On 17 Aug 2005 09:52:13 -0700, "Doug Freyburger"
wrote:

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.

True, certainly but neither does your guess, which as far as I can
tell is just based on personal preference. My instinct would be the
opposite, but no doubt that's based on my own preference. I'm kind of
inclined to feel, though, that those who take responsibility for
defining their own diet are likely to end up with an approach better
suited to their tastes and lifestyle, and hence one they are more
likely to stick with forever. My instinct is also that recidivism
would be higher with diets that largely rule out particular food
types, but clearly that isn't everyone's experience.

Chris
262/130s/130s
started dieting July 2002, maintaining since June 2004