Online success with e-diets

by Tia Reineke

I used e-diets.com for about a year. I followed the recommended menus.

I found it to be a lot of work to follow. I had to cook dinner every night, and buy ingredients at the grocery store I wouldn't normally use.

It was not extremely expensive, but it was more expensive than just following my normal diet, obviously.

I lost 35 pounds over the course of the year. I was hungry a lot, but I trusted the plan and followed it.

The food was good, for the most part. I felt like sometimes there was even more on my plate than I could finish, especially in meals where there were tons of vegetables.

The main problem with the diet was the lack of flexibility. There was no provision for going to restaurants or special occasions. For those times I just had to wing it.

In addition, my husband was not dieting at the time, and quite often he did not want to eat the meal that I had planned for that evening. So we would have separate meals, which isn’t as much fun as eating the same meal together.

For exercise I joined a gym and went to aerobics/strength classes every morning before work. I found morning exercise was really the key to staying consistent with working out. I made it a habit to get up early and go to the gym every day.

Overall, I’d recommend the diet to people who are willing to put in effort to lose weight. If you don’t put in the effort, you won’t lose weight.

Also, you should be prepared to cook a lot, and cut back on eating out.

Tia

Note from Dr. Dan

Tia,

What you describe is a very sensible plan.

You are cooking with healthy ingredients. You are exercising. You limit your restaurant meals.

And you have a gradual weight loss, which is more likely to be permanent.

But as you make clear, it's not easy. Losing weight isn't easy. People that say it will be easy are trying to fool you.

But what is it worth to you? You can be overweight and miserable. Or you can feel healthy and fit and love the way you look, and literally add years to your life.

Dr. Dan