Dodging magic bullets

[CroMagna]

I'm looking for the easiest, most common sensical, and most sustainable way to lose weight.

I like the raw food diet but I don't know if it fits any of these categories, especially the latter too.

I'm willing to go running outside but I know with the raw food diet you only have to go for long walks.

Any ideas? Maybe regular veganism?

[Riddle]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

I'm looking for the easiest, most common sensical, and most sustainable way to lose weight.

I like the raw food diet but I don't know if it fits any of these categories, especially the latter too.

I'm willing to go running outside but I know with the raw food diet you only have to go for long walks.

Any ideas? Maybe regular veganism?

It's not just about the type of food you eat, but how much of it you eat, as you need to burn off more calories than you take in if you want to lose weight.

[CroMagna]

That's one of the problems with the raw food diet because there aren't enough fruits and veggies for the day, so maybe regular veganism?

[Lifeisamazing]

It isn't easy but I think it's most effective:

1. Eat your favorite foods from all these groups in moderation:

• Fish, meat, and eggs

• Dairy

• Grains

• Vegetables

• Fruit

2. Remove heavily processed foods from you diet step-by-step.
3. Lift weights.
4. Move more in general.
5. Eat less than you burn 3-5 days per week and as much or as little more than you burn once every 3-5 days.

[Cochonette]

The most sustainable way to lose weight depends partly on what suits your body type well and partly on having a deep and inspired commitment to losing weight.

[mikej]

eat a balanced diet. i tend to put on weight when i eat too many carbs and not enough protein.

[spacecadetglow]

Simple. Burn more calories than you take in. No magic formula. Monitor your calorie intake and take up regular, vigorous cardio exercise and strength training.

[joelr]

Most folks can drop ten lbs just by cutting out all sweets. No desserts or sugary drinks.

[votoshka]

I'm not sure why you think you can't go running on the raw food diet?? Of course you can There are several raw food eaters who are athletes and exercise extensively! (Check out this: FoodnSport | Home of The 80/10/10 Diet & Dr. Douglas Graham).

It's HARD to eat a 100% raw food diet... but it's more effective than just being "vegan"... many vegans are unhealthy and some are overweight too (fried chips etc. are still vegan after all... as long as they're fried in vegetable oil). So whatever diet you choose you have to consider WHAT you eat as well as how much!

[ginkgo]

Dr Oz says to eat foods that have no ingredient list. Dr Silberstein says to eat primitive. Simple and common sense.

[AndrewJen]

Your post is a little vague, theres brilliant people here to help so specifics would benefit you a lot more...

• Age?
• Current weight?
• goal weight?
• activity level? (outside of exercise, IE do you sit at a desk or walk around all day?)
• exercises? how often?
• How much fresh food do you eat?
• How much refined foods do you eat?

Acknowledging where you are on the weight-loss road map makes it much easier to determine and plan where to go next and move past plateaus later.

Also, while optimistic... going raw, vegerterian or using Ginko's "simple" advice might actually be a lot more of a hurdle than you think unless you're really ready to commit to that. I lost over 100 pounds and it started with small steps, weening out bad foods, drinking more water, finding exercises I enjoyed.

[chrisrushton]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

I'm looking for the easiest, most common sensical, and most sustainable way to lose weight.

exercise, regularly. don't live on macdonalds. that's guaranteed to work and is very sustainable.

people always seem to make weight loss more complicated than it is.

there is no magic pill. it took you years to gain the weight and it could well take you a year or two to lose it all again. accept it. cut out the junk food and refined sugars. get a decent fitness program and FOLLOW IT!

All that being said, here is what I would do if I were doing nothing and wanted to get healthy.

High Intensity Interval Training 3 times a week. 30 minutes of 20 seconds 100% effort followed by 40 seconds of recovery (flat out sprint to light jog for example)
Weights training after HIIT
6 small meals a day, ~350kcal of clean food. Limited saturated fat using a 40, 40, 20% split of carbs, protein and fat. If a fat is solid at room temperature, it's bad. Have a little but try to limit it. If you want to go raw, vegan, whatever. It doesn't matter. The way the calories are split between the macro-groups and the low amount of processed food is what's important
1 Cheat meal a week, where you can eat as much of whatever you want as often as you want.
Limit alcohol as much as possible. If you must drink, vodka and soda water is the best drink to have.
NO SODA DRINKS
Walk as much as possible. I'll happily walk an hour to get somewhere rather than driving or taking a bus. It's also better for the environment.
Join a sports club that meets once or twice a week IN ADDITION to the other fitness stuff I mentioned. This will give you some social aspect to your new healthier lifestyle.

Live like this for a year and you'll be in excellent health.

[liamona]

Take a look at The Diet Cure by Julia Ross. It's a great book with a lot of suggestions on not only losing weight but how to break addictions to sugar, diet coke and other junk.

In a nutshell her philosophy is: Make protein and fat the foundation of your meal, and eat at least 20 grams of protein/meal. Eat a lot of different colored veggies, and limited amounts of starches and grains depending on how well you do on them.

Her other book The Mood Cure is pretty good too.

[James81]

1. Get a paper and pencil
2. Write down what you eat everyday and record the calories in everything you eat and drink.
3. Consume around 1400 calories or fewer each day.
4. Lather rinse repeat.

Not sure it can be made much simpler than that.