What is my best weight loss diet?

I have been taking several diets for weight loss during the past several years. With 149 cm high, I went from 54 kg to 48 kg. So, I would like to give some of my own perspectives about those diets:

Totally recommend: Low - carb, Eat Clean and Intermittent Fasting - good for weight loss, overall health, and life quality. Until now, my diet is kind of a mix of the three.

Recommend for those who want to lose much fat, stubborn fat: KETO diet

Don’t recommend: GM diet

I. General Motor Diet (GM diet)

It was about a year and a half ago, I found out about this diet while surfing the internet. I was so obsessed with my weight loss and decided to try for one week.

And I would never ever do it again after that 7 - day GM diet.

You can google for more details. It is a kind of diet that you consume mostly fruits and vegetables with almost no protein and very little carbs in a course of 7 days.

I was not going to work at that time, just staying at home. That’s why I can apply this one. I feel no energy at all, continuously feeling hungry. And I just lost 0.4 kg after 7 days and gain back soon after back to a normal diet the following week. Sounds funny.

I don't recommend this one for those who want to have a long-term plan to reach an ideal weight.

II. KETO diet

I tried the KETO diet in a course of 10 days. I lost 1,5 kg, mostly my stubborn fat - arms, thighs, and upper belly.

I totally recommend this diet to those who are struggling to lose a lot of fat or very very stubborn fat. I don’t recommend this diet for those who just want to lose from 1 - 3 kg. And I don’t favor this one as a daily diet in the long run.

I already wrote a detailed answer about the side effects of KETO, you can find it here for more information.

Compared to other diets, I see KETO is a bit easier to apply if you cannot cook every day and cannot keep a regular schedule. With KETO, you can still go out, choosing dishes that don’t contain carbs and sugar.

III. Intermittent Fasting - IF

Among the six ways to do IF, I choose 8/16 because it can fit my schedule and workloads. I eat for 8 hours and fasting the remaining 16 hours of the day.

The principle of IF is when you fast, the HGH - Human Growth Hormone will soar, around 5 times, as usual, helping the body to lose fat and increase muscle.

This method is quite nature-friendly because, in the very old day, our ancestors didn’t eat as much as we do today. Because there were no fridges to store foods and the main way to get food is hunting and collecting, our ancestors didn’t have as many meals as we are taking today and even could actively spend days without eating anything at all.

When we fast, inside our body, cells will start their cell - fixing process, gen will change its function to increase our longevity and reduce diseases. IF is not just good for weight loss but also good for our overall health and life quality.

Until now, I still favor Intermittent Fasting as a way to treat my body, especially after days of excess and out-of-control eating. When I can control my schedule, I prefer to have two main meals, one is around 10 - 11 am and another is at around 4 - 5 pm. Between these two meals, I can take some fruits or seeds as a snack if I feel like I really want to eat something.

IV. Eat Clean

The goal of this diet is to eat the whole food as much as you can.

-  Cook at home.

-  Apply natural ingredient.

-  Say no to preservative and coloring.

-  Minimize food processing.

The nature of Eat Clean is to detox, reducing those toxic impurities which cause negativity and fat on our body and to add more nutrition to our daily diet.

After a while of applying this diet, I feel my body fresher and more gentle, my skin gets brighter and smoother.

In reality, it’s really hard to maintain this diet if you have to go out to work daily and can not cook frequently. But every time you eat out, you can always choose an option with fewer ingredients.

V. Low - carb

I think it is a very popular diet that everyone is already familiar with. There is just one thing you have to focus on is to remove sweet sugar and eliminate “bad - carbs” out of your diet.

For me, carbs like rice, bread are not the cause for our gain - weight. Because we eat too much of everything, that’s why we keep gaining weight. So, when we want to lose weight, we have to apply some strict rules.

I like to part that we should remove sweeten sugar and processed food but regarding carbs like white rice, after a while of observing on my own, eating proper carbs doesn’t add weight to my body anymore if I maintain a “clean diet”.

At the moment, I don’t have to try so hard as I did, in the beginning, to “strictly follow a diet” because it really becomes my habit. I don’t like to take sweet drinks or cakes as I usually did before. I don’t like packaged food anymore. When I go shopping for food, I automatically choose something like vegetables, seeds, fruits, or fish as my first picks.

My current daily diet is kind of a mix of Intermittent Fasting, Eat Clean and Low - carb (but still eat white rice). And I still have sugar or fast food when I feel like, it’s totally fine to keep at a certain quantity.

Besides, I maintain a yoga schedule to stay fresh, flexible and focused.

I used to be so obsessed with my measurement and weight and all kind of diets I could think of. I measured myself almost every day. Everything is okay now, finally.

Some of my experiences after “those days”:

-  There is no “best diet” but the most suitable diet for you. If you don’t know it yet, just try some and you'll found one, at last.

-  If you want to be successful, you have to be disciplined in the beginning and be consistent. After a while, it will become your habit.

-  Give yourself a break, some “cheat day”, relax and continue. Diet is a long-term plan for your better life quality, not just for weight loss.

-  Eat just enough, don’t overeat or starving yourself.

Wish you success on your journey!

Sunny Nguyen