I want to lose about 15 lbs what is the best diet to do that quickly without totally hating the food. Oh one more criteria I want to gain muscle mass at the same time.
I have heard the protien really works but I heard it is not a good diet to be on if you are working out is that true?
Anyway what diet have you been on that you lost the most weight in one month but it was not a total sacrafice of the enjoying of eating?
Well, the truth is, “The Depression Diet” lost the most for me the fastest. Food tasted like cardboard and my digestion was a little off, too. The weight poured off me, but I wasn’t happy with life and it sure wasn’t healthy.
A more realistic option: Weight Watchers. It’s the only one I’ve ever stayed on long enough to tell you what happens at the end of the month. You don’t have to buy special food, it focuses on changing habits for the better for life, not just for the duration of the “diet.” Plenty of support, easy to follow, realistic goals and strategies. Two people in my office have each successfully lost 50 pounds doing this. I’ve lost 11. I went off it for a while, but being “good” again isn’t something a dread, which is saying something.
“The Diabetes Diet” worked for me; I lost 25 pounds in two weeks, kept that weight off, and lost another 25 pounds six months later… this got me down to 145 at 5’9", which I haven’t weighed since I was a skinny little geek in high school.
Seriously, if I had a diet that was safe, easy, fast, and would get you to lose 15 lbs. and gain muscle mass at the same time, I’d be selling it to you and a million other people for a low, low price of $19.95.
Well, one that worked for me had three parts:
Eat nothing but veggies, raw fruit, plain rice, and plain noodles.
Work out (aerobics, weights, whatever you like) so hard that you feel like vomiting, and do it on a daily basis.
Take the legal equivalent of speed 4 times a day.
Still didn’t make me “thin”, but it was the closest I ever got.
i went on a just veggies and fruit diet about a year ago and lost weight. i didnt do it to lose weight (can’t remember why i did it) but i did lose about 5-7 pounds in about 10 days. i don’t know if i kept it off because i’ve never been that concerned with my weight. and i know nothing about muscle gain.
I hate to say this, since I will probably get flamed to no end, but the Atkin’s Diet worked for me.
I lost 40 pounds in 3 months. I followed the diet loosely, which means that I was pretty strict on weekdays, but I do love my beer, so on the weekend all bets were off. I did aerobic exercise (Tae-Bo) 3 times a week, and trained with weights 2 days a week. I gained a lot of muscle, and lost a lot of fat. I mean, now you can bounce a quarter off of my ass, it’s that hard.
Would I have lost the weight without the diet? Maybe. I don’t know. The diet helped me by providing a basic guideline of what I could eat. Once I saw results (and they were fast), that was all the motivation I needed. In the end, I am thinner, stronger, toned, and a lot less tired.
The inescapable fact is that it isn’t any one diet that does it. You have to eat less, and exercise more. I think that the reason the Atkin’s Diet works is that it is hard to binge on protein. I mean, who can really wants to eat pounds of bacon or cheese?
Cranky,
I tried that depression diet too. What you describe was ole to familiar. It sucked. I am glad to see you made it through that.
Jay-c,
Give me the particulars on the diet if you don’t mind. I’m open.
The ‘get hit by a car and spend a month in a coma’ worked wonders for a friend of mine, but that’s not really applicable in general.
I tried a detox/body cleanse on a dare from a coworker. Two days of a total fast, five days of strict vegan/organic food, and repeat. This, on top of my daily habit of a five mile run each day, resulted in eight pounds off in about two weeks.
Of course, I spent those two weeks looking forward to the 24 oz prime rib I was going to eat to celebrate … which went a long way to putting that weight back on. 
Umm, I don’t know that this is an option for you, Wildest Bill, but the fastest body-changing thing I ever did was have plastic surgery (abdominoplasty plus liposuction). 2 1/2 pants sizes with one operation. Best money I’ve ever spent.
Now, as for keeping it off, I, like jay-c, achieved the best results with low-carb eating. I follow Protein Power more than Atkins, though.
See these threads for info about Protein Power, Atkins, and other low-carb eating methods:
[ul][li]http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=53926[/li][li]http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=47217[/li][li]http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=40101[/li][li]http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=6727[/li][/ul]
See these sites for non-SDMB info:
Note: I am not endorsing these sites, and all of them are pro-protein. There’s plenty of other sites out there condemning low-carb eating.
Best wishes.
Jeyen
Yellowjackets and Diet Coke.
Atkins also has a book, “Dr. Atkin’s New Diet Revolution”, which you can buy at any bookstore for about $6. I found it to be a little more helpful than the websites, and it goes into more detail.
Well, I lost over 25 pounds in two months, didn’t exercise at all (I was on partial bed rest) and ate whatever I wanted. I don’t think that this regime is for you, though, Bill…as I lost this weight because I had my ovaries removed, along with a hysterectomy. Once I started hormone replacement therapy, though, I gained the weight back.
Usually I can’t lose weight unless I’m pretty sick.
My most effective one was what I call the “Heatstroke/Dehydration diet”.
Here’s how it works: Wait until summer. At the peak of the hottest week of July, Go a whole day without drinking any water (soda is ok). In the early afternoon (about 3:00), go jogging, again without drinking any water. Run 3 miles, go home, and take a really hot shower (good for loosening up the tight muscles and raising your body temperature. Still do not drink any water. When you start to feel dizzy and nauseous, the diet is working! Watch the pounds melt away!
For added benefit, be depressed over a girl. I went from 195 to just over 150 in about 2 weeks.
Of course I have never in my life felt worse (including recovery from surgery to repair a gunshot wound), but hey, that’s the price you pay to look good!
Possible side-effects include death.
The best QUALITY way to lose weight would be to buy a bike and ride to and from work every day, and adjust your eating habits to reduce caloric intake and fat content. Along with lifting weights (free weights, not a machine, if you have the option).
Since New Year’s, I’m doing pretty well on The Poverty Diet[sup]tm[/sup]. I’ve probably lost 5 lbs in 3 weeks.
Here’s how it works:
In the a.m., eat a bowl of oatmeal with milk & honey. Cost: .50/meal. Mmmmmmmmmm. Fiber. Alternately, have a scrambled egg with a little salsa wrapped in a tortilla. Cost: .25/meal.
At lunch, use the full hour to take a walk, in order to take your mind of stomach rumblings.
The second you get home, eat dinner, before you pass out. Lemme see - I made chicken soup from scratch on Sunday. If I totalled up all the ingredients and divided by how many days I can eat the soup, I’d probably come out with less than $1.00 per meal. I’m too light-headed right now to do the math.
For variety, there is always rice & beans, which was last week’s dinner.
Exercise: Okay, I’ve been trying to do pushups and situps before bed. I have come to the conclusion that I am a weak little girly-girl. I also take the stairs whenever possible, and walk a great deal in the course of my commute.
Hopefully I can write this up in a shiny book and go on Oprah! But then I’ll be rich enough to afford food. It’s a vicious circle.
[Edited by Czarcasm on 01-18-2001 at 08:43 PM]
The Atkins Diet works the fastest, and you don’t have to suffer from poorly tasting food. I lost 35 pounds, most of it in the first four months.
Hell, give up all sweets, soda and bread, and you’ll probably lose the 15 pounds.
Bill, I couldn’t help but notice that you have started several threads recently about weight loss, working out, etc.
You wouldn’t happen to have a class reunion coming up, would you? 
I lost about 60 lbs on the Atkins program and have maintained the loss for over a year. The first 30 to 40 lbs dropped off very quickly.
I don’t call it a diet because that implies it’s something you do temporarily for weight loss. The reason I have maintained the weight loss is that I have, for the most part, stayed on the program. On maintenance I eat more fruit and more whole grains than I did during the time when I was trying to lose weight, and I have more frequent indulgences (molten chocolate lava cake, for one).
I lost the bulk of the weight without exercising.
I was an unwilling participant in this diet, I call it “The Bus Diet”. Ride in a bus that rear ends another bus. Break your jaw and have your jaw wired shut. You then live on anything that will pass through a straw for about six weeks. Ah yes, monday night football and I am drinking beer through a straw while everyone else is scarfing pizza, hot wings, egg rolls and cheese burgers.
I am 6 feet tall and weighed 155 pounds at the time of the bus wreck. I was still 6 feet tall and weighed 125 pounds when my jaw was released.