Nicole,
I have done many different diets...Atkins and NutriSystem were the most successful for me, but here's the thing...I don't want to spend that much energy focusing on food...with those diets I was always thinking about what I was going to eat. Any "diet" that requires me to keep track of what I am eating, counting calories, cooking special altered recipes...just doesn't work...keeps the focus on the very thing I am battling...an addiction to food. So, here's what I do now, and I am overweight, so I'm not telling you that this has been my weight loss plan...I'm always either pregnant or nursing so it has been very hard to lose weight:
I don't eat sugar
I don't eat prepared foods
I don't eat baked goods (except for whole wheat bread)
I don't eat white bread or white rice or white pasta
I don't use sugar substitutes or butter substitutes or any substitutes in my recipes...I make everything that I do eat the real thing...just eat small portions.
I eat when I'm hungry, drink lots of water.
I exercise to Leslie Sansone's walking programs because with 5 kids it is the only thing I have found that #1 I don't have to leave the house #2 I'm not doing crazy kicks or moving all over the room, which has the risk of hurting a toddler or baby! #3 There are very clear mileage records, so if I want to walk one mile, I can...or I can go on to do 2, 3, or 4 miles, depending on the day, how much time I have, how fussy the kids are.
I just hate diets and don't want to live my life that way, so this is what I do. I am very hopeful that after I have this last baby (I keep saying it's the last) and then finish nursing, what I am doing will be what it takes to take the weight off for good.
The irony is that I love to exercise and wish I could do more, but with 5 kids and not a gym in sight that has childcare, it is really hard. We have a curves in our town...this is exercise for women...why don't they have childcare available? I think it is crazy...women have children. Don't get me started!!
Good luck with whatever you choose. It is very hard to lose weight, no matter how you go about it, I believe the formula is the same...eat less, exercise more.
D.