Losing Weight

Some of us battle with our weight.  We’re either too fat or too skinny, our bums are too big, our boobs too small etc.  I spent most of my teens and early 20’s trying out different diets, most of which did little aside from making me grumpy and very hungry.  Different diets work for different people though, so here is a personal summary of those I tried and how I faired.



South Beach Diet
This involves eating a lot of meat, cheese, protein and certain vegetables and fruits. I only managed to stick to this one for about 3 weeks as I found it really hard when socialising and also I missed having pasta and bread.  However I did lose 3 kilos in the run up to an overseas holiday, so it does work.  There are 3 different stages so you introduce more fruit and veggies and then the diet teaches you about healthy eating once you get to your goal weight so they encourage a variety of foods, which is sensible.



Atkins Diet
A popular one with celebs, back in the day.  The Atkins diet mantra is carbohydrates are bad and protein is good.  Hence this diet consists of mainly of eating meat, fish, cheese, eggs and not much else.  Possibly not the healthiest of diet options due to lack of food groups to choose from.  Having said that you do lose weight whilst you’re on it.  Unfortunately I found it hard to maintain this, as I like my carbs too much personally.



Slim Fast
Possibly the hungriest I have ever been.  2 shakes a day and a ‘healthy dinner’.  I tried this on and off
for a while, but honestly it just didn’t fit in with my lifestyle and I was starving! 

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I do know people who do the shake diets and they do work if you want to kick start your weight loss, however once you begin eating normal food, then you pretty much put the weight back on.   Also in terms of nutrients, again, this possibly isn’t one of the healthiest options available out there.

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Cabbage Soup
I tried this one when I was in my late teens.   You basically make up a huge pot of soup made up of veggies, chopped tomatoes and V8 juice.  Then you eat that for as long as you can 3-4 days.....  It’s a similar version to the shakes, however the veggies are obviously a lot more nutritious and you can add seasoning such as herbs or chilli to spice things up.  This particular diet, is great for a short term fix such as a special event to attend or alternatively if you’ve had a big weekend of indulging and feel the need for some healthiness.

Again long term, this is not maintainable and too much cabbage can do funny things to your tummy and bottom.