I was just a few years away from turning 30, about to get married and was watching several of my relatives struggling with health problems that had only been getting worse because of obesity. I decided I was young enough to be able to change my habits, and old enough to know better than to continue eating poorly and being sedentary.

I had tried the Atkins Diet, South Beach, Weight Watchers, Richard Simmons Deal-A-Meal and dozens of other diets. I had gym memberships and had spent thousands of dollars on food that promised to make me healthy and lose pounds quickly. I had read dozens of books on nutrition, but I was always looking for a quick fix.

I realized that I had so much information — I must have the tools and the resources I already needed to lose weight and reach a healthier lifestyle. I wound up customizing my own diet, using techniques from several different programs to come up with something that made sense, could be sustained long-term and would still allow me to eat the things I enjoy in moderation.

Moderation is the key.

Using the approach in the Three-Hour diet, I gave up large meals and started grazing more. I now split my breakfasts and lunches into two parts, eating four small meals during the day to prevent myself from going long periods of time without eating and being so hungry after a while that I gorge.

I eat a normal-sized dinner, and then I wait a while to see if I even want a dessert. Using tips from the Mediterranean diet, I have cut back on my red meat consumption and starting eating more fish and alternative sources of protein, including more nuts. I also am eating more healthy fats, including olive oil.

Rather than trying to limit myself form certain foods or avoid all food groups all together, I’m paying attention to calories and making sure my input (what I eat) is less than my output (what I burn).

I started feeling a difference within a few weeks, and within a year I had lost 50 pound. I’ve kept it off for two years, without changing a thing or depriving myself.

My-Diet-Program.com provides a lot of good information on so many different eating programs that it’s easy to find different resources so you, too, can customize a lifestyle that works for you. The more information you have at your fingertips, the faster you can change what isn’t working.

-Lee

Watch this amazing story how one Iowa guy lost over 200 pounds and gained his life back.

“I can not say enough about how positively the Atkins Diet and low carb in general has been for me. I went from a 429 pound guy who could barely make it up a flight steps to a guy running half marathons and rejoining the National Guard. My health is fantastic, and my blood work (cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, heart) could not be better.”

-Kent

The best diet, in fact the only diet which has worked for me has been the Atkins Diet. I know it sometimes gets criticized because of the high fat content but I think that as a short term measure it just can’t be beaten. I am not obese but I needed to lose about 14lbs and being the impatient type I wanted to do it quickly. This, for me is the big advantage with the Atkins diet.

Results were immediate. I could eat all types of meat, fish, eggs and some veg and berries. Because there were no carbs in the form of bread, rice, pasta etc I immediately stopped feeling bloated. I have heard that Atkins works because the food you are allowed to eat fills you up for a longer time period.

I managed to curb my sweet tooth by eating low calorie drinks and in this way managed to avoid sweets, biscuits, chocolate etc. I lost the required weight in about one month and never suffered any of the side effects that I had been warned about such as head-aches and tiredness. In fact i felt great especially when I managed to get into those smaller sized clothes.

I admit that once I had reached my goal I reverted to my old habits so this diet isn’t a way of life for me, more of a quick fix when desperate.

-Diana

I’ve had the best results with a modified Atkins diet (low carbs, but not as low as the first two weeks of the Atkins diet, and more fat, less protein). I felt very lethargic before I started and had pain in my left knee. I saw the difference in less than two days. The pain went away, even before I lost any weight, and so did the tiredness.

I lost 40 lbs in three months and my craving for carbs disappeared in about two weeks.

Unfortunately, I went off the diet, partly because I lead a very social life, and couldn’t resist the peer pressure to eat a lot of carbs. Also, my body doesn’t use insulin very efficiently, so I do worse, weight-wise, when I eat carbs. I regained the weight in about three months!.

However, I still use this diet on a sporadic basis to help me with joint pain. I don’t know why it works for joint pain, but my guess is I retain water when I eat more than 50 carbohydrate grams, and the extra water in my knee causes the pain. As for the ease of finding the kind of info I used for my diet on the given wesbite? I would rate it as “low.”

-Tima