Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Ok, so this is my first post here. I am about 10-15 lbs. overweight. I just can't seem to take them off. I am also, admittedly, the laziest person in the world so I don't exercise. At all. Is it possible to lose the weight just changing my diet, or am I nuts??

And, if it's possible, can you all give me some ideas of things I could/should be eating? I've been having a protein bar for breakfast, a protein shake for lunch (for the past two weeks and haven't lost anything yet) and then my usual dinner. Which is usually a chicken dish (we eat A LOT of chicken), or some kind of steak dish or pasta. We also eat pork occasionally.

Any and all info is welcomed and appreciated! TIA!!

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Absolutely!

I have used WW for losing weight - I prefer it over MFP. It's a really easy app to use to track your food and weight. They always run membership specials.

Are you eating fruits and vegetables? I load up on those in all of my meals...it adds fiber and since they're full of water, it helps keep you full.

Also, water. Water, water, water...drink it up. Keeps you full, it's great for you, and you can easily throw in some lime or berries to flavor it. I only drink water/seltzer, coffee and different types of teas. No juice, no soda. It's either lots of calories for basically nothing (juice) or chemicals (soda) On weekends I'll have a couple glasses of wine, or a bit of whiskey or a couple of beers, but I keep that to a minimum.

You can absolutely lose weight by tweaking your diet. Also small things like taking the stairs, a walk on your lunch break or parking a few blocks away can help get you moving if you don't have time to exercise.

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Thanks K!

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

I'm sure others will chime in with tips!

One other thing I did was I stopped putting sugar in my coffee or tea. I just lowered the amount until I got to a point where I didn't use it anymore. I don't use artificial sweeteners at all so it was never an option for me to use those in place of sugar. I don't miss it at all!

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Posted by PearlJamChick



I'm sure others will chime in with tips!

One other thing I did was I stopped putting sugar in my coffee or tea. I just lowered the amount until I got to a point where I didn't use it anymore. I don't use artificial sweeteners at all so it was never an option for me to use those in place of sugar. I don't miss it at all!

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

I did medifast and lost 40lbs on it....no exercising. Have kept the weight off for 2 years now by watching what I eat and watching carbs. I'm just now starting to incorporate exercise into my life, two small kids and a husband that's working all the time so it's been tough finding the time.
You can do it!!

Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Weight lost is 90% diet. So yes you can. I have done it 2x. Without exercise

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Try to eliminate sugar if you can...sugar basically turns to fat. Don't eat white carbs (pasta, white rice, white breads, or anything made with white flour....) If you do that, eat lots of fruits and veggies and lean meat you should see results. Also, it takes time! Not everyone drops in the first week. I know for sure that I don't. Especially when you don't have significant weight to lose. It's a process but you'll start seeing results. :)

Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

I did medifast a about two years ago and dropped that last few I was looking to. It just wasn't something I could sustain and I kind of hated the food. Haha.

Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Thanks for the replies guys. I've never heard of Medifast - I'll look into it,
I know my HUGE problem is sugar/sweets. I am trying to cut as much as I can.
On a good note (and I know it's not much), but I weighed myself last night and I'm down a pound.
Yay for small victories!

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Yes, it's possible. I wouldn't recommend what happened to me, but I lost 20 pounds in 4 weeks b/c I was afraid to eat. I was having gall bladder issues (turned my liver jaundiced, etc) and any time I ate something fatty, I ended up in the ER throwing up and in extreme pain. However, I ate a lot of pasta with marinara, bread, veggies, fruit, and rice. Which really looks a lot like the plant-based, no oil diet that's part of Happy Herbivore and Forks Over Knives.

Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Yes absolutely! I lost 40lbs with WW so far this year.

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Absolutely possible!

I've tried WW, Medifast and Nutrisystem and WW was the easiest to follow because you are able to eat "real" food while guiding you to make healthier choices.

I lost 35lbs on it earlier in the year and my mother has lost 23lbs over the past 3 months. It changes your mindset, because you are only allotted a certain number of points a day, you don't want to waste your points on higher calorie foods. I found myself eating a heartier meal in the morning and afternoon, while snacking on fruits and veggies throughout the day (because they are 0 points), and a smaller meal at night. I've also found that while on WW, going out to eat wasn't so difficult anymore, because some restaurants now have a WW section that indicates how many points a meal is

I'm currently going for weight loss surgery at the end of the month because of the large amount of weight I need to loose, but I still find myself to this day following the WW points system. Can't sing it's praises enough.

On Medifast, I lost 11lbs in 1 week, but I was starving all. the. time... Even with drinking water (I was up to 90oz a day at that point). The minute I ate something other than the bars/meals/shakes, I gained. For me, it wasn't a realistic way to loose the 100+ lbs I needed to lose. For smaller weight loss goals, it's great!

I hated the food on nutrisystem, so I only lasted a week on it. And I don't even remember if I lost anything lol.

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Thanks again guys. I'm going to look into WW. Is it expensive? Along with being lazy, I'm also pretty cheap.

MrsM429 - my DH had weight loss surgery in 2014 and lost 130 lbs.
Good for you. Which one are you doing? He did the sleeve. FM if you want.

Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

I would follow the 21 day fix diet plan. you can find it all over pintrest without buying it. It's a balanced clean eating approach. medifast is disgusting and expensive. I bought it in desperation after my first pregnancy and still have a box of bars leftover bc its gross (2 years ago). I had my second almost 5 months ago and im down to my pre pregnancy weight bc of the 21 day fix due largely to the diet

and no im not a beach body coach. im just a happy consumer

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Weight loss is all about calories in/calories out.

Eat less tcalories han you burn in a day and you'll lose weight.

So if you exercise you can eat more calories and still have that deficit, but you don't have to.

You'd just eat less

It can totally be done

Exercise just adds weight loss, it's not mandatory for weight loss

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Another tip I got from here (can't remember who posted it) was after dinner to go brush your teeth. This way you are less likely to snack/eat junk (this is my go to time to do that stuff). For me, once I brush my teeth for the night, no more eating

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Posted by Dolphinsbaby

Another tip I got from here (can't remember who posted it) was after dinner to go brush your teeth. This way you are less likely to snack/eat junk (this is my go to time to do that stuff). For me, once I brush my teeth for the night, no more eating

Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Yup. Absolutely. I started weight watchers on sept 8th and I went for my weekly weigh in today and I a, officially down 18 pounds. I do not exercise. Not for any other reason other than its been so crazy lately I haven't had the time. I did it purely on diet alone (and believe me I am an eater!). I am so proud I accomplished this.

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

I lost 60lbs last year through CMWL (diet shakes). I did not exercise because I had just undergone abdominal surgery and exercising was painful, so I had to limit my calories immensely to see dramatic weight loss in a few months.

I have been on and off WW for years but I never lost more than 10 or 12 lbs on it, so now I dont bother with it. My main complaint about WW is how the points system means you can still eat unhealthy foods. You can eat 5 bananas and then 1 slice of Dominos pizza and still stay within your points but pizza is far from healthy.

Another issue I have with anyone who claims its just "simple calories in and calories out = weight loss" is that after a certain point, you plateau weight-wise.
I still have 30lbs to lose (my BMI is still borderline 28/29) and I have struggled losing and gaining 5 lbs in the past 3 months even though my diet hasnt changed that much. I feel like at some point, your body reaches a weight where it stabilizes and doesnt lose it quickly unless you drastically increase exercise, cut out 99% of bread/sugar, or change food choices dramatically. The only way I see weight loss is when I completely stop eating anytime after 9 pm. If I eat a graham cracker at 11:30 pm, I know the scale will punish me the next day. My dr just put me on Belviq which is supposed to help w weight loss because no matter what I eat, I end up losing it much slowly now or not at all.

So sometimes you need to use various methods to get the weight off - cut calories, eliminate certain foods (sugar), increase exercise and possibly take drugs like Qsymia, Belviq or appetite suppressants to fool your body into burning more fat. It really isnt a 1 size fits all IMHO. You have to find what works for you and usually that involves trial and error. For me, WW was just a colossal failure.

Re: Is it possible to lose weight with diet alone?

You should try the 21 day fix. I just started and already lost a few pounds. Like one of the pp said, you can look it up on Pinterest for recipes and ideas. You could just buy the containers to portion your food and skip the workouts( I think you can buy the containers without workouts but not sure). You might not lose weight as fast as you would with the workouts, but I think it should still see results. I like it because you can still eat regular food. It's just all about clean eating and portion control.