How many diets have you been on?

[Phoenyx]

I've just reached over 50 messages so could view my profile and was horrified to discover that since I joined minimins I've tried slimmingworld. Dukan and diet chef. I'd more or less forgotten! Before then I'd also tried weight watchers (reached goal weight with them about six yrs ago but put it back on when my husband left), atkins, calorie counting, go lower, idiot proof diet, sugar dairy & wheat free and a short stint on lighter life. This is over a twenty year dieting history but even still! I'm even more determined to end it now! Think of the time, money, energy and years of my life I've wasted!

Am I alone in this, or have other people reached this point too?

 

[NewDawn]

Hahahhha....you are far from being alone..........my dieting spans over 20 years.....the orange and egg diet, calorie counting, Rosemary Conely, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Idiot Proof, Harcombe, Slimfast and Slimming World etc. I think all these diets have made me fatter!!!
Hoping Slim and Save will give me the kick start I need xxx

 

[sarahlou72]

Am the same! I weighed 8 stone when I was 19 (many moons ago!) and didn't have to bother about my weight - or so it seemed... By the time I was 25 I wasn't happy with my weight and have been on a diet ever since! Every diet you can think of! My cupboards are full of random weird foods that you would only eat on some odd diet lol! I agree, they make me fatter as I feel like im depriving myself so go through binge periods in between each one... I have never been successful on any other diet I've been on apart from a vlcd, which I have done once before and fortunately haven't put any of that weight on again - round 2 to get the last 2 stone off, then hopefully, like you I won't ever need to "go on a diet" again

 

[weasey]

Stranglet enough I have hardly dieted at all... I'm 43 and was a big child and as an adult was probably around 17 stone the vast majority of the time. I once did WW and went from 17 stone to 14.5 stone - perhaps around 15 years ago. Apart from that I have always been 17 to 19 stone. The thing for me is that I never cared what people though of how I looked - it wasn't important to me. Therefore it wasn't a strong enough incentive to start. As a teenager I gave myself permission to eat what I liked and decided not to worry about it anymore - that it was ok to be different. That was fantastic for my mental health (I don't think badly of myself for the choices I have made around food and I know I am a valuable human being with lots of confidence) but it was terrible for my physical health. It took being diagnosed with diabetes and seeing the tablets going up and up before I did something about it. The threat of health issues wasn't enough - my mum and dad both have diabetes so I was hugely at risk especially with my weight - I actually had to have health issues before I took it seriously.

So, strangely, I have been on very few diets.

 

[MiniMoosh]

I'm similar to Weasey in that I've done very few diets- just S&S and I did Rosemary Conley/low GI a few years back. I lost 4st on it but half of that came back when my life changed.

I've alwasy been overweight/obese- I am right now at my lowest adult weight ever. My heaviest I was 21st, at age 19. When I was 26 I weighed in at 16st 10lb so somehow I had lost some weight but not on a 'diet', not on an actual plan. I think I would have times when I could get through 4000 cals a day and some periods where I would be more careful, choose the lower fat option and limit portions but not in any meaningful way. I was also a vegetarian at age 14 and lost a fair bit but I didn't weigh at any point so it mayhave been a stone, or 2, or 3! Who knows. Then started back on meat and went up and up to my highest weight, which I do know because I was in hospital for a gynea visit die to PCOS and loss of periods and the nurse had to weigh me twice as she didn't believe someone my age could weigh that much. Should have seen it as a wake-up call!

I did like doing the Rosemary Conley, I didn't really follow the plan just the rules set (1400 cals a day for me, everything less than 5% fat, low-gi choices) which lead to me finding about 10 meals I knew I liked and would have. So not really following the diet but in my mind I was. Also a ton of exersize which I loved, I can't wait to finish the VLCD and up my cals so I can do some serious exersize again. My two attempts to do some on this have been disarsterous!

Oddly enough I'm now finding out more about other diet like Dukan, Atkins, Paul McKenna etc whilst on S&S. I never looked into any of them, I needed to change and picked this route but had I picked up an Atkins book I'd probably be on that! I'm searching for the ultimate maintenance plan- either the Rosemary Conley Low gi route, or a low carb/Paleo/IPD route but whatever it is I will be using the Paul McKenna book.

 

[squindles]

Oh my word........ww, slimming world, cabbage, slimfast, up day down day, lipotrim, calorie counting, Atkins, Dukan, Tesco, Start weight 12 stones, end weight after dieting after 30 years.......21 stones :cry:

 

[Mhara]

Lots for me too. I was very slim in my late teens, early twenties, but looking back, i really didin't eat at all, so that may have had something to do with it!. The weight crept up a little then but I was very happy, felt sexy & confident and relatively slim until I got pregnant at 28. I put on loads then and have never lost it. I was actually 17 stone after giving birth, but my highest was about 19 stone. DD is 14 this year, so I've been very overweight for a long time.

Since then I've tried ww a few times, slimfast, juice diet, low carb. I'd lose a bit then get bored/distracted/find excuses for giving up.

 

[Darcy15]

Name the diet and I have done it

This is my first VLCD though - and what a revelation!

I feel in control around food for the first time in my life. Very pleased indeed.

 

[and]

I'd never been on a diet until I was 35 (3 years ago). I'd put on weight over my 15yr marriage and wasn't really happy - when I asked my husband to leave it suddenly dawned on me how unhappy I was being fat.

I was the only girl I remember at school who was 100% happy with her body. After having my daughter I've never been happy with my stomach (huge baby, lots of excess skin )

A passing comment to the doc about 3 years ago about wishing I was thinner and him suggesting Lipotrim as he'd just done it changed my life.

I've done Lipotrim about 4-5 times but never more than a month at a time - I just cant' stand the boredom... But my weight is going down - I will reach my goal.

I tried WW last year to see if I could lose the last stone and a bit sensibly but I managed about 5lbs in 3 months so gave up...

So here I am again!

Great to discover this forum and the other alternatives to LT (on week 5 now as I'm trying S&S then Exante). This is adding 2 weeks to my usual month which is great!

Anyway I hate diets, hate the idea of dieting and refuse to spend my life on one... I AM gunna try very, very hard to maintain this time...

Wow - essay! hehe.

 

[Wisney]

I think everyone here has been on at least 5 or 6 diets. The problem I think most of us have is that when things go bad, the only way we know how to make ourselves feel better is to eat something nice. It's a coping mechanism, and I think we're just part of the group of people in this world who eat food for comfort. I think that's why controlling our weight will always be a lifelong effort, and something that we need to keep an eye on. I got down to a nice 9 stone when I was about 14 (after being a 12 stone 11 year old) and now I'm 23 and am 14st, my heaviest. I've tried every type of diet, but life always throws a bomb at me and I don't know how to cope other than to eat some sweets and chocolate.

This time, I have a holiday booked in September and I really genuinely want to break free of the life that my weight has sort of made me 'accept', and I'm hoping that that motivation will keep me strong when I have an upsetting day and all I want to do is eat some food

 

[Want2BeSlim]

I first did a diet at the age of about 16, it was just a lower calorie diet and I didn't get very far (I started to gain weight at the age of 14, prior to that I was always slim). At 18 I then lost 2 stone by not eating properly because I got a job and was enjoying the company and my time there I almost forgot to eat and the weight just fell off me, so it wasn't planned, by about a year to 1.5 years later I had gained it all back. I then went on a low calorie diet when I was 21 which a few weeks later switched to low carb low calorie and I lost about 3 stone. I gained it back and more and I have been on diets on and off ever since for the past 5 years. One of those being exante in Oct 2011 and now Slim and Save. So I would say about 5 - 8 diets in the last 12 years, most only lasting a few weeks, the longest was 8 months.