Chris Braun wrote:
Doug Freyburger wrote:

Chris and Beverly both mentioned roll your own. Both
experienced and well-read folks years into their
process. Neither newbies.

Well, we were both newbies once. I was a newbie three years ago, and
began with a "roll my own" plan. After two years of weight loss and
one year of maintenance, I'm still doing much the same thing. I do
think it's possible to approach a "roll your own" diet in an
intelligent way. Not everyone approaches it from a position of
ignorance, you know.

Chances and difficulty.

How many folks several years in started on a roll your
own versus how many started day one on a roll your own?

How many folks several years in started on a published
plan (with or without switching to roll your own more
than a year in) versus how many started day one on a
published plan?

I don't have those numbers but those numbers would
give the better strategy. If one gave 1% and the other
gave 2% that would say one of the above is twice as
sucessfull. Not having even counted posts on this, I
can only guess. My guess is that early on folks
following a published plan do better. Having a small
number of counter examples does little to determine a
trend.