I would not take drugs if you have a weight problem that can be fixed through diet. If it can't be fixed through diet, that's another story. But I know a lot of people for whom a low carb diet has kept them off meds (borderline diabetics, etc).

A suggestion: Drink 8 8-oz glasses of water a day (this will get rid of water weight); stop drinking soda (except diet soda in limited quantities); cut all simple sugars out of your diet. Most diets have these 3 things in common. Do this, and then see what happens.

I highly recommend the Diet Rite ~ it's sweetened with Splenda (sucralose) which is made from sugar, but your body doesn't digest it like sugar. It tastes just like "real" soda.

[This message has been edited by aephi alum (edited August 12, 2001).]

When I was fretting about weight gain once, my mom said something that put it all in perspective - "You didn't gain it all at once, so don't expect to lose it all at once"

I'm really wary of all the "diet supplements" ever since I had a bad experience with Metabolife. For the week I was on it, my heart would race and I was just waaaaay too sped up. And the 2 or 3 lbs I lost came right back when I stopped it.

I find that a Slim-Fast shake is a quick way to get a low-cal lunch when I'm in a rush - much much better for you than drive-thru. Also, I've found that Diet Mt. Dew, with all its caffeine speeds up my metabolism.

Although, brute force, i.e. exercise seems to be the best way to get weight off and keep it off. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/tongue.gif

Right on juniorgirl, excersize is a great way to go to keep the weight off. That is my method, I usually eat what I want but usually play b-ball or rollerblade to keep the weight from sticking.

Low-Carb plus a good Cardio workout can really work. I lost about 10lbs over one month last summer eating less than 30gm Carb and running 5miles a day...there are so many diets out there but you cannot just diet alone. Exercise has to be in there somewhere.

There's a great soda out there that is caffeine, sugar (aspertime too) and sodium free...Diet Rite. Lable has all zeroes on it and it STILL tastes pretty good. I started noticing my one can of diet coke a nite as a late snack was catching up to me so diet rite is the way for me now.

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~to be true to ourselves, to those within and without our circle ~

I tend to gain a lot of weight during the summer (when I'm doing nothing but eating), and drop it all within a month of being back at school. The only time that didn't happen was first semester freshman year--I was a coxswain, and instead of dropping weight, I was gaining because all I'd do is run to practice and exercise while I was there. So, I ended up gaining a lot of muscle weight. I tend to drop weight just by walking everywhere, taking the stairs (old buildings don't have elevators that often) and eating cafeteria food (yuk).

Buy SHAPE magazine and read it...every month they have 2-3 stories about women who have overcome obstacles and lost weight. They're very inspiring and may help to buoy you up and feel more positive! http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

AlphaSigLana: I was also very active in sports in high school, then fell away from everything in college. The best way I found to get myself back into shape was running on the Elipsis (sp?) machine. It simulates running, but does not put stress on your knees like running on a track. We have one at my college gym, and I'm addicted!

On the discussion of diet suppliments...I liked Diet Fuel from GNC. I know it was bad for me, but it gave me the psychological boost that I needed to stay motivated. I went off of it after I lost 5 pounds and haven't gained the weight back!

Shape is a great magazine and Self is really good too. There's a wide variety of health related items it both magazines.
aephi alumn (blush at my typo) I didn't know Splenda was in Diet Rite. Whatever it is it sure tastes good http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gifWhile an ingredient like Splenda is on my mind, anyone else preffer WOW chips and such to the regular fattening ones? I like them when I treat myself to chips but my body always has 'issues' afterwards. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif
MoxieGrrl the Elipsis sounds sooo good. I wish we had one. I wonder if it would do anything to help ankles, which are my problem area as well as knees. I had a sprain a year ago and it acts up every now and then http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif And gets sore when it's going to rain too. Everyone I know hates treadmills and would rather run outside but it seems to be the best thing for me. I'm not usually tempted to change my speed bc i know other ppl are around. I go back to school Wednesday and can't wait to get a gym routine going asap.

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~to be true to ourselves, to those within and without our circle ~

[This message has been edited by ZTAMich (edited August 15, 2001).]

Geuss I'm one of the few who likes the treadmill. I go on the endurance uphill exercise for 18 minutes at 7.5 setting and when it's at the peak I crank it up to 10 setting for an all-out sprint for 3 minutes. On my cardio days I also spend 20 on the bike, 10 on the rower, and 25 on the elipitical.
The elipitical machine is alright, the only downside is that it greatly exaggerates the amount of calories burned.

I tend to get into the 'science' of this stuff way more than I should . . . so here's some stuff, after reading the whole thread:

-James's suggestion is pretty solid - try it, it's hard but probably worth it, and the logic is solid.

-Ephedrine/caffeine - sure, this stuff can mess you up, but if you feed lab rats their own body weight in water every day for a few months, the water causes cancer. If you don't want to go all the way to the doses in the type of medications described earlier, find sudafed-type medication w/out psuedodrine (you'll want the 'real stuff') and with caffeine - they do exist - and take the recommended doses of these. It's sort of the 'lite' version, and hockey players and baseball players have done it for years to increase workout efficiency and game-time readiness.

-Atkins diet - studies show that, for most people, the reason it works is because it causes you to cut out the majority of 'junk food' in your diet. Seriously - what do most people cut? Chips, sodas, candy, french fries . . . etc. - if you don't want to ditch carbs entirely, then try to limit these types of foods (which is pretty basic diet knowledge anyway - so i guess try to adjust the atkins diet to why you're cutting out foods).

-According to Men's Health, the average male loses 8-10 lbs in three months, just by cutting out juices and sodas from his diet . . .

-Also - don't limit yourself just to cardio work. For people who worked out doing cardio 3 times a week and weight work 3 times (two sessions overlapped, happening in the same day, for four sessions of 1 hr a week) a week, for two months, the average weight loss was in the neighborhood of 3-8% of total body weight, with net gain in muscle mass and a huge loss in bodyfat percentage. For those that just did 5 cardio workouts a week, they lost slightly more overall weight but had much lower cuts in bodyfat and had a net loss in muscle mass. The point? You'll want to keep tone etc., and keep your body "filled out" while losing weight - so add some light weight training to the workout. Even women.

-Also - those that added some form of weight training had much higher metabolic rates than those doing just cardio - this helps you keep weight off, and also you'll continue burning calories even after you've left the gym - you'll get more for less.

-Do exercises that work multiple muscle groups first - this helps get the body going in a workout, and over the initial energy barrier to start burning calories (and thus fat). Make exercises that work one specific group wait to the end. This means start at the squat rack, etc, then move to preacher curls.

-Do your weight work before you do cardio - some people feel more comfortable 'warming up' with their cardio workout first, but studies show that you'll get more out of the cardio work by starting the body off with weight-training exercises - and you'll get more out of the weight training by doing it at the beginning.

OK - well these are mostly from Men's Health and Muscle and Fitness - i'm not a huge lifter or fitness buff by any stretch of the imagination, but i suppose i drink enough beers and eat enough McDonald's during the year that I need to hit the gym to keep the gut at least somewhat in check - and i figure if i'm going to do it, I'd rather find the way to do it efficiently!

WOW! I have learned a lot from this post. Thanks everyone!

I have read all of these posts and still think exercise and eating right is the only way. With "Gimick diets", the weight can be gained back quite easily.

Just a word of warning to anyone going on the Atkins diet.. it is DANGEROUS. No carb diets cause you to release all the ketones in your body.. which are vital to the proper functioning of your organs. Your body needs a balance of nutrients, which include many of those found in carbs.
I tried it, lost a ton of weight, but got very ill. Thankfully I knew enough to stop when I felt strange, but many people don't get sick right away. My doctor nicely informed me that I could have suffered permanent liver damage if I had done this any longer. No thanks.
Try eating from the four food groups (pay attention to how big servings REALLY are) and exercise. Not just to lose weight, but to be healthy. It may take a while to lose the weight, but all the studies show that if you lose only 1-2 lbs. per week you are something like 90% more likely to keep it off for good!
....These quack "dr" diets are scary. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

I've found that the best diet helper is having support. A good portion of our chapter is trying to lose weight for spring break, so we're cutting down on carbs, getting our cook to order more healthy foods, and forcing each other to go work out. Even if we don't lose all the weight we want, it'll be good bonding. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

If you read Atkin's book ALL THE WAY THROUGH, you'll find he does NOT suggest using a diet with NO carbs. For the first 2 weeks on Atkins you are supposed to have 25gm carbs and then INCREASE your intake to where the results are what you would like. I believe he even says that it can be unhealthy to stay on the less then 25gm for an indefinate amount of time. It can be very
dangerous if you don't read about the diet and find out the right things to do. It always helps to do research about the diet you are thinking of going on and to talk to your doctor about it also.
Eating a balanced diet from the food pyramid ( grains, fruits, veggies, dairy, poltury, and fats) has not worked at all for me, I'll stick with my smart lower-carb meals http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

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~to be true to ourselves, to those within and without our circle ~

[This message has been edited by ZTAMich (edited August 14, 2001).]