Has anyone else read the personal stories of all the people that lost hundreds of pounds in People Magazine? Truth is, they all counted calories one way or another. Some did pre-packaged/pre-counted meals (lNutrisystem or Medifast.) Others did Weight Watchers or measured portions.

They all stayed around 1200 calories a day, which is what I'm currently trying. It ain't easy. I've gone over by 200 calories a few times, which will make losing weight slower.

I've read about turtles & rabbits & seen too many unhappy people that wish they could lose faster. I can only eat 3 tiny meals a day if I want to be thin. If you want to lose a chunk this year, you must restrict your caloric intake drastically.

I'm currently debating with my lawyer friend who thinks he's smarter than me. He's 30 pounds overweight for the first time in his 40 year old life, and he's decided to read a diet book that uses food combinations so you can eat as much as you want. I explained to him that "a calorie is a calorie." It doesn't matter if you mix prunes with guava nectar or brown rice with string Beans. If you eat 3000 calories worth of anything, you won't lose weight unless you exercise enough to burn a couple thousand - good luck.

I've been allowing myself 5 ounces of Protein at lunche & dinner - what a pig! NOT. Five ounces leaves me satisfied, but 4 ounces will get me into the tight, sexy outfit that I bought for my March vacation. 1200 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week. Do I really want to struggle on 1500 calories just for 4-5 pounds a month? Hell no. I'd rather stick to 1200 and try for 8-10 pounds.

TO LOSE WEIGHT YOU HAVE TO EAT VERY LITTLE. I'm yelling at myself because it's too simple to register. And I'm hungry.

I have done Atkins in the past and never lost weight until I started watching my calories. Calories do count, I agree with you Lisa. I had to drop my calories to 1300 to lose on Atkins. Now if your exercising on any diet, you can have more calorie (not alot more but more).

Heather, when your in the store and you pick up an item. Look at the serving sizes (or serving) and then look at the calories. Compair them.

For instance. You pick up a package of yodells (little chocolate cakes), there are 3 small yodells in that package. 1 yodel is the "serving size" and the calories are 200. That would mean if you ate that entire package of yodels (all 3, which isn't alot) you would have just consumed 600 calories. 1/2 of your daily intake if your on 1200 calories. Not worth it IMHO.

1 oz of 80% ground beef has approx. 71 calories

1 oz of chicken breast has approx. 43 calories

So you see you can have more chicken for the same amount of calories.

Hope this helps.

This is a sample diet (before I was banded) when I would lose a lot of weight as long as I didnt go over 20-30 carbs a day.

Breakfast

2 fried eggs

3 slices bacon

1 cup Cottage cheese

1 cup Crystal lite

lunch

Atkins chocolate shake

Snack

1 cup pork rinds

1 cup crystal lite

dinner

8 hot and spicy chicken wings

3 small celery stalks

3 tbs low fat cream cheese

1 cup crystal lite

Snack

Atkins vanilla shake

TOTALS: 1500 calories, 20 carbs, 90 fat

The above "diet" wouldnt saticefy me.

So,I would constantly snack on zero carb foods to stay under the 20 carb rule.

The ZERO carb food below is what I would snack on once I had my 20 carb limet excceeded.

Look at the calories... I could add all these calories and fat and NOT add any carbs.. AND still lose weight fast.

Me at 400 pounds lost 40 pounds, my daughter at around 150 pounds lost 15 pounds and my cousin around 175 lost 25 pounds... In A MONTH AND A HALF..

BY staying under 20 carbs and being pigs on Zero carb foods to keep from Cheating.

ZERO carbs food we ate freely.

:

Sausage link 50 cal, 0 carb, 5 fat

Pork chop 2.5 ounces 335 calories, 0 carb, 21 fat

Vienna sausage 45cal, 0 carb, 4 fat

Turkey roasted, 2 ounces 135caol, 0carb 3fat

Olives, 3 small 15cal, 0 carb, 2 fat

Cheddar Cheese 1oz. 115cal, 0 carb, 9 fat

Chicken, Canned, Boneless 5oz. 235 cal. 0carbs 11fat

Salmon, canned, pink, 3 oz. 120calories 0carb 5 fat

Mayonnaise with the salmon

Salmon, Smoked, 3 oz 150 cal, 0carb, 8fat

Sardines, canned in oil, 3oz 175cal, 0 carb, 9fat

Ground beef patty, 230cal, 0carb, 16fat

Pork rinds

Beef jerkey

Summer sausage

cheese cheese and more cheese

I am NOT condoning this mode of loosing weight.. I am JUST showing what we did and how we did it and what the results were.

I HATE this diet. BUT I hate ALL diets. I cannot stay on this one OR on ANY for more than a month or so.

I just KNOW FOR A FACT..that if you DO NOT go over 20 carbs a day.... YOU WILL loose weight..

I doubt ANYONE could ever eat more of the high calorie, high fat foods we ate (all pigs)(my cousin especially would eat pounds of bacon, burger and cheese,) and we all lost the wieght fast.

The staying under 20 carbs has GOT to be enforced.. we also tried this without following the rules and it did not work.. when we actually DID NOT cheat and stayed under 20 carbs .. IT worked..

Anyway.. I want REAL bad to be a 100 pound loser in one year.. that pretty much means I need to lose 40 pounds or so in a month..

and THUS I am back on LOW carb.. to try it, cuz I cant seeem to do it with my tight restrcition cuz I graze and drink my calories full of sugar.

I am NOT counting carbs... SO I know I wont lose the weight..

But as long as I keep my carbs down, and go for my fill in late january.. MAYBE I will get close enough to goal.

I am addicted to my Fitday...I watch my calories like a fiend. I also plan my meals as much as I can...i stay on track that way...I try my best to stay around 1100 to 1200 range and never eat past 7p if I can help it.

First, I'm basing this on my personal experience and from monitoring everyone I personally know that has ever dieted. I'm not talking about someone that only needs to lose 25 pounds, either. And I'm not diabetic, nor do I have any medical conditions that alter the way my food is processed.

Nikki, you're typical Atkins menu is 1500 calories, which is perfect for losing weight. You'll lose steady at 1500 calories, but I firmly believe you'd lose the same weight at the same rate by eating 1500 calories of ANY type of food. I know tons of people who think "Protein diet" means they can eat as much as they want, but the fine print in Atkins' books says you need to measure your portions, which is the same as counting your calories. Nikki's list of foods even shows measured amounts, so you can't eat as much as you want.

I personally believe Atkin's to be unhealthy. Fruits and vegetables are packed with Fiber, Vitamins, antioxidants and a list of health benefits so long that I can't list them. They grow naturally, out of the Earth, off of trees. In my opinion, any diet that tells you to avoid fruits and vegetables should be banned from the system but that's just one person's opinion.

At my current weight, I could lose weight on 2000 calories a day, whether it's from protein or jelly Beans. I'm not basing this on what I read or what I see, but from a lifetime of trying every diet on Earth, including my own junkfood diet. I've lost weight on the Ben & Jerry's diet by living on Diet Coke and a pint of ice cream.

I refuse to believe anyone can eat 2000 calories of one kind of food and have it digested and processed by the body any different than 2000 calories of any other food. Someone that's 300 pounds can have more calories than someone 180 and lose weight. It's been scientifically proven for decades that a pound of fat equals 3500 calories. 3500 calories in meat, cheese, fruit, crap. It's all the same IMHO.

Kare, you're exactly right that one has to maintain a stringent and grueling exercise routine. I've done aerobics twice a day for over a year (in my anorexic youth) but still always had 30 pounds to lose because you simply can't exercise off binges. My current routine has my heart satisfied by walking 45 minutes, doing 100 sit ups and lifting moderate weights several times a week.

Keri, you're one of my biggest competitors in DeLarla's challenge thread because I'm doing exactly what you do - sticking to counting calories and no eating after 7 p.m.

I've done it all. I gained weight and ended up with a stomach disorder after Atkins. I've done WW, Jenny Craig, Richard Simmons, the Beverly Hills Diet and the Schick Center (electric zapping.) The only ones that ever worked were the ones where you weigh and measure and stay under a certain amount of food - in other words, stay under a certain amount of calories and the weight comes off. Easy peasy Japaneeezy.

P.S. Heather, my co-worker gave me the best gift, which is the best calorie book I've ever seen. I left it at home, but I have all the calories, fat grams, Protein, carbs, etc. It even has brand names and fast foods. I started a calorie thread so ask questions there and I'll try to post caloric values when I can. Good luck to all!

By the way, I just overate even when I kept my calories below what I'm allowed to have. I was pleasantly full but couldn't resist my marinated cucumbers. I didn't need an extra cucumber, so I'm still binging on a low cal diet. What will you people do with me????

HeatherGurl.. What Ive done before during weight loss attempts, most successful just not lasting, was to find a good caloric food guide and really look at how many calories different foods have. (try nutritiondata.com) I then went thru and picked out the lower calorie items and started making menus from there. My most successful diet was 1/2 C Fibre One Cereal with 1/2 C skim milk for breakfast, a boneless skinless chicken breast, 1/2 C brown rice (or half of a small baked potato with butter), 1/2 C green Beans (or broccoli, or cabbage) for lunch and then again for dinner. Simple? Not much variety? True, but I found it easier not to have to think about food so much. I was never hungry between meals because it seemed to be a good balance of protien and carbs. I seriously doubt I could eat that much now, and that was probably about a 1,000 calorie per day plan - add in some sugar free Jello with a couple of ginger snaps or nilla wafers and you easily come in under 1,200.

Let's face it, if we are still going after fast food and sweets, chances are we need to step back and think about our priorities. Like DeLara said, which do you want more? A healthy, good looking body, or the few bites of food that give momentary satisfaction but lasting disappointment? Something I've struggled with all of my life.

I can stick to a diet, any of them listed here, and lose some weight.. 40 maybe even 60 pounds. But what convinced me to get the band was my inability to stay on a diet when life's unexpected distractions came up - my husband's mom and her friend coming to America for the first time and wanting to eat ice cream every freaking day, not to mention the meals they wanted me to try. The English do love fried foods. Anyway, I digress.. My biggest fear of trying another diet was putting back the weight PLUS more, which always happened. I finally made it over the 300 pound mark after my last attempt at losing (down 40, up 60). I may hit plateaus, I may stumble along the way and eat Wendy's or fried foods, but my prayer is that the band will at least help me control the portion sizes so I dont regain the weight. I see that bypass patients do gain it back after about three years, whereas the band patients do not. Thats a good sign.

One last thought, and I dont like it anymore than the rest of you. If you are really comfortable with eating 1,400 calories a day but lose slowly.. (ready or not, here it comes) increase your exercise. Blah. *grins*

Delarla sweetie...I am nowhere close to your league I can just sit at your feet in awe of what a trooper of dedication you are! You are doing a hellova job!! That wasn't laying it on thick was it??? :-)

Here is another interesting article about finding about your true numbers should be for your daily intake.

http://diets.aol.com/americatakesitoff/knowyournumbers?tab=11

Something that has helped me with my pre-surgery diet is that if I go off the diet, its no big deal. I enjoy the cheat, and go back to the diet the next meal. That way when I do cheat it doesn't bring me down so much that I go off the diet completely. And I also try to make up for the cheat by increasing my excersize that day and the next. Christmas time and Thanksgiving found me taking lots of long walks. LOL And you can make up for extra calories eaten if you increase your excersize. My doctor told me a good rule of thumb is that moderate excersize (heart rate in the target zone but not uncomfortably out of breath) will burn your total weight in calories every half hour. So a brisk walk for me will burn 335 calories every half hour. Well ok, if I know I am going out for a special dinner I'll go for a brisk walk for an hour, and cancel out any extra calories I take in.

Amy

Keri, I'm only human, and I break under pressure! Those prizes are just as good as yours as mine! We just have to worry about Big Paul!

But I'm not done standing on my soap box as far as caloric value of Protein vs. other foods is. Science has NEVER argued that a pound is equal to 3500 calories. Nobody has ever waivered and said a 3500 calories worth of macaroni and cheese equals a pound while 2000 calories of protein equals the same pound.

A calorie is a calorie, no matter what way you grill it!

"a brisk walk for me will burn 335 calories every half hour"

Without doing math or research, I'll buy this statement. However, when has a good cheat of mine ever been anywhere near 335 calories? When I cheat, I make it worth my loaded nachos. I mean I make it worth my while.

How long & hard to work off 3300 worth of nachos? That's my point!

How many calories in my Cotton Candy Lipgloss? All kidding aside, I did once read that women who wear lipstick ingest about 61 calories a year. Could be hokus pokus, but this goop is pretty kissable!

The only thing I am sure about in this battle of the bulge, bulger, bulgest is that you gotta do portion control, count calories, and get your water in every day. That is working for me right now. If I tried to only count Fat or only count Carbs then I would be lost. I am having a hard enough time to make sure I get in my 60 to 70 g of Protein a day.

Again we are all different and what works for some doesn't for others. Nutrisystem seems to be my niche for now. The funny thing is I tried it years ago and just rebelled big time. So now I am facing it with full force and so far so good.

I personally think Adkins is not a healthy diet regimen. I like eating raw veggies and hearing them crunch in my mouth cause I pretend they are salty chips and the low fat ranch dressing I dip them in is cheese dip. Mind games. Gotta play them. IT is working for me. Too much of any one type of food will deplete necessary enzymes in our system. It just doesn't make sense to not eat a balanced meal to me. I tried to follow Adkins just before I was banded and I just couldn't get my head wrapped around it. Just didn't seem right to me.

Do what works for you!! THat is my new motto.

Geeze, now I gotta start a whole new thread. Fo-git-aboud-it! I started this thread so I'll just hijack!

Penni, I can see how you get 60-70 gm of Protein since your food is premeasured, but (this question is for everyone) how do I get 60-70 gm of protein while weighing and measuring my own food? I'm currently eating:

B: 4 oz cottage chz

L: 4 oz chicken or fish

veggies

tblspn olive oil

D: 4 oz chicken or fish

steamed veggies

tblspn olive oil

1 cup pudding made w/ 1% milk

I don't think this is anywhere near my required protein, but I can't afford to spare the calories!

Lisa my food is measured for the entree's and I have to supplement each meal with veggies and fruits and low carbs. So if I just eat the entree's then I would not be anywhere near the Protein mark. I think you are hitting the mark you just don't realize it.

B: 4 oz cottage chz -- that is a 1/2 cup so 13 g Protein

L: 4 oz chicken or fish -- 1 oz of chicken breast cooked is 8 g Protein

1 oz of flounder has 6 g of Protein

veggies --- depending on the veggies some have trace protein in them

tblspn olive oil

D: 4 oz chicken or fish -- see above

steamed veggies

tblspn olive oil

1 cup pudding made w/ 1% milk