Subscribe RSS FeedWhen it comes to finding Diets that work, there are lots of options! The fact is, most reasonably constructed diet plans will work. So if you can avoid fad diets and focus on those weight loss programs that are designed for healthy weight loss, you’ll be well ahead of the game. But with so many diets available, how do you find the right diet that works for you? Some of it is trial and error, but I have a few ideas about what I look for in a diet and I know what diets I’ve been able to successfully lose weight with, so here are my thoughts on the matter.
First of all, I want a diet that does not require tons of cooking and fiddling around with ingredients. I’m not a chef and I don’t want to spend tons of time in the kitchen. I like easy diets and any diet that requires a lot of time in the kitchen, where the food prep takes longer than the eating, isn’t my idea of an easy diet plan!
I’m also not a huge fan of weighing and measuring every bite of food I put in my mouth and I hate having to look up and register all of the calories I eat every day. It’s time consuming, annoying and the majority of the time I’ll just forget to do it anyway, so what happens is I’ll spend the next day guessing on what I ate the day before and estimating the quantities. That’s the fast track to failure for me as I’ll just give up out of frustration.
This is pretty much why I’m not a fan of Weight Watchers where you have to always be counting stuff. Sure, it may be easier to count “points” rather than calories, but for a lot of foods you still wind up looking up or calculating the stupid points. I tried Weight watchers twice and found it a completely frustrating experience. It is also not a particularly fast way to lose weight. Plus I really hate going to meetings and the weigh-ins and pretty much everything else about it! So I guess that is another criteria — no meetings. I’m not interested in “checking in” once a week, even by phone. If that’s a requirement of a specific diet, that knocks it off the list for me. I’m a big fan of just ordering my food online and waiting for it to arrive at my front door.
I also do not want to be hungry! I find a lot of regular low fat diets leave me starving and that totally breaks down my will to leave, never mind my dieting willpower. So for the most part, I stick to carb-restricted diets, rather than low fat diets. Lower carb and either higher protein or higher fat diets leave me much more satiated than other types of diets.
So let’s talk about some specific diets then that more or less meet my criteria.
Medifast is the diet I’ve had the most success with. I’ve lost between 50-60 lbs on it and while I still have quite a way to go, I feel like it can sustain me through the long term. This is my second go round with Medifast and I kick myself for quitting it previously. At the time I was giving up smoking and I was feeling too deprived to both diet and quit smoking at the same time LOL That was pretty stupid though as I gained back nearly 25 lbs over the year or so I wasn’t dieting!
The two big advantages of Medifast for me are that 1.) it is a meal replacement program, so I don’t have to worry about meal preparation all the time; and 2.) hunger is not an issue. If you are looking for an easy diet plan to follow, that will also provide stunning results by providing the fastest weight loss possible, I think Medifast is the way to go.
With Medifast, you do eat a self-prepared lean and green meal every day, but I keep that very simple — most of the time I end up having a huge salad with lots of chicken. I can pretty much eat that every day and it is easy to prepare. Or I have some fish and a nice side of asparagus or spinach with mushrooms cooked in just a little bit of olive oil and with plenty of garlic.
As for hunger, as long as I stick to the Medifast program and don’t cheat, I’m not ever unreasonably hungry. You eat frequently on this plan! Six times a day, in fact. That’s five Medifast meals and the lean and green. So you are never more than a few hours from your next meal. Also, after the first few days on Medifast, you are in ketosis and that really helps curb the appetite substantially. it also contributes to the fast weight loss you will see as well. Most people who start with Medifast will lose a good 20 lbs the first month (though results really will vary, I find this is the case in a lot of stories I’ve seen on the topic of how quickly Medifast can help you lose weight.)
If I’ve convinced you that Medifast is the way to go, you can Order Medifast now and just wait for your product to arrive. I am an affiliate of theirs, because I believe strongly in their program and it has been working for me (and lots of other people too!). So I hope you will try and it see how great it works.
Diet to Go is a diet delivery program, so that takes care of my first criteria — limited meal preparation time involved. They have multiple plans to choose from and I think their low carb is not only the best option for avoiding hunger, but the food also tastes better. The plan is very low in carbohydrates, maxing out at net 30 carbs per day, so it might even be suitable if you are following Atkins diet rules (after induction) or even South Beach. However, if you prefer low fat, there is that option as well. In addition, Diet to Go also has a diabetic menu which is great if you need to carefully monitor your blood sugar levels.
The South Beach Diet doesn’t completely meet my criteria for diets that work, mostly because you will spend more time with meal preparation. But how much time you spend is really up to you. You can get away with making very simple meals, but you will probably enjoy the program more if you like cooking. While South Beach don’t really advertise themselves as a “low carb” diet, they definitely have some carb restrictions. On the other hand, they allow a much great variety of food choices than the Atkins plan does. I tried the Atkins plan once and ultimately found it so restrictive that I felt I just could never really eat. Also, the food was expensive! Try leaving on a diet of steak and high fat foods like Atkins recommends? It will make diet delivery programs like Medifast, Nutrisystem and Diet to Go seem cheap by comparison. But like I said, South Beach has a higher carb count and so for most people it would probably be a bit easier to stick to and if you actually like to cook, then this might be a better option for you than either a meal replacement plan like Medifast, or a meal delivery plan like Diet to Go.
Now that I’ve given you a few options to consider, and they are all pretty easy weight loss diets, your best bet for choosing diets that work is to really figure out for yourself what you need from a diet. Would you do better not having to worry about food? Then meal replacement is probably the way to go. But if, on the other hand, you like to spend time trying out different recipes, etc. then a carb-restricted plan like the South Beach Diet might be the diet that works best for you.
Tags: diet to go, diets that work, easy diets, healthy diet, Medifast, south beach diet