What's The Best Diet?

Frankly speaking, the best diet is not a diet. It is a lifestyle change. Usually we gain weight because we are eating too much junk and not getting enough exercise. Ugh, the E word. We'll address that later.


When I was a young(er) adult, I could eat what I wanted with little to no repercussion. I didn't have to exercise (although I was active), count calories, watch portions, etc. Then I made a career change and took an office job. I went from being on my feet 40 hours per week to sitting at a desk most of the time. I gained about 5 pounds in the first few months and plateaued out. I didn’t try to lose weight as I still felt happy with my size. All that changed when I got married. 

Having a husband around who loved food led to eating more, eating out, and eating more often. I gained about 20-25 pounds in less than a year. Yikes! I had already made the switch to a vegetarian lifestyle, but was filling the void left by the absence of meat with carbohydrates. Not the good ones, either… Pasta, pizza, breads…. I decided I needed to lose weight and, like most, wanted to do it immediately. I tried only eating carbs in the morning, and filling the rest of the day with veggies. Fail. Lemonade diet? Fail. Atkins? Being a vegetarian already set me up for failure for this one. Counting calories? Fail. I tried almost everything short of prepackaged food programs.

One day I saw a Weight Watchers commercial and decided to give it a try. I signed up online because I could not picture myself going to meetings. If you are unfamiliar with this program, it is pretty simple. You can eat whatever you want. Each food is assigned a point value based on its protein, carbohydrate, fat, and fiber content. Each day you can eat X amount of points, with bonus weekly points to use on days you go over your allotment. The first few days were hard. I had to enter all my foods into my online tracker. Once I had my favorites programmed, it was very easy. The site keeps track of your daily and weekly points, as well as rewarding you with activity points for exercising. I lost 6 pounds the first week, and continued to lose weight at a healthy rate over the next few weeks. Soon, I got really good at knowing a food’s point value before even having to track it. I cancelled my online membership and now carry a small notepad so I can track my daily points.

I cannot stress enough how much I LOVE this program! It is designed to teach you HOW to eat. You quickly realize you can have pancakes for breakfast and pizza for lunch, but dinner is going to be lacking (fruits and most vegetables are 0 points and considered “free foods” so you’ll never starve yourself). I learned that my problem is portion control, and Weight Watchers really helped me learn how to properly portion my meals. I would strongly recommend this plan to anyone having trouble losing weight.