[Jemaclus]

My pet theory is that most diets aren't really that effective, but what _is_ effective is thinking about what you eat. It's not about how many carbs you consume or whether this food item would have a face or not. What's important is that you're consciously thinking about what you're eating. "Do I really need to eat this snack, or can I wait another hour til meal time? Is this junk food or is it healthy?"

I've found that simply tracking my calories (not with any specific goals in mind) has helped me drop weight like nothing else. I don't think "Oh, I have to get under 2000 calories today", but I think "Man... this little 2.5oz bag of cheezits is 200 calories! Maybe I'll eat an apple instead." And you know what? It works.

Bottom line is that what you eat matters less than what you think about what you're eating. That's my two cents.

[dguaraglia]

You are absolutely right. That's what worked in my case: I started, about a year ago, to count calories using the Lose It! app (I can't recommend it enough, it's a free service and works for most food you can get in the US.)

Soon enough I could distinguish between a 600cal lunch and a 1000+ one. Or between a 500cal snack and a ~200cal one. Just the realization that I could cut about half my caloric intake by choosing A over B and not feel hunger made a huge psychological difference: all of a sudden those huge Five Guys burgers weren't as tempting as they used to, and I started using 'calorie free' stuff (like tomatoes, celery, and even some cheese spreads) because it could fill me up. I used to ignore veggies because 'why would I put them in my sandwich if I have a tastier option like bacon/mayo'.

At the end of the day, paraphrasing Timothy Ferriss said in one of his TED talks, I had to learn to "eat like an adult", instead of giving in to every childish want.

[awj]

I agree. Most fad diets seem to be an elaborate trick to get you counting calories. They typically start out by dismissing calorie counting as difficult/boring/depressing (it is), then forbidding/strictly limiting/making less exciting extremely calorie-dense foods, then using some other metric (typically, portion size + preparation) to effectively limit calories.

It works up until a large enough mass of people subscribe to the fad, then someone finds a way to pack more enjoyment (also, calories) into the fad's rules. From there the fad stops "working" and another one rises to the top.