Hi all from South Africa

[Simonwilliamorm]

hey guys, ive recently become really intrested in diets and there effectiveness or lack of effectiveness.....really just keen to hear what works in most peoples opinion and what does not work...

Regards
Simon

 

[Asylum]

Hi and welcome to the forum, hope you will find motivation and information here

As for your question, what worked for me was SLOWLY changing my habit, first i stop eating soda/energy drink/chips/chocolate everyday, and started to incorporate fruits and vegetables into my diet. Second was starting to do some exercise, i started to work back from my work everyday instead of taking the bus, it's about 45min walk i don't see the time go by listening to my ipod. Since when i joined this forum back in september i lost 50 pounds only by doing that, i recently joined the gym and been having sooooooo much fun, i'm feeling so good everytime i walk out the door at the gym, it's a really nice feeling.

Things that doesnt work, crash diet , starvation, trying to change everything at once. I been overweight for the majority of my life, and everything i had enough and wanted to change i would do everything at the same time, stop junk and eat boring stuff, start to run hardcore, and quit smoking. And it always only lasted about a week before i gave up.

Probably one of the biggest factor for me was to realise that loosing weight and getting fit is a long process, it's not something where you see result wittin a week. But after the first months on the right track i would see my progress and it would keep me motivated.

That's pretty much what i have on my mind right now, so good luck to you and remember it's a day by day thing, don't try to go too fast like most people do.

Cheers

 

[fortyfour]

Are you doing a study? Or is there another reason?

Anyhow for me what works is this:
Eating food i really enjoy - and that is i must admit healthy food cooked in a delicious way - some examples, fried rice, felafals with lots of salad or in a wrap, noodles soups, lentil salads, and many other recipes that i either work out myself or get from another source.

Not sacrificing the pleasure of full fat products for the sake of lower calories. I need my food to taste really good and low fat milk , yoghurt, cheese does not do it for me.

Understanding the number of calories for my size and how to reduce the amount i eat so that i don't get hungry. But i don't count calories as i have done it before and so i use a x servings of this or that per day that a lot of nutritionists use. But of course recognising that it is underpinned by knowledge of calories, but also nutritional needs.

Eating low calorie foods in bulk but in a balanced way so that i get all my nutritional needs met and don't go hungry.

Totally avoiding foods that i have a hard time controlling the amount i eat eg cheese, nuts, every sort of sweets

Eating 3 main meals a day and only snack on fruit etc if i need to

Regular exercise of a type that i enjoy and at a level that i can sustain for a long time. in my case i am doing it every second day. I go for a long walk or walk and run combo.

A lot of psychological stuff that i am not going to elaborate here. But suffice to say I have come to understand the ultra importance of maintaining a non-stressed and non-depressed emotional state.