Are there any diets that actually work?

So getting a Chuck Norris Total Gym’s out of the question huh… Damn.

I used to be weighty/chubby, and learnt to roll with the comments but still didn’t like it, and wondered what I might be able to do to lose the weight. Then during High School, I found that with hanging out with friends at lunchtimes, I never really got an opportunity to eat all my lunch, so would have morning tea, then maybe a bite or two of a sandwich at lunch, if I could, or have that bite after I came home but not too much because dinner would be in an hour or so. I noticed I started losing weight, so didn’t do anything to change the habit, and after a while (maybe a year & a half - 2 years) I had lost my chubbiness and slimmed down quite nicely - though it came at the cost of many years of lunches going to waste (and it probably wasn’t an entirely healthy thing to do). I referred to it as my “eat less” diet.

The Christmas before last, I put on a bit more than my usual christmas weight, and I noticed it didn’t come off like it usually does. So midway through the year I decided to have another go at my “eat less” diet, but at the time I was in a job which required me to sit down for 8 hours in front of a computer, and because of the odd shift hours my main meal had to be at lunchtime and not dinner, and the one time I could eat while I was there was during the one dinner break. Needless to say, this time it was a total disaster - it didn’t work, I didn’t lose any weight and instead I started losing some of my muscle mass & strength - partly because of sitting down for 8 hours, right after my main meal and that I didn’t have time to be as active as I previously was. Once I realised what was happening I put an end to it.

It would seem the key is to eat smaller portions (in between decently spaced out main meals) and to stagger them out through the day, plus try to be active - not necessarily using exercise equipment, but walks, bike rides (if you have a bike), swimming even - just something where you are moving around. The portions thing supposedly speeds up your metabolism, and I’m sure you’re aware that you won’t see results quickly and that it will take time no matter what you do.