I was very tired and lost some lean muscle too....I am thinking of doing one of those if I reach a plateau....tried the Alli pill but only for 2 weeks whenever I was slowing down or traveling and could not hit the gym. Seemed to help. Also taking a 2-3 days off (normal diet) suddenly helped to avoid going into starvation mode.