CSIRO Diet? LIte n Easy? Weight Watchers? What do you use?

[MilkOnTap]

There are SOO many diets on the 'market' at the moment, especially with New Years coming (resolution haven) and I have decided that I am going to jump on the band wagon and say "My New Years resolution is to Lose weight"

First step. My 'darling' mother subtly gave me the CSIRO wellbeing diet book. Very subtle mum. But many thanks all the same. I have read through it, and it looks fantastic. The structure looks really easy. One thing. I cant really find the effort to cook these fantastic meals when it is just for me. My husband has a total of 22 days left at home between now and the end of August 06 and I really dont think cooking meals large enough for 2 people will help my diet program.

I have used Lite'n Easy before, and I am beginning to think that this might be the way to go for me while hubby is away. $119/week and they provide me with breakfast, lunch, dinner and all my snacks for 7 days a week. Plus, I dont have to shop. No leftovers, no mucking around. Easy.

I guess my question here, is what program do you use? How do you guys keep fit and trim? Supermum, I noticed in the BMI thread you said you have lost 23kg's so far! What program are you on? How much exercise do you do? I have done my BMI and I need to lose about 30kg's as well.

My goal? To have a new body by the time my husband returns from sea!

[cosmic]

Great goal, Ally.. and what a great motivator! I'm not sure I can really respond... I've done all 3 but never the full 100% diet as I've only ever needed to lose a couple of kilos here and there.

I can tell you that from my experience, I swear by the Weight Watchers points program. I personally have never gone to WW meetings but bought the points guide and stuck to 18 points a day when I needed/wanted to lose weight and it was simple. The thing I like about it is you can eat whatever you want, as long as you count the points so it's not very restrictive. A good friend of mine lost about 30kg on it and she also found it really simple. You eventually get to know how many points in everything and can really quickly tally in your head.

I've done Lite'n'easy but only ever did the 5 day plan so we could still go out for dinner or lunch occasionally. I found it hard - restrictive for socialising and 6mths later we still had L'n'E meals in the freezer. :o

I also did my own modified version of CSIRO before the book came out (downloaded it from the net) and just followed the basic plan and found it soooo easy to lose a couple of kilos really quickly. And not hungry.

So for me - in order I would go WW, CSIRO and then L'n'E.

I think anything that makes YOU think about what you are eating and make YOU have to prepare it is setting you up with habits for life. As opposed to L'n'E which does all the work for you, so that when you are finished you still have no idea how to cook and eat in a healthy way, IYKWIM. :rolleyes:

GOOD LUCK! :D

[drewid]

Hey :)

I jump on the weight-loss bandwagon every few weeks. And 2 days later my motivation dies. Its soooo hard sometimes. Especially now in this really hot weather - I reaaaaaly don't want to go for a walk cos its so dan hot!

I have done Weight Watchers before and lost 10 kgs( a few years ago - I was very proud, and then nicely skinny!). Then I met a new man and it piled back on. Dont' you just love it.

So at the moment I am just hovering...waiting for 'real' motivation to kick in to lose about 15kgs. I probably need to lose more, but I will be quite happy wiht 15! I really just want to go back to being a size 12/14, I miss that so much. I have all these gorgeous clothes that dont' fit me right now! I want to wear them again...

I have toyed with the idea of the CSIRO diet, but all the preparation scares me, even though that is the key. Its hard enough trying to feed DH, Andrew and I without getting all technical about it. At the moment its whatevers in the cupboard/fridge!

I do have Dr Phil's weight loss solution book though. Its a good read, makes a lot of sense. Its helped me to clear up some of my bad habits, but I still haven't reformed as such.

I'd love Lite n Easy, but its sooo expensive just for 1 person, so couldn't possibly afford to still feed the rest of the family! YOu are lucky at least in that it will be only you at home! Much easier...

I'd ideally love to lose the weight before conceiving again. Fingers crossed for both :)

Anyway my whole point was to let you know you're not alone, and I will join you on this quest!!

[Foxy]

Hi Ally

I have been doing weight watchers for the past 3 months and have lost 10kgs. :) :) :)

I have not done any "official" excerise, other than that associated with a very active 10 month old boy! Of course, they do recommend light excercise for a speedier weight loss.

The was the best one for me because I didn't need to buy any particular food etc, just had to follow the points plan. This made it easier for me when going out to dinner or having take-away etc. A good example is DH and I have a Friday night take-away pizza night - I just adjusted my topping choice and number of slices to the amount of points I had left over for the day. It is more about portion control than good foods/bad foods, so I like that I can have a couple of lollies if I am "good" the rest of the day etc.

It cost me $16.95 per week to go to meetings, but I stopped going after 8 weeks because I had all the info, and was confident I could keep going with it on my own. Of course, WW does not recommend this approach!

Their website shows what meetings are in your area.

Good Luck. :)

[Mischief]

Hi Ally,

I lost almost 15kgs on Atkins....NO DONT FREAK OUT...you dont have to eat alot of fat!!!!!!

The wellbeing diet is suppost to be pretty close actually...low GI foods, and alot fewer carb than most diets.

Be wary of *low fat* foods...alot of the time they dont have much less fat, but they have HEAPS more sugar...if you dont burn sugar your body stores it as fat...just alot of people dont realise that. Sugar can come in the form of SUGAR, or Carbs...so try to stick to slow burning carbs such as brown breads...brown rice...wholemeal pasta....wholemeal flour...etc...

Best fruits to have are berries..they are low GI. :)

If you are intersted there is a great forum on all sorts of low carb diets at:
http://www.empowerfoods.com.au/forums

[Mischief]

Oh and PS....

If you drink booze :) your body burns that first above all other fuels!!!!

[cosmic]

Oh and PS....

If you drink booze :) your body burns that first above all other fuels!!!!
YES!! But if you are on WW, you just count the points in the drinks and eat with what's left over. So technically still 'legal'. :p

[MilkOnTap]

I have tried WW when I was 16 and I lost about 10 kg at the time. And then a couple of years ago I went on the LNE and lost about 5kg in 4 weeks.

I understand the pro's and con's of all of them. I guess I am put off by WW cause of the point counting thing. Seriously, I would prefer to do a gazillion sit ups each day than count numbers of points! And I'm not into working out GI ratio's etc etc, so I am kind of thinking that perhaps back to Lite'N Easy.

But you have all inspired me to do it! Whatever program I end up choosing, I am going to do SOMETHING! If I do Lite'N Easy then I will probably do a CSIRO based eating habit until DH goes, and then jump on the Lite'n Easy bandwagon...

[Nickster]

Hi Ally,

I went on the WW diet just before my wedding and lost about 5 kgs - just enough and just in the nick of time ;) .

The first 4 weeks were probably the hardest re: counting points, but you soon get used to that and can "anticipate" how many points you are likely to be consuming in pretty much any meal. And like Cosmic said, you can eat what you like - of course, if you eat a choccy bar, that's about a zillion points and means you can't eat anything for about 6 months! hee hee!

I'd do it again in a flash, but I'm not motivated enough at the moment :o .

Good luck whatever you choose!!:)

[cosmic]

So true Nickster. Isn't a Big Mac something like 10 points? :eek: And when you're working on 18 for the day, you soon learn where to get value for your points!!

Glad you're feeling inspired Ally. I think CSIRO is a good one too.. for me personally it's got be flexible and I find LNE just too strict. We're all different so whatever works for you. ;)

[Dancing Girl]

I'm on the bandwagon too for next year!

I've also done the WW point counting thing (I can't believe the point count for a piece of mud cake!) although I couldn't bring myself to do the low carb diet (I love bread too much :D ).

As far as how much weight I want to lose, I refuse to weigh myself (I just can't get on those damn scales), so I go by the fit of my clothes instead. My goal is to get back into my size 10 jeans, but if I get a BFP in January like I want, I guess it will be a long time before they can come back out of the wardrobe :p

As cosmic said, we're all different, but I found that the amount of exercise I did was more important than what I ate. Not that I did 3 hours at the gym every day, but a half hour walk every day and a pilates class and an aqua aerobics class every week (with a few cheeseburgers during the week!) shifted more inches than just a half hour walk each day and WW point counting.

Anyway good luck - I'm sure you'll reach your goal by the time DH returns home

[sugar n spice]

If it was only me i would definetly do liten easy the problem is i can't do that plus still feed the family. I have the csiro total wellbeing book. I haven't read much of it and don't follow the plan though im sure it would help if i did, lol. The meals in there are really yummy though and dh loves the meals. Good luck

[samuelboy]

I've had a go at the CSIRO diet, I liked it but I'm a real snacker so I found it a bit hard.

I have lost 20kg before on WW (sadly all put back on) but after I have this bub I will get back on that bandwagon. My MIL is a leader and tells me they have just released a new program, still points but you can either count like you normally do or eat from a list of free foods and you have a certain amount of bonus points every week. Don't know too much, I'm sure she will start the the subtle (not) hints once I have bub.

[melfunction]

Dh and I are about to embark on the CSIRO diet. I need to lose at least 15 kgs and Dh about 20kg. He recently gave up smoking and timtams have become his substitute :o So I'm not the only timtam addict in da house!!!

[Mischief]

I found Atkins really easy to stick too....I didnt count carbs after the first 2 weeks..you kinda learn what is good, acceptable, and ugly pretty fast.

I did measure keytones though (you pee on a stick..kinda like preg test..LOL sorry if its TMI)...and that tells you how you are going. As soon as Tiny is born I'll go back on the slow weight loss phase of it....I belive that is acceptable if you are breast feeding, and once the breast feeding is over I'll go back to the start to loose my excess weight.

One thing that Ive found really important though is remembering not to diet when you are preggers...I stopped dieting when we started trying...because I didnt want to run the risk of being pregnant and not knowing....doing some damage or something.....

But weight loss into a better BMI for you, can make pregnancy easier...so fingers crossed for you sweetie!!!!!!!!

[Mummabear]

I girls. I've done most of them and spent a fortune in the process :rolleyes: . I've done....

Lite N Easy
WW
Sureslim
Natropath
Easyslim
Optifast

The only way I ever lost weight was when I was 19 and took diet pills and stopped eating altogehter :eek: Don't worry, I'm not advocating this - just sharing.

I'm currently doing WW and HATE the points system. I find that because my main meals are so low in points (because we eat so many vegetables) then I have all these extra points left over that I have to use up (they say you should eat within 2 points of your allowance :rolleyes: ) so I would 'spend' my points on junk food.
so the more junk I ate the more junk I wanted and then I would just say, bugger it and go and get KFC.

WW now has a new plan for 2006. It's called the No Count plan and sounds like a much better option for someone like me. If I have the choice available with the points plan then I just eat everything cause I have trouble restricting myself. The basis behind the No Count plan is that you have a list of food that you are allowed to eat freely from, and you have to learn to pay attention to your hunger and fullness signs. I haven't started this yet, but when I go back to WW in the new year I"m going to do this plan. You can switch between the plans so you can work around parties, going out for dinner, etc. Sounds much better for me.

I'm currently trying to use up all of the boxes of Optifast that I have in the cupboard. That is the only where you have only 3 shakes per day and nothing else. Needless to say I'm not going so well with it. I manage for 2 days or thereabouts and then can't cope without food anymore.

My biggest prob is that I am SO IMPATIENT. I need results tomorrow. I want to wake up skinny tomorrow and then just have to work at maintaining it. I'll diet for a couple of days, then look in the mirror and say 'you're a fat blimp anyway so what's the point, you'll never lose it' and off I go to the pantry.

I've started a blog to document my weight loss struggle. If you're interested this is the link..... http://myweightlossstruggle.blogspot.com/

I'm really interested to see what is working (or not working) for everyone else.