Has anyone had success using the CSIRO diet?

[Ginger]

hello, i absolutely hate dieting. hate it. can't do it.
i'm someone who needs real food. i cannot do restrictive shake diets etc.
a friend of mine who is a nutritionalist has suggested i lossley try the CSIRO diet. she reckons it is one of the only commercial type diets that achieves long-term results and is manageable.
has anyone tried this diet and had success? any tips or suggestions for me?
TIA

[butterfly_warrior]

We did have success... We didn't stick with it, though and DH has put all of his weight back on, but it certainly did work, and it certainly did seem like you were eating real food - and it was yummy.

For me - I don't cope with the diets that are "eat this at this meal" for any length of time - so I actually did better on a plan where I was set free to eat what I wanted when I wanted and I just had to keep the amounts of carbs, fat and protein within certain levels (as well as over all kilojoules). It turned out to be very similar, but I enjoyed being a bit more free, if that makes any sense.

BW

[misty]

come along to weight watchers, we eat real food.

[Ginger]

i thought about going to weight watchers....
i would have to do it behind dh's back though as he thinks it's a waste of money to sit around talking about how fat you are
does it cost much to join?

[Winter]

yep, I had success with the CSIRO diet. I need to get back onto it actually. I didn't follow the diet to the letter ie the menu plans, I just used their check sheet of what you were allowed each day and ticked them off as I had them.

[Ginger]

that's exactly what i'm thinking of doing Winter.

[misty]

There is a forum on the weightwatchers site, which has loads of useful information on it. If you don't want to do the meetings, you may be able to signup for online, or simply do it yourself with the help of the forums. Many people do. You would just need someone to help calculate how many points worth or food you get to eat each day, and possible pick up a calculator or points guides that list the points of different foods (I am sure if you google you will find alot of this info the web).

As for prices, you have two options for meetings:
1) $59.95 a month - Weight Watchers unlimited. This covers the meetings and all of their online tools. It is also the cheapest method. It is direct debited off a credit card (matercard / visa) every month. Can be canncelled at any time, no obligation, no contract.
2) $19.90 a week - this just covers the meeting not the online tools, plus there is an extra $33 registration fee with this.

Anyway, I don't want to push this, just to give you the info. so if you want any more information feel free to pm me. I am a leader with weightwatchers, so am qualified to answer any questions you may have about the program.

good luck whatever method you choose.

[Ginger]

thanks so much for all that info misty.
i spoke to my friend today and we are going to have a go at the CSIRO one and meet up weekly for a weigh-in and walk.
if i'm not getting anywhere then WW will be my next step

[jackrose]

Without wanting to sound all 'conspiracy theory' or anything I remember reading that the 'diet' is not great as the supporters behind it are the beef industry - pushing the agenda of increased consumption of meat. Of course as is always recommended, we should have all things in moderation, so any diet that is pushing one type of food over another is not really excellent.

That said, pushing meat consumption is not one of the worst agendas I have ever heard of! I think that your advice is good, following it loosely and trying to include lots of fresh veg, wholegrains and maybe pulses also while avoiding processed foods, sugar and downsizing meal sizes generally, you can't go wrong. As far as diets go, it really is a good guide.

It really does help to have a guide and some good recipes and plans to follow that are not too restrictive so go for it!

* Love your Avi by the way!

[inlove]

Hey ginger,
Good luck will be watching with interest as i am not happy with my body or the amount of crap i eat at the moment. Sadly i put on more weight after giving birth to both my girls than when i was actually pregnant. I am so busy with work and the kids there isn't much time for anything else but i have started to limit the amount of crap i am eating lately and have lost a bit of weight.
Please keep us updated

[Astrolady]

my husband did the CSIRO diet last year, and he did loose 10kg in the 12 weeks. He has since put it all back on and then some.

The first week of doing it though cost us $400 in shopping as we had none of the spices or pantry items they were wanting to had to stock up on EVERYTHING. We followed their menu plans 'cept for fish as I don't do fish.

We have both books on it so would alternate between the two if there was a menu that didn't appeal to us that night.

[Pandora]

It's the diet my trainer recommends.
A guy I worked with lost >30kg on it.
The biggest drawback for me is the expense - some of the ingredients are very pricey if you had to buy most of it.

[mrswright]

Both DH and I have had success with CSIRO, losing about 1kg a week as long as we stuck with it. We haven't done it for a long time because we're vegetarian now (well I am, and I'm the cook, so that basically means DH is too!) and the recipes are so meat heavy it's easier for me to use WW meals if we want to lighten up. I'd recommend getting both cookbooks if you can, the recipes in the first one were quite expensive if you bought every single ingredient (as others have said) but they took that feedback on board and the second one has some cheaper meals and staples that weren't in the first (like pasta, which made me happy, life without pasta is hardly worth living in my books!) We didn't have a recipe we didn't like. Good luck!