The most important point is to not make any exceptions. That's the only "magic." There's no magic in the diet plan (although it's a good one, proven to work.) You can get many good diet plans, each different, that will all "work" (although not all will be healthy.) The diet plan is not the problem—following it is the problem. And making exceptions is the primary reason that most people can't follow a plan, either at all, or indefinitely over time.
Why are exceptions such a big deal? Think of the classic Lay's potato chip commercial: "Bet you can't eat one." You can't: "Eating one" will inexorably lead to eating another, and then another. Once you make an exception, you'll use that as a precedent to justify making yet another one. And then another. And so on, until you're mot really following any plan at all. Works like that every time.
You have to accept that being overweight is not something your body is doing to you, it's something you are doing to your body. The problem is in your head, not in your metabolism, and not because you haven't found the "magic" diet. You're just addicted to overeating. It's that simple.
And you'll probably need help overcoming your addiction. You can get that help from Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous.
It’s too much work for most people (myself included) to have to focus so much energy on food intake. And for me, it helps my blood sugar when I have 3 meals and 3 healthy snacks in between—otherwise all I can think about is WHEN IS MY NEXT MEAL?!?! ;-)
I also lost about 20 pounds or so without really trying (and no additional exercise than what I normally do throughout the day, like housework)once I took the HFCS out of my diet. Of course now I’ve gained some of that back since I am pg with twins, but even so, I’ve only gained about 15 lbs or so (7 months along now)—my OB is very happy with that! And again, without devoting hours a day to what I am eating and the portion sizes! :-) All anecdotal, but it’s working for me.
Congrats to you on your weight loss achievement, and prayers for continued easy maintenance for you as well! :-)
Some people might need to be that extreme, but it’s not universal. I dropped 65 pounds over the course of about 16 months and have kept it off for years just with a simple eat less exercise more. I eliminated nothing I simply cut back on EVERYTHING. I still eat my Doritos, I still eat my ice cream, I drink non-diet soda, there’s just less of it all.
I think one has to figure out if they’re a food addict or just not particularly fond of self control. If you’re a food addict then you probably do need that kind of extreme diet, if you’re just not fond of self control then GET fond of it. If I tried a diet like you outline I’d burn out in 2 weeks and abandon the project, that diet cuts out most of my favorite things, like bread and beer. And I believer very strongly in exceptions, that’s what the gym is for, burn off your exceptions. I exceptioned every week, Monday nights I hang out with friends with all the beer and snack chips that implies in modern America, I labeled Monday nights “no diet Mondays”, eat and drink whatever I want and don’t worry about it. Yeah Tuesday morning on the scale can be a little irritating, but I just discipline up and move on.
I’m not saying your method is wrong, it worked for you so obviously it’s not wrong. I’m just putting forth for folks thinking of losing weight that it doesn’t have to be this hard core a diet. On the other side it could be even more hard core, one of my co-workers went on a diet and exercise program that makes your look positively gluttonous, and boy did he fry off the pounds. Of course just hearing about his program made me weak with hunger and desperate for Doritos and Twinkies.
People need to know themselves and figure out what will work best for them, if you can actually stick to a diet like that bravo go forth and lose weight, if you can’t though that doesn’t mean you’re destined to be overweight for ever, just temper the diet with what you can do. I forget the math but the average Americans annual weight gain actually only works out to a couple hundred calories a day, so it really doesn’t take much change to reverse that trend.