Diet Face Off Blog

The Best Life Diet Results

Posted by Krisserin | October 5, 2009 | 2 Comments

Seth
Total Weight Lost: 22 Pounds

Read Seth's final blog

Seth's grades:

1.         What is the likelihood that you would continue this diet.
A-         I will definitely stay on the diet,

2.         How would you rate the difficulty of the diet? Were you hungry often? Was the food terrible?
B-         The diet was fairly easy to maintain, I slipped up now and again

3. How cost effective was this diet?
A- It wasn't expensive to maintain the diet

4. How would you rate your overall health? Energy level, quality of life?
A- I felt amazing on this diet! I had tons of energy

5. How likely are you to recommend this diet to a friend?
A- I would recommend this diet to all my friends with 100% confidence

Total Points = 19

Whitney's Grades:

1. Percentage of weight lost by contestant
A- 10 percent

2. Overall "healthiness" of plan
B- Limited or excluded some foods

3. Ease of plan
C- Easy to follow when eating at home and preparing your own meals, but difficult to eat out

4. Happiness of contestant on the plan
B- Pretty happy and optimistic

5. Likelihood that this plan can become a lifestyle
B- Probably, but may need to make some sacrifices

Total Points = 15

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Renee
Total Weight Lost: 18 Pounds

Watch Renee's final video blog.

1. What is the likelihood that you would continue this diet.
A- I will definitely stay on the diet,

2. How would you rate the difficulty of the diet? Were you hungry often? Was the food terrible?
B- The diet was fairly easy to maintain, I slipped up now and again

3. How cost effective was this diet?
A- It wasn't expensive to maintain the diet

4. How would you rate your overall health? Energy level, quality of life?
B- I felt normal on the diet

5. How likely are you to recommend this diet to a friend?
A- I would recommend this diet to all my friends with 100% confidence

Total Points = 18

Whitney's grades

1. Percentage of weight lost by contestant
A- 8 percent

2. Overall "healthiness" of plan
B- Limited or excluded some foods

3. Ease of plan
C- Easy to follow when eating at home and preparing your own meals, but difficult to eat out

4. Happiness of contestant on the plan
B- Pretty happy and optimistic

5. Likelihood that this plan can become a lifestyle
B- Probably, but may need to make some sacrifices

Total Points = 15

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Megan
Total Weight Lost: 8.4 Pounds

Watch Megan's final video blog.

Megan's Grades:

1. What is the likelihood that you would continue this diet.
A- I will definitely stay on the diet,

2. How would you rate the difficulty of the diet? Were you hungry often? Was the food terrible?
B- The diet was fairly easy to maintain, I slipped up now and again

3. How cost effective was this diet?
B- There were a few instances that I spent more than usual on food for this diet

4. How would you rate your overall health? Energy level, quality of life?
A- I felt amazing on this diet! I had tons of energy

5. How likely are you to recommend this diet to a friend?
A- I would recommend this diet to friends, in general, most people could do the diet

Total Points = 18

Whitney's grades

1. Percentage of weight lost by contestant
C- 4 percent

2. Overall "healthiness" of plan
B- Limited or excluded some foods

3. Ease of plan
C- Easy to follow when eating at home and preparing your own meals, but difficult to eat out

4. Happiness of contestant on the plan
B- Pretty happy and optimistic

5. Likelihood that this plan can become a lifestyle
B- Probably, but may need to make some sacrifices

Total Points = 14

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Kai
Total Weight Lost: 12.1

Watch Kai's final video blog.

Kai's Grades:

1. What is the likelihood that you would continue this diet.
A- I will definitely stay on the diet,

2. How would you rate the difficulty of the diet? Were you hungry often? Was the food terrible?
A- The diet was extremely easy to maintain

3. How cost effective was this diet?
A- It wasn't expensive to maintain the diet

4. How would you rate your overall health? Energy level, quality of life?
A- I felt amazing on this diet! I had tons of energy

5. How likely are you to recommend this diet to a friend?
A- I would recommend this diet to all my friends with 100% confidence

Total Points = 20

Whitney's grades

1. Percentage of weight lost by contestant
A- 9 percent

2. Overall "healthiness" of plan
B- Limited or excluded some foods

3. Ease of plan
C- Easy to follow when eating at home and preparing your own meals, but difficult to eat out

4. Happiness of contestant on the plan
B- Pretty happy and optimistic

5. Likelihood that this plan can become a lifestyle
B- Probably, but may need to make some sacrifices

Total Points = 15

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Carolyn
Total Weight Lost:

Watch Carolyn's final video blog.

Carolyn's Grades:

1. What is the likelihood that you would continue this diet.
A- I will definitely stay on the diet to lose the last 35 pounds I have to lose, and will most likely incorporate this diet into the rest of my life

2. How would you rate the difficulty of the diet? Were you hungry often? Was the food terrible?
A- The diet was extremely easy to maintain: I'd give it an A minus, because although it was fairly easy for me, there were foods we were asked to give up that may be hard for some people - although, the pay off is totally worth it! I was not hungry except when I was supposed to be.

3. How cost effective was this diet?
B- There were a few instances that I spent more than usual on food for this diet.

Examples of this are whole wheat bread (although you can find cheap bread, too), some foods that have no partially hydrogenated oils, and some snacks that are more expensive than, say, chips.

4. How would you rate your overall health? Energy level, quality of life?
A- I felt amazing on this diet! I had tons of energy- especially when I was consistent about eating snacks and exercising!

5. How likely are you to recommend this diet to a friend?
A- I would recommend this diet to all my friends with 100% confidence- and have already many times!

This diet would be especially helpful to someone who really wants to modify their eating habits to be more healthy. It's a gentle, gradual change to more healthful foods.

Total Points = 19

Whitney's grades

1. Percentage of weight lost by contestant
A- 6 percen

2. Overall "healthiness" of plan
B- Limited or excluded some foods

3. Ease of plan
C- Easy to follow when eating at home and preparing your own meals, but difficult to eat out

4. Happiness of contestant on the plan
B- Pretty happy and optimistic

5. Likelihood that this plan can become a lifestyle
B- Probably, but may need to make some sacrifices

Total = 15

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Check back for the final blog to get the overall grades.

Diet Face Off 2: Megan, Wrap Up

Posted by starryday727 | September 30, 2009 | 1 Comments

Starting Weight: 205.2

Starting Body Fat %: 35.1

Ending Weight: 196.8

Ending Body Fat %: 34.3

Total Losses: 8.4 lbs, .8% body fat

I am so grateful to Livestrong for giving me this opportunity. Due to my schedule at work, it was hard for me to fully jump into the DFO at first. My late nights at work, and 2 jobs, made it difficult to follow an eating schedule, and to get any exercise in. Sure I was running some, and I ran a 10k race, but it wasn't enough. At first I thought it was going to end before I really had a chance to take fully advantage, but when the DFO was extended, I said "OK, this is my time!" I actually checked my body fat at the end of 6 weeks, before I joined the gym, and it hadn't changed from the start. Basically that almost 1% loss has only been in the last 3-4 weeks.

I've learned a lot about myself over the course of starting the Best Life Diet. In learning about the Hunger Scale, I've found out that I eat a lot out of boredom, and when I'm alone. That's also when I tend to eat the worst. I've also learned a lot about my personal habits, and "laziness" that stops me from doing a lot of things. At the beginning of this more than at the end, I would find myself coming home from work planning to exercise, and make some sort of excuse. I still do this occasionally, but have managed to get at least 5 hours of exercise in per week for almost 4 weeks now, so I'm getting better. I've also learned that things I like to eat that are bad for me, don't really make me feel good either. Too much sugar gives me a headache, and if I eat ice cream after dinner my stomach gets upset, like it's too full. I don't know why I never noticed these things before.

I still have about 20 lbs to lose, which is a long way to go for me. I need to continue to stop making excuses, and continue to push myself out of my comfort zone. I will still try to follow the Best Life Diet as well as I can. I really like that it's reasonable, and follows the basic principals of eating well and exercising regularly. Any restrictions and I usually fail, but with this, I feel like I can allow myself a bad day here and there, and it's OK in the end. Now I'm just continuing to learn how to make the bad days fewer and farther between, and really getting the most out of this "diet". I know that on the days and weeks where I really followed the plan, it worked, but I need to continue to be more consistent, and stop sabotaging my progress by holding onto old habits.

If anyone wants to continue following my journey, I use my food diary to post comments almost daily, and I'm going to continue my blog posts once a week on my profile. Thank you all so much for your support! If it weren't for this DFO, I probably would not have found the same motivation that I've had for the past 10 weeks. This really was the kick in the butt I needed!

Diet Face Off 2: Seth Wrap Up

Posted by sfeder | September 28, 2009 | 1 Comments

The final tally (before/after):

Weight: 229 / 207 lbs = 22 pounds lost in 10 weeks!
Body fat: 24.5 / 16.2 %
Chest: 42.5 / 41 inches
Waist: 39.5 / 37 inches
Hips: 43.5 / 43.0 inches
Thighs: 25.5 / 23.3 inches

So this is a wrap for the Diet Face Off Challenge. I really like the Best Life Diet, because it allows you to make small changes in the way you eat yet acheive fantastic results. It is not a fad diet or short term kind of quick solution. I will likely use the methods and behaviors I learned forever.

Most importanly, I learned to eat whole grains, low fat, and nutrient rich foods in place of sugar/starch/fat filled foods. I will use snacks as a way to ward off binge eating at meals. I highly recommend the hunger scale, to stop eating before you are full, and start snacking before you get ravenous.

Plus, I beleive food logging right here in The Daily Plate is a really powerful tool to aid in your quest. Having the food log go with you on your favorite mobile device is a plus. I logged just about everything I ate for the last 10 weeks, maybe missing a couple of meals and entire days here and there. The Daily Plate really rocks, because you rarely need to hand type the nutritional information yourself, the database has so much already.

The book by Bob Greene has a lot more to offer beyond those things I mentioned, but you will have to discover that for yourself.

Thank you for checking in and watching us each week. And, thanks the good folks here at Livestrong.com for organizing a fun and positive program. Lastly, thanks to my friends and family for all the support.

Seth read more

Diet Face Off 2: Carolyn, Wrap-up

Posted by garolyn | September 28, 2009 | 2 Comments

STARTING STATS:           CURRENT STATS:
Height: 5'5.5"                     Height: 5'5.5"

Weight: 186lb                    Weight: 175lb (Down 11#)

Body fat: 39.6%             Body Fat: 35.9% (Down 3.4%)

Bust: 43” Bust: 42" (Down 1")

Waist: 40” Waist: 38.5" (Down 1.5")

Hips: 46.5” Hips: 45" (Down 1.5")

Thigh: 24” Thigh: 23.5" (Down .5")

Bicep: 13” Bicep: 13" (I like to think it's because I lost fat and gained muscle!)

And here we are at the end of DFO2. I am SO very glad I came along on this ride. I met some great people, learned some new things, and, as you can see by my stats, things worked well for me. I lost 11 pounds, and 4.5" over all. I'm very pleased! The other thing I'm pleased with is that based on the calculations of the nutritionist that did my body fat measures (thanks, Francie! You're awesome!) 10.8 of the 11 pounds that I lost were body fat! I was able to keep my lean body mass - certainly because of the increased exercise. It feels good knowing that what I was doing was creating the exact result that I was looking for! I've noticed some little changes in my body, too...like, when we were hiking today, and I would look down to watch my step, I could see the muscles in my shins! Also, I can see my triceps now, and my husband commented the other day about how my "wings" were smaller! (Oh, those dreaded WINGS - you know, the flab on the back of your arm...ick!)

I really enjoyed The Best Life Diet, and would (and have) recommend it to others. I think it would be especially good for people who are reluctant to jump in to anything too overwhelming at first. It's sort of like baby steps through the "getting healthy" process. It is a plan that I can see myself continuing to use. I'll need to fine-tune my use of "anything goes" calories, but I think I'll be able to find a balance. I agree with what Kai said this week - if you use the hunger scale and the other tools to monitor your huger signals, and you make good choices, it can certainly be done with minimum effort.

But, I'm not done yet. I've been at this weight before, and that's when it all went awry for me last time. This is an important place for me. I'm going to continue to track - which is so much easier with the Livestrong app for my iTouch, since I don't have to remember every bite and can track in real time, and a few of us on here are going to continue to meet in the Best Life Group on this site once a week for check ins and weight announcements. (Feel free to join us! The more, the merrier!) I'm going to continue to incorporate exercies into my days, and I'm going to continue to hold myself accountable for my food choices. I really want to be healthy and to be a good example to my children.

Thanks again to Livestrong, and to The Daily Plate for giving me this opportunity to participate in the DFO2! I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will continue on the journey you helped me start.

Wherever you are in your journey to a healthier you, KEEP IT UP! LIVESTRONG! YOU deserve to be HEALTHY!

Cheers,
Carolyn
read more

Diet Face Off 2: Kai, Week 9

Posted by KDTX | September 24, 2009 | 1 Comments

Beginning Weight: 203
Last Week: 192
This Week: 190.9
Total Loss: 12.1

Another pound gone! Actually 1.1 pounds! This week was an experiment in going back to the real world. I exercised a bunch and also ate right. What I didn't do was a lot of tracking. I wanted to see how I faired by just keeping a mental track of what I ate and also when I worked out. Well...it worked. I think I finally understand the "big picture" to weight loss. Following the principles of the Best Life diet has paid off. Moving forward, I am going to take another week off from tracking. I will be in Oklahoma the first part of the week and then Las Vegas the second part of the week. Upon return, I'll resume tracking and drop the remaining 10-12 pounds and achieve my goal. Easy huh? In all actuality, it hasn't been that difficult. I am happy with the results. I have enjoyed being a participant and appreciate what I have learned.

As for getting fit, that is another story! I have really enjoyed the exercise and all that comes with it. I am not tired during the day. I look forward to my workouts and feel refreshed when I am done. It really has been great. Following part of the principles of the Best Life Diet, I am going to step my fitness up one more level. This includes longer duration when exercising and also harder efforts. I plan on increasing the frequency (minimum 5 workouts per week) and also some light competition. I raced my first cyclocross race last night and thoroughly enjoyed it (see video). I want to continue with this 8 week race series and also prepare for the Houston Marathon in January. I am looking forward to it all!

Thanks Livestrong! read more

Diet Face Off 2: Megan, Week Nine

Posted by starryday727 | September 22, 2009 | 4 Comments

Starting Weight: 205.2

Last Week: 199

This Week: 197.6

This Week's Loss: -1.4

Total Loss: -7.6

This is a picture of me after the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this weekend. I finished in 41:50, with only 10 minutes of that walking (8 were uphill...most of the first half of the course is uphill, it's a killer!) I'm pretty happy with the results, considering when I ran a 10k I was only able to run 40 minutes total. This was half the distance, and I ran more of it, so that's progress.

I did really well with eating this week. I'm still having a little bit of trouble with anything goes calories. I'm staying within my regular calorie goals that TDP calculates for me, but it's hard to figure out what constitutes "anything goes" sometimes. I think staying within my calorie goals really helped me to lose those 1.4 lbs this week though, so hopefully the anything goes calories will continue to fall into place as I continue to eat healthier and less.

I'm really happy that I got below 199, and especially that I reached the 15 lb mark since I started my weight loss journey at the beginning of the year. By March I had lost 10 lbs, and from there I was very up and down until we started this DFO. Re-examining my goals, along with the motivation of this blog, have really helped push me harder. My exercise is going really well too. I spent over 6 hours exercising this week, and I'm feeling really good. I even got up at 5:30 this morning to go to the gym. Normally I'm not a morning person, but I had an ingrown toenail removed today, so I knew I wouldn't be able to exercise later. I'm going to have to modify my workouts for a few days, but hopefully that won't derail my progress. I should still be able to go to Bodypump class as soon as I can put a sneaker on in a couple days, but I might have to skip out on the lunges and just do more squats.

Diet Face Off 2: Seth, Week Nine

Posted by sfeder | September 21, 2009 | 1 Comments

Starting Weight: 229 lbs
Week 9 Weight: 209 lbs
Net loss: 20 lbs (1 lb last week)

Bye Bye Plateau
So I finally did break through my little plateau, although my 2lb/week pace had definitely slowed. I have tried to watch sodium intake and that is a challenge. If you eat out at all, you're in for trouble. Whitney our nutritionist suggests making more of your own food! Great idea.

This week was intentionally a "transistion" week on the excercise front, so my workouts were dialed back a bit. Even so, I did about 7 hours of excercise this week, but most of it was low intesity. So in the upcoming week, the intensity will be upped and we'll see if I can get back to 2 pounds of weight loss.

Even if I stay the same, I'll be happy with the results so far!
read more

Diet Face Off 2: Carolyn Week 9

Posted by garolyn | September 21, 2009 | 7 Comments

Starting weight: 186
Current weight: 177
Loss this week: 2 pounds

Yay! I did it! I broke past 179! Funny - when you do this diet the way you're supposed to, IT WORKS! (I suspect that's the way it is for most diets...only, this one is one I can see myself continuing!) I was so happy when I saw that loss. Getting stuck is so disheartening. It's nice to feel successful again.

So, as far as my challenge from last week, I exercised every day except Friday this week. Some days weren't super heavy on the exercise, but I was conscious of doing SOMETHING at least. The chocolate is gone from the staff room (for now) so that wasn't challenging for me. I'm continuing to be good at not eating for 2 hours before bed, and I haven't had much wine in the last 9 weeks at all. Funny how it turns out that I don't need it after all! It actually doesn't sound nearly as good to me, even, as it did before. Water, on the other hand - now THAT I really enjoy! I'm doing much better with drinking enough water. I take a big water jug to work with me, and that makes it easy.

I'm making more things from scratch lately, too, so I can exchange whole wheat flour for white, or leave out the lard, or whatever. I have always enjoyed cooking and have made lots of our food from scratch (even though it doesn't always look like it on my diaries - it's easier sometimes to click on a "ready made" version than it is to enter all of the ingredients I used, so I do that sometimes) but I'm making more and new things. I even tried masa tortillas the other day (it's a work in progress.......). The kids are enjoying helping with that, and I'm enjoying knowing what's in my food.

If I lose another 2 pounds this week, I'll be at the lowest weight I've been at in over 10 years! Well, I hit 175 last September for a minute, but that didn't last. At any rate, once I'm at 175, then I'm only 5 pounds from the weight on my driver's license, then I'm only 10 pounds from the weight I was when Gary and I got together, then it's only 15-20 more pounds to my goal weight! Chunking your goals really helps. Those little steps are way easier than looking at the whole amount all at once.

I hope your week is fabulous! Come back next week to check in!
Carolyn
read more

Diet Face Off 2: Megan, Week Eight

Posted by starryday727 | September 15, 2009 | 2 Comments

Starting Weight: 205.2

Last Week: 199

This Week: 199

No Change

Total Loss: -6.2

I was disappointed that I didn't see a loss on the scale this week. I did have a couple high calorie days at the beginning of the week, over the holiday weekend, but after that I really worked my butt off. I worked out for 5 & 1/2 hours this past week, a combination of walking, running, recumbent bike, and group fitness classes. I also worked really hard to stay at my calorie goals, and drink all my water I needed. I did feel bloated most of the week, so I did end up shedding the water weight in order to stay the same this week.

Diet Face Off 2: Seth, Week Eight

Posted by sfeder | September 14, 2009 | 4 Comments

Starting Weight: 229 lbs
Week 8 Weight: 210lbs
Net loss: 19 lbs (0 lbs last week)

It finally happened - I hit a plateau on weight. I didn't change anything this week, I kept working out just as much as before, in fact this week was a bit more in terms of volume. Looking at my food log, I also didn't splurge very much at all. I went back to see what Bob Greene suggests, and on page 122 he talks about "giving your body time to work through a plateau". read more

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