by Tammy Wynn

Created on: January 16, 2007   Last Updated: April 18, 2007

Recently, I gave up dieting. I've tried many things and lost a lot of weight on different diets and gained it all back. The minute you aren't "on the diet" any longer, that's where the problem is. I can't keep the weight off without starving myself and that is just miserable. Most of these reviews will be based on a person who needs to lose 75 or more pounds, not the typical 10 or 20 that I hear most people complaining about. Additionally, men in general tend to have a higher metabolism than women and will lose weight quicker. So, this is written from a woman's perspective. Here are some of the diets I've done and what I think of them:

Herbalife: Wouldn't recommend this to anyone. It's costly and in the end I don't think it was good for my health or my heart. If you do some research on the founder of this company, you will see that many of the products really can not do what they claim. They were sued some years back because of this and had to change the way they labeled their products.

Weight Watchers: This is a great long term diet and they give you options so that it can fit almost every persons lifestyle. It isn't as expensive as some of the diets being sold. If you can stay on it long enough to actually change your way of life, then it's great. I've lost a decent amount of weight on this one off and on, but I don't seem to have the ability to stick to it . When you use this diet plan, as you go along, you are allowed to eat less. Depending on how much you have to lose, there is a point where the amount you eat goes down considerably and it's extremely hard to adjust. This really only applies to people who have A LOT of weight to lose. A friend who only needed to lose a few pounds found it hard from the start because the adjustment was so huge up front. Weight Watchers does have a couple plans to choose from to fit different life styles.

High-Protein Diet - This could be Atkins or some other high protein diet. These are great for taking weight off fast, but keeping it off afterward is almost impossible unless you have a "will of steel." This diet is very hard to start, but if you can stick to it, it becomes second nature. Several years ago, I lost a great deal of weight on this diet, but after I added carbohydrates back into my diet, the weight came back.

Low-Fat Diet - This one is probably easiest to do, but the weight doesn't come off very fast and it's discouraging after a while.

E-Diet - This diet is good for someone who just needs a little guidance and not a lot of encouragement. I found it a little too rigid with too little support.

High-Fiber Diet - This diet works well if you don't have a lot of weight to lose. I did this one when I was younger and was able to lose the weight I wanted with little changes to my diet.

Every person could have different results depending on sex, age, number of pounds over weight, health factors and any number of other factors. Another problem with diets or eating healthy in general is that it's a lot more expensive to do, at least in the USA. If a person is on any kind of budget, then the diet challenge is a lot harder to tackle. I haven't found a solution to that yet. Many people say that a good support group is key to losing weight and keeping it off. I have not found that a support group makes any difference. This would likely also depend on the needs of the individual.

I hope this helps you in your weight loss endeavors. Good luck.

Learn more about this author, Tammy Wynn.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.