Thinking of trying a diet

[Sephiroth]

I'm considering giving a try to this plan called the Warrior Diet. Its actually pretty simple; the idea is that you fast during the day and eat at night. Its supposedly based on the cycle that was followed by ancient societies, particularly their armies, where they had to be on the march all day and really only got to eat once they pitched camp for the night. You are allowed some food during the day like maybe some yogurt or a piece of fruit, but dinner is essentially your main meal. The main reason I am thinking of trying this isn't because I want to lose weight-that is actually the last thing on my mind. I am interested mainly because it actually suits the way I typically eat in a day pretty well; I never really eat breakfast-for some reason I am just never hungry in the morning, lunch is usually something light like a sandwich of a salad, and dinner is usually my main meal of the day. Under this plan all I'd really do is just eat slightly less during the day and make my dinners a bit bigger with a few more sides and maybe even an extra course. There are a few other things, like giving preference to organic food and avoiding food stored in plastic or aluminum as much as possible, but that sounds pretty common sense to me anyway. And yes, you are supposed to work out at least a few times a week.
So, I think I will give this a go for a couple of months and see how it feels to me. I will actually quit it if I lose weight; I am scrawny enough and with as little body fat as I have losing a lot of weight is actually a bad idea. Wish me luck, will keep you guys updated!

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Diets are pointless unless it's a permanent change because as soon as you return to old habits you'd just put weight back on, but since you're just moving your eating schedule to match your living schedule, why the f*** not?

[Deleted]

I simply don't believe that diets work. Your body is designed to store fat and will thus burn off the excess very slowly. Maybe years.

The thin people who look great, don't get there by dieting, they do it by being active. You want to be in shape? Pick a sport.

[Deleted]

The best mix for getting in shape with minimal effort is light exercise daily + balanced eating daily. You won't drop all your weight overnight but it'll work wonders as the years go on. You can eat things that aren't even healthy (pizza, hamburgers, subs, etc.) as long as you don't overdo them. Look at the number of calories you're ingesting each day. If you aren't losing weight, that means you need to add more exercise, or reduce food intake, or both.

Experiment with it and see what works. But don't try any gimmick diets. They either don't work in the long term or cause deleterious health effects as you go on.

[Red Impact]

Jan 6, 2014 9:52:39 GMT -5 @torgaddon said:

I simply don't believe that diets work. Your body is designed to store fat and will thus burn off the excess very slowly. Maybe years.

The thin people who look great, don't get there by dieting, they do it by being active. You want to be in shape? Pick a sport.

That's all a matter of intensity. Your body favors simple sugars when it's a high-intensity workout, it favors fat at moderate intensities.

Being active is important, but unless you're an olympic-level athlete in training, you're not going to burn enough calories to make it more of a factor than diet. Going on a diet is typically a bad idea if you don't plan on making any permanent changes, but changing your eating habits if you're looking to lose weight is vital.

But this is more a matter of picking up some fad diet because he's already eating something similar. In reality, it probably won't matter too much unless he's burning less than he's taking in (and isn't looking to gain weight).

[Hurbster]

I use the recipes in the Hairy dieters book. Use less meat, replace with veg. For example I do alot of stews and casseroles. I use less meat and bulk it out with courgettes and celery. They absorb the flavour, big eats, low calorie. I make all my own sauces and rubs so I know exactly whats in them. It's worth spending a bit on spices to get a good supply. Especially in the winter when only the UK native ones can survive outside (mint, rosemary, thyme ect).

[Deleted]

I've had some health issues since birth that have prevented me from being super active, so monitoring caloric intake is what works for me. Try using Myfitnesspal. I find that it's easier to just keep track of calories, because it helps you give-and-take with your food choices, and there's no silly gimmicks like Weight Watchers points (i've tried all of that) that are tough to apply to daily life.

I lose about 40 lbs that way, but put most of it back as soon as i stopped keeping a close watch on my calories. I'm trying to get back on it now.