Brief Overview of Programs I Have Tried

Before I begin, I want to make clear that I am not categorizing these programs as 'good' or 'bad' - so I'm not saying one 'works' while another 'does not work'.  It is not as simple as that.  Each program has pros and cons.  The trick is for each of us to find what program works best for us - then WORK THE PROGRAM.  The failure I experienced on some plans was not really the program's fault - it was my own for allowing food to get the better of me.  Or shall I say - my addiction got the better of me.

Atkins: I'm a HUGE believer in a controlled-carbohydrate approach.  Much of my undergraduate training is in the sciences - including Nutrition, Physiology, Anatomy and Biochemistry - which has given me a better understanding of how the body utilizes energy and stores fat.  I have read Dr. Atkins original book over and over again.  Most people who I have heard criticize the Dr. Atkins program have either not been obese or are going off of what other people say instead of getting the facts for themselves.  Many times I have heard people state that the Atkins plan is 'so bad for you' and when I ask why, they repeat some one-liners that they heard somewhere else.  Worse, is that they are often not true!  I am not here to to defend Dr. Atkins work, that can speak for itself if you let it - I believe that you need to make your own decision by getting informed and reading his work yourself to see if that plan is best for you.

As for my own experience, I lost 80 pounds in about 4.5 months (starting at about 340 pounds).  And, I have done this more than once after I gained it all back.  I want to make a point again, the weight gain was not an indicator of a plan that doesn't work - it instead was a demonstration of what happens when you revert to old habits.  For those of us who suffer from a food addiction, it will NEVER go away.  We can learn techniques to help control it, and stay healthy - but it will always be there, waiting to take over in a moment of weakness. 

Low Calorie Plans: I'm lumping these together because they all work on the idea that cutting calories is the trick to losing weight.  Interestingly, while calories are important, it is certainly not the ONLY thing to look at.  I have failed time and time again on low-calories plans.  And in this case, not because I reverted to old eating habits - I could never lose any significant amount of weight in the first place!  Let me briefly explain why. 

You may have heard that "a calorie is a calorie", or perhaps, "it is all about burning more calories than you take in".  On the surface, this makes perfect sense.  It is also partly true...what is inaccurate about it, is that a calorie is NOT necessarily the same thing as any other calorie.  Calories from different sources are utilized differently in the body...calories from a piece of steak are NOT metabolized the same way as a calorie from a piece of bread.  This throws a wrench in the idea of needing to burn more calories than taken in.  Firstly, calories taken in may not all be absorbed...secondly, depending on what else is being digested at the same time (if there is a high insulin response or not - thanks to the presence of carbohydrates), calories can be more or less likely to be absorbed. 

I won't go into much more details on that - my purpose is not to give a science lesson, but if you are interested, please look into what I am referring to.  The reason I brought up what I did is because a typical low calorie plan is often faulty because of the very things I just talked about!  Designers of these plans generally remove fat (making them lower calorie), but adds more sugar (making them produce larger insulin responses) so that they still taste OK.  This can be a recipe for failure because it goes against the way our body utilizes energy. 

Yes, I know that many people lose weight on these kinds of plans.  I am not trying to "knock" any specific plan - only to give my opinion about them based on my experience and educational background.  In fact, if there is a plan that meshes well with your own particular situation and personality AND it works, stick with that!

Starvation: Yes, I have actually done many self-trials using starvation as a method of weight loss.  I am including it here for a few reasons.  One, is that I know many readers may revert to this in desperation - especially those who have just cycled through a binge episode. 

NutriSystem:

Medifast: