what is a "lifestyle change"?
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To me, if someone says they are dieting it means they are temporarily doing something different until they reach a goal weight. It is something they are doing "just for now."
A lifestyle change is a permanent change in habits. It may or may not even have anything to do with losing weight. Many people already at a healthy weight change their lifestyle in order to eat healthier, or be more active, or cut down on unhealthy habits like smoking or excessive drinking or drug abuse. If you are changing your lifestyle, you have decided to make a PERMANENT change. Not just for a few weeks or months until you hit a number on the scale.1 -
psychod787 wrote: »Living differently than you used to. I am guilty of saying "journey" ect, but i know no other way of saying it. Maybe life habit changes? Just my 2 cents I guess.
Situation.
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psychod787 wrote: »Living differently than you used to. I am guilty of saying "journey" ect, but i know no other way of saying it. Maybe life habit changes? Just my 2 cents I guess.
There's a subtext in this (and some other) threads that bugs me, and your post sort of highlights it (so please don't think I'm arguing with you ).
The whole process of human communication is a two (or more) participant exercise in which the point is to take a sense or feeling that's in someone's brain/body, and get it into another person's brain. It takes at least two active participants. The words are a deeply imperfect vehicle, always.
I perceive that OP was asking something like "help me understand what's in people's heads when they use these words", which supports that idea - good stuff.
But there have been some digressions in the replies to formulations more like "I hate it when people use this phrase". To me, that makes me worry about a short-circuit of one or both roles in the communication process. It can be an example of thinking first about our own response to what someone's saying, or worse yet on the form what they're saying. rather than first focusing on what they're actually trying to communicate. I hate it when I catch myself doing this. The words are not the point.
It ought to be possible to say "journey" if that seems like the best word to you, without over-worrying about other people dismissing your thought because you used that particular word. We're all doing the best we can - or should be. Thoughtful self-expression is good; so is attentive and thoughtful listening (or reading).
Call me an idealist . . . .4 -
For me it was a matter of finding what bad habits were causing my issues, finding ways to work around or change them, and finding ways to make small, easlily sustainable changes. So yes, it is a lifestyle change, for me rather than a temporary diet.
If you aren't changing weight causing behaviors permanently, you will end up having the exact same issues again, as soon ad you go back to there old behaviors. So if you want to KEEP your successes going, you need to make successful behsvior your lifestyle.
Which is pretty much the definition of a lifestyle chsnge.1 -
In general usage terms of weight loss I think the difference in a nutshell is time ie a diet is temporary, a life style change Is long term.
Outside of weight loss and of this forum, we do use the term to incorporate other things eg I am making some lifestyle changes might mean, among other things, giving up smoking or drinking or re assessing work/life balance or spending more time outdoors or with family or living financially within ones means or less partying and studying more or anything like that.0 -
I've been debating posting or not, cause I am not sure. And yet.
Effortless and unconscious? I am most certainly not there yet. In my mind there still exists a decision that I have to manage what I do by monitoring myself and adjusting and making changes and being aware and conscious of the level of my eating and my activity.
So is this a diet? Or is it a lifestyle change? Or a journey?
Four years ago I would jump in the car to drive down the block to go through the drive through to drive back to eat my two value menu sandwiches and large fries with pop lunch while working on my computer. In the evening I would more often than not drive out to a Pho place and get a large Pho with 2 deep fried spring rolls. Unless it was one of the two or three nights a week where I would head out for AYCE fish and chips, or sushi (because fish is healthy, right?). Or Thai, or Indian, or Chinese, or burgers...
For entertainment I would either read a book on my e-reader, or watch TV and I would always combine eating with reading, or watching TV, to increase efficiency!
Two or three times a week I would take the dog for a long 5000 to 6000 step walk which would take me a good hour and was often celebrated with a well earned tub of Haagen Dazs in the summer. Or some TV time with a well olive oiled salad eaten with a (family sized) bag of tortilla chips.
And I am not kidding that the fish and chip place would see me at least twice a week for AYCE... cause AYCE fish and chips and regular pop (avoiding artificial sweeteners which everyone knows are unhealthy and cause diabetes!) was just $8 (it is now $11, by the way).
Not, on reflection, that 7 pieces of fish and two plates of chips were likely to be substantially more calories than the better part of a family bag of tortilla chips used to scoop up olive oil and lemon!
Yesterday I walked as much as I used to walk in a week. Actually, 13.5% of the past 1166 days for which I have records, I have walked more than the 25000 steps I believe were my approximate average weekly steps 4 years ago.
I no longer watch TV or read books. I listen to audio-books instead. The current dog was out for 2 hours yesterday. In a forested, hilly, trail.
I still visit the fish and chip place. In fact I am planning on going there with some friends next week. It will be my second time there this year. I have been to an all you can eat sushi place once this year. This was with family.
I have not gone through a McDonald drive through even one time this year. But I was down at McDonald's twice these past two days. Once to get a coffee and a vanilla cone on my way out with the dog for one of her walks, and once to get a decaf coffee while walking to the grocery store where I bought some artificially sweetened jello pudding powder that I whisked with some skim milk to make half a litre of pudding for 290 Cal.
For lunch yesterday I nuked a ready made Indian vegetarian meal (Pav Bhaji, without a Pav but with 2/3 of a roti instead). To which I added 130g of fresh tomatoes and 151g of grilled eggplant. Together with the 51g of Ipanema Banana brownies (compressed boiled bananas), the total came to less than 550 Calories.
Later in the day I grabbed a slice of pizza at Costco for 600 Calories! I note that I didn't grab a large or medium pizza for myself and that instead of having ice cream later on I made the aforementioned sugar/fat free pudding. Had I not been logging I would have happily eaten a second slice. And possibly a tub of ice cream.
I do not consider the changes I've made to be temporary and I intend to continue with them indefinitely.
Am I on a "diet" or am I in the midst of a "lifestyle" change?5 -
Well, let’s see, I’ve completely changed the way I think about food and hunger, and the habits and behaviours that proceeded from those attitudes. I’ve also completely changed the way I think about exercise, and now I walk distances I used to find unthinkable, hike, and get hot and sweaty at the gym with a load of other people, because I enjoy it.
Is that a diet? Or is it maybe just a leetle bit more than that?1 -
Lifestyle rather than a diet. It took me working on the former because the latter always failed - diets have an end date, lifestyle is about adopting healthier habits and doing them for the rest of our lives.0
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To simplify, changing a habit, permanently.0
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I think the idea of needing a 'lifestyle change' is that if your current lifestyle has led you here... so you need to change things if you want to lose weight/be healthier.
It's not always necessary though, some people just need to eat a bit less. For others, like me, it means not eating everything I want when I want it, and try to be more active. It was definitely a HUGE lifestyle change for me - I went from playing video games all day while eating junk to quitting video games, eat much less junk, and get 15k steps a day in average (I amusingly watch way more TV now, but I can do some of that on the treadmill). Now I get antsy if I don't get moving for 2 hours.
The diet part... I don't necessarily call that 'lifestyle' at all. I mean, yes, not snacking mindlessly in front of the computer is a change of lifestyle, but picking lower calorie options at the restaurant is really not something I'd call a lifestyle change... just making better choices.
But the idea of 'change' is definitely that you can't go back to your old habits.0 -
I thought about this more overnight...
I think a big part of the disconnect (for me) with this whole concept is that my struggles are mental/emotional. To be successful long term, I need to change how I think/feel in response to things that are part of my every day life. I don't mean to imply that my situation is any easier or more difficult than anyone else's - I just mean that I don't naturally correlate lifestyle changes to mental health issues. Lifestyle changes, to me, suggest things like exercising more, giving up smoking, or eating more mindfully - things that are physical/behavioral. But the more I think about all this, the more I think I should make that connection to emotional health.8 -
For me, it's just settling into a new "normal."0
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I think the idea of needing a 'lifestyle change' is that if your current lifestyle has led you here... so you need to change things if you want to lose weight/be healthier.
It's not always necessary though, some people just need to eat a bit less. .
Yes I think that is why I feel a bit cringey saying I made a lifestyle change - I didn't really change much. I wouldn't say I went on a diet either though.
I still eat similar to before - just bit less of it and track to know that.
Simple Eat less, Move more for me - not a huge overhaul of anything
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I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
I strongly dislike the term 'lifestyle change'. I like my life just fine, and don't want to make any drastic changes to it
For me that's just not realistic or sustainable. I did have to learn how CICO works though and then learn how to apply it to the area in my life that involves food.
Today my maintenance plan is a very small part of my life, it's really not that a big of a deal
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That's fair, and kind of what I'm otherwise inclined to think.I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.
So it's the existence of an end date that differentiates it? What if I say I'm going on a diet until I'm 100 years old? Yes, I'm being argumentative, but only to make a point. Is there an actual difference between a diet and a lifestyle change, or is it just semantics?
Every term used in the diet, weight loss, fitness industries are semantics. Diet, lifestyle change, Paleo, low carb, clean eating, HIIT, heavy lifting, eating healthy. They are all vague terms or shorthand that people use when they are trying to sell you something or need clickbait for their blog.
I'm not just arbitrarily criticizing terms for no good reason. I'm asking about a term, a concept, that seems to have traction on MFP. I've been at this for some 7+ years and I still feel like I'm on a diet. I anticipate being on a diet for the next 10 years at least (I assume that at some point I'll stop caring). It sometimes seems like I'm missing something.When people use these terms, they mean - diet is temporary, lifestyle change is permanent. Regardless of what the dictionary definition of each word is. Honestly if you are going to criticize terms used in the industry with dictionary definitions there is a long and arduous list for you to work through!
Seven years is a long time.
I had bad news from my doctor. I had been halfheartedly trying to correct my medical path and it was not working. I got on MFP to educate myself about what I was putting in my body, and I needed a food tracker to tell me how much protein, carbs and fats I was eating.
After logging several days I discovered a lot about myself. One that every three seconds I would pick up a little bit of something and want to eat it. Since I hav to weigh it and long before I ate the impulse of snacking quickly diminished. I found that my diet lacked protein and I liked fats and carbs. I started playing a game in trying to eat what I wanted and staying in the micros. I looked for things to do that I likes that would increase my activity. I don't consider them exercise as much as my pay time activities. As I age I find balance and mobility are factors in my life and decided I liked Yoga to straighten it out. I can't say I am consistent on this but it does make me feel so much better when I stretch out and practice my balance. I called it a life style change. Even though I still log and track my food, am adding activity to my repertoire I really don't see it as a diet. I suppose it depends on the persons outlook on there situation.
Call it what you want. Words do matter, but only if they assist your understanding. If you are going to be defeated by them, it will be the easiest defeat ever sustained.1 -
I thought about this more overnight...
I think a big part of the disconnect (for me) with this whole concept is that my struggles are mental/emotional. To be successful long term, I need to change how I think/feel in response to things that are part of my every day life. I don't mean to imply that my situation is any easier or more difficult than anyone else's - I just mean that I don't naturally correlate lifestyle changes to mental health issues. Lifestyle changes, to me, suggest things like exercising more, giving up smoking, or eating more mindfully - things that are physical/behavioral. But the more I think about all this, the more I think I should make that connection to emotional health.
I suppose that I should have read the whole thread before responding.0 -
For me personally... if I just ate however I wanted, I'd probably average well over 4000 calories per day... which on most days would be a significant calorie surplus. Yes, at some point things would balance out and I'd stop gaining weight, but I have no interest in maintaining at 300lbs (or where ever I leveled off).
So for me, I'll be managing/controlling my calories for most of the rest of my life, regardless of whether I'm trying to gain/lose/maintain. In my book, that's dieting... it's a conscience and intentional managing of what and/or how much I eat. Just because it doesn't have a trendy name like keto or atkins or whatever, it's still a diet. I guess that's the crux of my dislike/lack of understanding about the lifestyle terminology.
I just googled "diet definition" and the verb use of diet is:
restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight.
I guess the "lose weight" part of the definition is where it loses me. Or I lose it.
I looked it up too and for me, the "lifestyle change" is moving the word "diet" from a verb to a noun. I can either diet (v) to lose weight, or I can eat a moderate diet (n) the rest of my life to either get to or maintain a weight I can be happy with. I can also incorporate exercise as a part of that lifestyle so that I can eat more if I choose.
Either way, if you are adapting (changing) to a certain "style" of eating for the rest of your "life," you have made a lifestyle change.
1.the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.
synonyms: selection of food, food, foodstuffs; More
2.a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.
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I thought about this more overnight...
I think a big part of the disconnect (for me) with this whole concept is that my struggles are mental/emotional. To be successful long term, I need to change how I think/feel in response to things that are part of my every day life. I don't mean to imply that my situation is any easier or more difficult than anyone else's - I just mean that I don't naturally correlate lifestyle changes to mental health issues. Lifestyle changes, to me, suggest things like exercising more, giving up smoking, or eating more mindfully - things that are physical/behavioral. But the more I think about all this, the more I think I should make that connection to emotional health.
I think this brings up another aspect and something that had me thinking, as well...
I think that by coming here and trying to lose weight or improve our fitness levels or whatever our goals are we all made a conscious effort to change our "lifestyles" and support a new goal, but that "lifestyle change" is constantly evolving and changing in and of itself. One lifestyle change may lead to another.
To address your point, we can change the behavior (eat less, log calories, exercise more, etc) but does the outward manifestation of our behavior change the underlying emotional and psychological attributes that got us here in the first place? Maybe that's the difference between "diet" and "lifestyle change"?
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MerryMavis1 wrote: »I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
I strongly dislike the term 'lifestyle change'. I like my life just fine, and don't want to make any drastic changes to it For me that's just not realistic or sustainable. I did have to learn how CICO works though and then learn how to apply it to the area in my life that involves food.
Today my maintenance plan is a very small part of my life, it's really not that a big of a deal
Part of the problem, I think, is that it depends on the person. For some, we ARE talking about making some major changes -- getting active, changing how you think about food and/or eating, adding cooking into your life, stuff like that -- that really does involve a lifestyle change. I don't mind the term in that sense (I do HATE calling specific ways of eating "lifestyles" like "I do a IF lifestyle" or "I'm not doing a keto lifestyle," as I really don't think one's lifestyle is defined by what foods one eats, there's so much more to it, and more interesting about everyone).
Beyond that, I find it annoying when people say that "diets" fail and "lifestyle changes" don't. First, that's not true, calling it a lifestyle change doesn't make it more effective. Second, not everyone needs a lifestyle change. For me, as I said above, it was getting back to some old habits, not really what I perceived as a change (the period in which I wasn't doing them was the aberration). For many, you may have a perfectly healthy lifestyle and be active and so on and just want to drop 10 lbs or something -- that's about keeping a calorie deficit, and keeping a calorie deficit = diet.3 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »MerryMavis1 wrote: »I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
I strongly dislike the term 'lifestyle change'. I like my life just fine, and don't want to make any drastic changes to it For me that's just not realistic or sustainable. I did have to learn how CICO works though and then learn how to apply it to the area in my life that involves food.
Today my maintenance plan is a very small part of my life, it's really not that a big of a deal
Part of the problem, I think, is that it depends on the person. For some, we ARE talking about making some major changes -- getting active, changing how you think about food and/or eating, adding cooking into your life, stuff like that -- that really does involve a lifestyle change. I don't mind the term in that sense (I do HATE calling specific ways of eating "lifestyles" like "I do a IF lifestyle" or "I'm not doing a keto lifestyle," as I really don't think one's lifestyle is defined by what foods one eats, there's so much more to it, and more interesting about everyone).
Beyond that, I find it annoying when people say that "diets" fail and "lifestyle changes" don't. First, that's not true, calling it a lifestyle change doesn't make it more effective. Second, not everyone needs a lifestyle change. For me, as I said above, it was getting back to some old habits, not really what I perceived as a change (the period in which I wasn't doing them was the aberration). For many, you may have a perfectly healthy lifestyle and be active and so on and just want to drop 10 lbs or something -- that's about keeping a calorie deficit, and keeping a calorie deficit = diet.
Good distinctions, thank you.1
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