Most diets work...the variable is the person's will to cut down calories/intake. Glad your's was successful. I've always advocated for old school Weight Watchers...back in the day they did well for me.

I fundamentally agree with arcy, there is more to it. My nephew has been going up and down wuth his weight for years. Sadly he is now on the upswing. How is it that some of us have better will power than others? Food is an addiction. Eating disorders are rampant.

Cherry, thanksfor posting this. It doesn’t surprise me though.

While on this diet there was no counting calories. I followed a food list, carbs were what was counted, eating less than 20 whole carbs per day. As much meat, eggs as you wanted including bacon but I never ate that much meat because I was always full. I didn't exercise at all, wasn't able to get around very much as my back healed and I still lost the weight. Your body uses up the glucose/sugar from the high carb foods for energy and stores what it doesn't use, by cutting the carbs there is very little sugar so your body uses its own fat as energy. I had heard about this diet for a few years and though no way could I do it or how it worked but then I saw my brother lose 75 pounds he convinced me to try it. I was a carb eater, loved candy, loved all the starchy vegetables and during Covid put on some weight especially in my stomach. I knew I needed to lose at least 100 pounds. It has taken me just 16 months to lose the weight. I haven't had a piece of bread in all that time, no pizza, no pasta, no potatoes. I do allow myself to have a very small amount of berries in my salad. I don't miss any of those foods now because there are good substitutions. Chaffles for bread to make sandwiches, Palmini hearts of palm angel hair for pasta replacement. I can have a fast food burger without the bun, I use ground up pork rinds for breading chicken or fish. Pureed cauliflower with butter and sour cream and garlic for mock mashed potatoes. I was never pre diabetic or diabetic but eating this way can reverse Type 2 diabetes and get you off the medication sometimes in less than a few weeks. I would rather eat bacon and eggs than take medication. I have never been healthier. My A1C is normal, my heart is good, I have no blockages in my veins or arteries, my cholesterol is good. I lost the fat stomach and my butt, I can't wear any of my old clothes, had to buy new everything because I lost so many fat and inches off my body. I still want to lose a bit more because I ate some cookies and higher carb vegetables in December and I gained about 7 pounds but mostly I am just trying to maintain what I lost.

I think if you have an eating disorder like binge eating or others weight loss surgery would be a good thing to have after having some therapy to find out what makes you binge eat, but myself I would steer clear of those new drugs for weight loss. My Doctor asked me if I wanted to try it and I said no because the diet I am on is working why would I want to take that injection and suffer the side effects. Leave the drug for the diabetics.

I do notice on US television stations all the commercials for prescription drugs. We don't have that in Canada. I don't think I would ever go to my Doctor and ask for a drug I saw advertised on tv.

I agree with arcy_gw . Old school Weight Watchers with the food exchanges was the best. When they started to change their plans I stuck to the old school since the new ones had too many loopholes and anyone with basic math skills could see the "science" behind the new ways was BS. I am no longer a WW advocate. They lost their integrity and credibility with me long ago. To this day I use the basic food exchanges to manage my weight. Even back then when I first had a lot of weight to lose I played the system a bit seeing the discrepancies due to having to dumb down the program to fit the masses.

I don't care what a program calls itself I or what the silly food avoidances or additions are. A calorie is a calorie. Carbs have more calories than proteins. Meat and some fat leave you more sated than a carbs. It's that simple. But to my way of thinking eliminating entire food groups like so many today do is not nutritionally wise. Long term deprivation is never mentally healthy either.

Most people I have know who had surgery ended up regaining the weight anyway. I think the ethical thing would be to reserve it for the morbidly obese with issues that don't allow them to lose weight naturally. The people I know who had the surgery were told to lose X amount of pounds before they could have it. I'm sorry, but if you could drop 50 you can lose the next 50 to 100 also without surgery. Offering surgery to people who are only a 100-150 pounds overweight should be a crime. My daughter's MIL was in the obese range but never near the morbid zone. She had to lose 40 pounds on her own. Then had the surgery. Should have dropped around 60 more but she quickly lost a lot more. Sickly skinny, saggy skin and wrinkles. Aged ten years in 6 months but she was thin. Now I would say at least half the weight is back but she has the aging face and sagginess to go with it.

Everyone’s got their own causes, some may be more susceptible to being overweight than others for whatever reasons, but when we see the rate at which this country has become overweight and obese over just the past few decades, to me there’s no argument that for the majority of us the underlying cause is we eat c r a p and too much of it.

I did low carb maybe 15 years ago, lost a lot of weight, but didn’t feel good and I bounced right back. Currently I’m just making a conscious effort to simply eat what’s generally considered healthy food in reasonable amounts. So far my weight loss is about even with my friend who started on Wegovy several months before I started my diet.

While I accept that there can be physiological causes for a limited number of us, I feel like focusing too much on these in a general discussion undermines what’s by far the larger societal issue. Socioeconomic conditions exist, but injections and rubber bands won’t fix those.

Cherryfizz - Congrats on your huge success, and best wishes for maintaining these results.

All weight loss comes from eating less calories than you burn. That is it. HOW one goes about doing that doesn't matter. Weight loss meds suppress your appetite, often to the point of queasiness. in order to reduce food intake, creating a calorie deficit, and therefore weight loss. Weight loss surgery restricts how much one can cram down at one time temporarily, thus creating a calorie deficit, leading to weight loss. Traditional diets, no matter which one. are meant to reduce calorie intake, creating a calorie deficit, thus leading to weight loss. If you are not losing weight, you are eating too much. Doesn't really matter the number. If you are not losing weight, you need to reduce your intake.

There is a terrible genetic condition that is called Prada-Willi Syndrome. This condition is doubly cruel. It causes the afflicted to always, and I mean always, feel starving. They go to extreme lengths to get food. They eat out of the trash, eat non food items, steal, whatever. There are a number of cases in which the person afflicted has literally eaten themselves to death, by eating and eating until their stomach burst. To add to the horror, these people usually only need half of the calories an average person without the condition needs. An adult woman with this syndrome only needs 800-900 calories a day to maintain their weight. You can see how a combination of these factors would cause these people to be overweight. There is a facility in the UK, called Haydock house, which is a residential home for people with Prada Willi syndrome. They have a REMARKABLE record of reducing and maintaining the weight of these people. You know how they do it? You're not gonna believe it........ They do it by monitoring their calorie intake and encouraging physical activity. I know, SHOCKING right?!?!? If the people saddled with this horrible condition are able to lose weight, anyone can. Sorry about it.

While I understand there are some people who blame trauma or mental illness or whatever on their inability to control their food intake, it is my position that there comes a time to grow up and get help. If you are unwillingly to do that, its not a valid excuse. And yes, I take the same position for other harmful addictions. It is YOUR responsibility as an adult to handle your own problems. Obesity in particular is not just a personal problem. It is a burden on the healthcare system, a burden on society, a burden on the environment. Its a huge problem.

I also think that in a decade or so, the adverse affects of using meds like Ozempic ones body does not need just in order to lose weight till rear their ugly heads. And I think that the people who chose to use them instead of just not eating as much, should not be able to seek legal ramifications for whatever consequences come from it. Just like I do not think that people should be able to sue fast food places or junk food companies for them getting diabetes or heart disease.

I have a cousin who struggles with her weight.She didn't believe me when I said that maintaining my weight isn't easy. Like it comes naturally and I didn’t understand that hers was an addiction beyond her control.

I think at some point people talk themselves into believing that it isn't their fault.

I mentioned my nephew, He needs to find out the why of it all before he can successfully keep off the weight.

It is a personal journey. Many people used the Covid lock down to gain weight and they received empathy and sympathy, This then gave them permissionn to keep it up.

DH and I decided the opposite, He quickly bough a bike and I bought a set of free weights.

We used lock down to get healthier.

I have another friend who is very overweight. She had always had back issues her whole life due to curved spine. Now, she can barely walk, it is just too painful. Two years ago she had a minor heart attack. You would think that deter her. Nope.