Stop calling it a diet!
Replies
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- Are you on a diet?
- Yes.
- What's your diet?
- I'm just eating better, counting calories and working out.
- Oh, why don't you try the -insert fad diet name-?
- Because I'd prefer to be able to eat everything. Just better controlled. After all, I have to learn how to eat in a healthy manner so that I'd be able to maintain my weight loss afterwards.
- -blank stare- So you are not really on a diet. I don't see how this would work.
OR
-blank stare- But obsessing over calories is no way to live!
Last time I got recommended to try the Cabbage Diet - from what I was told, you eat cabbage for two weeks in various forms and you lose the weight quickly and for good!!!!!!!! -blank stare-
Most people associate the word "diet" with a very limiting food intake for a period of time that is including or excluding a certain food/food type, which miraculously leads to weight loss. Very few perceive the word as "way of eating".
If it's not delivering miraculous weight loss in two weeks, most people see the diet as too troublesome. Just yesterday I had to explain that counting calories takes me about 30 seconds per meal and it's in no way limiting or obsessive (unless you have obsessive disorders, but that's a whole other story). When I said that I was currently eating about 1800 calories, the very knowledgable cabbage-recommending person I was talking to gasped and concluded "But that's a lot, you will get fatter!" ...
People want a magic pill. Which doesn't exist. And it's easier to just use terms and words that they would understand. The word calories triggers some very interesting reactions, so I very often just don't even mention it and people react so much better.
- Are you on a diet?
- Yes.
- What's your diet?
- I'm eating less, moving more.
- Good!!!
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Diet as both a noun and verb doesn't have any emotional baggage for me it's simply descriptive of what I might be doing or my overall food choices. I diet every Spring to get down a few pounds to my best cycling weight - I could make it sound sexier and say "I'm cutting" but that sounds pretentious for an old fella...
Personally I find the phrase lifestyle change used simply to describe eating less intensely annoying - lifestyle is far more than that. Eating less can certainly be part of a bigger change though.
"You can't eat that - you're on a diet!" or "She won't eat with us, she's on a diet!"
I find that mindset amusing and on the rare occasion it cropped up I used to respond with "watch me" or the more challenging "why not?" if I could be bothered to engage.
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I don't mind "cutting" either, but again, I don't like using it because it's mostly used as part of the inside lingo in the strength training circles to mean dieting. Since I don't identify as part of that club, it doesn't feel "me" if I use it. Language is a funny thing. It's fascinating how words can carry intricate nuances and elicit interesting emotions.5
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When I eat for weight loss, I call it a diet. It's certain not my lifestyle!
But I don't tell anyone that I'm on a diet.2 -
I call it a diet because when I say that, people know that I mean I am doing something to try to lose weight. It's less awkward than saying "I'm on a journey of weight loss".
LOL! I don't find myself objecting to the word diet either. But for some reason I really dislike the term 'journey'. Everyone seems to be on a journey these days.
I can't really articulate why but just bugs me
Because you're channeling Lord Business!
I mean, part of their ability to sustain their diet hinges on making it more than just eating, I get that. Some need to make it significant and all-encompassing and immerse themselves in it to not stray. But I agree, the overuse of that word is just making me knee-jerk
these days.
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I mean aren't we always participating in some diet or other? It's the word for what you eat.1
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I hate it when people say I can't have that..I am trying to be good.
A friend of mine will say "I am so bad, I ate a slice of pizza" drives me nuts! Or she will say "omg I just ate half of a squash for dinner"...it is like wtf!
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Yeah, people get weird about the word diet (honestly, including myself, like a weird gut reaction) so I just call it "deficit eating". So instead of saying "I got back to my normal diet after Easter", I'll say "I got back to deficit eating", 'cause it really isn't my "normal" diet, it's my "normal" diet minus 250-500 calories.5
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RelCanonical wrote: »Yeah, people get weird about the word diet (honestly, including myself, like a weird gut reaction) so I just call it "deficit eating". So instead of saying "I got back to my normal diet after Easter", I'll say "I got back to deficit eating", 'cause it really isn't my "normal" diet, it's my "normal" diet minus 250-500 calories.
Yes!!
My diet/deficit and my normal/maintenance are two similar but different things.
(And personally I think of my lifestyle as something quite different)0 -
I refer to the restriction of calories as a "diet" too even though it's not a diet of specific foods like keto, south beach, military etc. etc.
But I understand your frustration. I don't ever tell people when I'm trying to lose weight or not, so no one would ever have any comments about what or how much I'm choosing to eat.
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I typically say eating in/at a deficit. People might look at me like I have two heads, but at least there are no comments on my food choices following. They're too busy trying to figure out what I meant 1
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I typically say eating in/at a deficit. People might look at me like I have two heads, but at least there are no comments on my food choices following. They're too busy trying to figure out what I meant
The nice thing about that is that it emphasizes the calorie deficit requirement that is inherent no matter which “diet” one might follow.
I don’t use diet or journey but I do sometimes say I changed my lifestyle, and by that I mean I added things to it instead of cutting things out. More protein, more vegetables, more whole grains, more exercise more sleep.
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I'm not sure why, but when someone refers to my weight loss as a "diet" I just snap. You go off diets. This is something I've been doing for a year now. It is a lifestyle change not a temporary restriction of calories.
I lost about 50# 4 years ago. No one referred to my weight loss as a "diet," they just wanted to know the magic formula. I just said "I'm now eating a little less and moving a little more" which was exactly what I did.0 -
RelCanonical wrote: »
That's oddly both flattering and unsettling
Try not to pick up too many of my habits! 0 -
RelCanonical wrote: »
That's oddly both flattering and unsettling Try not to pick up too many of my habits!
I'm a sucker for kittens so I'm resigned.
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My emotional state has been so much better since I (mostly) stopped reacting to people's arbitrary word choices, and started focusing (more) on what meaning they were trying to get across.
There's vast difference between "You're doing fabulously with your diet." and "Stop with the diet: You're too skinny!", and the word "diet" is the least of it . . . without even getting into tone of voice.
If word choice were worth reacting to, some people I know would have serious long-term personal injuries after having referred to my (not their) "cancer journey". It makes a difference, in practice, whether they were saying something that supported me, or distanced themselves emotionally from the scary prospect of ever having cancer themselves (because they need to be the center of every drama, including ones in my life). (BTW: There's a great card made to send to seriously ill people that says something like "I promise not to refer to 'your journey' unless you're going on an actual cruise". Every cancer survivor I know finds it excellent.
).
I think "lifestyle change" is a little overbroad to refer only to eating changes, but if that's what someone means, I can usually figure it out and run with the conversation anyway.
Nowadays, I can even deal calmly with people who refer to hour-long weight machine circuits as "HIIT", call themselves "vegetarian" when they eat fish once a week and roast beef at Christmas, say they want to "tone" without "bulking up", and more.
Calm is good, from the inside.
"People are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them." - Epictetus. Other people's word choice is a thing, at least until you get to the ones that are known to be completely beyond the pale for decent people.
YMMV . . . does, evidently. :flowerforyou:10 -
I call it a diet because when I say that, people know that I mean I am doing something to try to lose weight. It's less awkward than saying "I'm on a journey of weight loss".
LOL! I don't find myself objecting to the word diet either. But for some reason I really dislike the term 'journey'. Everyone seems to be on a journey these days.
I can't really articulate why but just bugs me
Oh, God, yeah, the "journey" thing needs to stop.
It reeks of self-importance...I always want to say "Get over yourself".
Part of the reason I deleted my Facebook account was so I no longer had to hear about everyone's "journeys". An acquaintance wrote a long post detailing her root canal journey. Reeaaalllyyy??5 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I call it a diet because when I say that, people know that I mean I am doing something to try to lose weight. It's less awkward than saying "I'm on a journey of weight loss".
LOL! I don't find myself objecting to the word diet either. But for some reason I really dislike the term 'journey'. Everyone seems to be on a journey these days.
I can't really articulate why but just bugs me
Oh, God, yeah, the "journey" thing needs to stop.
It reeks of self-importance...I always want to say "Get over yourself".
Part of the reason I deleted my Facebook account was so I no longer had to hear about everyone's "journeys". An acquaintance wrote a long post detailing her root canal journey. Reeaaalllyyy??
I believe it was the dentist that was making a journey. Into her tooth, lol.
Can we include "lifestyle change" in this too? I used to not hate it but then people started to somehow use it as an excuse to do really restrictive diets. Like, they need to go crazy in order for it to be a lifestyle change.4 -
I'm not sure why, but when someone refers to my weight loss as a "diet" I just snap. You go off diets. This is something I've been doing for a year now. It is a lifestyle change not a temporary restriction of calories.
I'm not understanding why this would make you "snap". It sounds like people are showing an interest in you, I would accept that graciously, even if I didn't necessarily agree with the use of the word "diet"3 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I call it a diet because when I say that, people know that I mean I am doing something to try to lose weight. It's less awkward than saying "I'm on a journey of weight loss".
LOL! I don't find myself objecting to the word diet either. But for some reason I really dislike the term 'journey'. Everyone seems to be on a journey these days.
I can't really articulate why but just bugs me
Oh, God, yeah, the "journey" thing needs to stop.
It reeks of self-importance...I always want to say "Get over yourself".
Part of the reason I deleted my Facebook account was so I no longer had to hear about everyone's "journeys". An acquaintance wrote a long post detailing her root canal journey. Reeaaalllyyy??
Lol...omg because she is the only one who ever needed a root canal...0 -
I call it a diet because when I say that, people know that I mean I am doing something to try to lose weight. It's less awkward than saying "I'm on a journey of weight loss".
LOL! I don't find myself objecting to the word diet either. But for some reason I really dislike the term 'journey'. Everyone seems to be on a journey these days.
I can't really articulate why but just bugs me
I agree. Also, "lifestyle change". I didn't change my lifestyle at all, nor am I on a journey other than the same journey everyone else on the planet is on. All I did was decrease my caloric intake for a time.
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someone wrote:VioletRojo wrote: »I call it a diet because when I say that, people know that I mean I am doing something to try to lose weight. It's less awkward than saying "I'm on a journey of weight loss".
LOL! I don't find myself objecting to the word diet either. But for some reason I really dislike the term 'journey'. Everyone seems to be on a journey these days.
I can't really articulate why but just bugs me
I agree. Also, "lifestyle change". I didn't change my lifestyle at all, nor am I on a journey other than the same journey everyone else on the planet is on. All I did was decrease my caloric intake for a time.
Yes, exactly. At the same time I try to avoid "diet" because it has the connotations of eating nutritiously, and if you done seen my diary yesterday...yeah, I don't do that.3 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I call it a diet because when I say that, people know that I mean I am doing something to try to lose weight. It's less awkward than saying "I'm on a journey of weight loss".
LOL! I don't find myself objecting to the word diet either. But for some reason I really dislike the term 'journey'. Everyone seems to be on a journey these days.
I can't really articulate why but just bugs me
Oh, God, yeah, the "journey" thing needs to stop.
It reeks of self-importance...I always want to say "Get over yourself".
Part of the reason I deleted my Facebook account was so I no longer had to hear about everyone's "journeys". An acquaintance wrote a long post detailing her root canal journey. Reeaaalllyyy??
Totally agree. It's such a bizarre use of language.
I also hate the idea that somehow the term you choose to refer to it by (diet or lifestyle change or what not) affects whether or not it works. That seems like magical thinking to me.1 -
I guess I've stumbled upon a very hot topic here. Thanks everyone for the comments and insight. I would never describe what I'm doing as a "journey" either. That just sounds silly to me. For those of you who suggested that I keep it to myself so that people don't feel the need to comment - I have. However, after nearly 70 pounds of weight loss people notice. Mostly the comments have been good and even the ones that are a little strange roll off my back with no problem. When people ask me how I have lost the weight I tell them tracking, walking, eating less, etc so I guess that's why I call it a lifestyle change. My lifestyle is no longer centered around junk food and eating for entertainment. Hence the change. When I try to explain this to some people (only when they have asked me!) I usually get a glazed over look. That's okay with me. People need to make their own decisions about their health and weight. I'm not trying to be some guru. It just when these same people have made comments again and again despite my attempts to explain that I get frustrated. When I posted my original comment it had just been one of those days. I'm over it now. Diet, journey, lifestyle, deficit, whatever. It all adds up to the same thing and I hope we can just support each other's efforts whatever we decide to call it.
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Don't take it to heart. Your opinion is valid, it's just that you posted in the debate forum where people with different opinions come to have fun. I was wrong, still, it's all in good fun.1
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amusedmonkey wrote: »Don't take it to heart. Your opinion is valid, it's just that you posted in the debate forum where people with different opinions come to have fun.
Yeah, most people (including myself) will state their thoughts pretty openly and without much pretense. Honestly, most of us are pretty bad at remembering there's a human on the other side of the screen, but at the same time you can take comfort it that because they're not trying to hit at you, they're just disagreeing. If I'm in a sensitive mood I won't post in the forums at all because I'm not going to be able to take people's comments. When I'm in a regular mood, though, I can take it so I'll also dish it out.0 -
I'm not sure why, but when someone refers to my weight loss as a "diet" I just snap. You go off diets. This is something I've been doing for a year now. It is a lifestyle change not a temporary restriction of calories.
I lost about 50# 4 years ago. No one referred to my weight loss as a "diet," they just wanted to know the magic formula. I just said "I'm now eating a little less and moving a little more" which was exactly what I did.
That's more or less exactly what I say when people ask. It also shuts down the conversation most of the time which is what I want. If it doesn't, I can fairly easily steer it towards rowing and cycling which is what I'd prefer to talk about over my weight.2 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »Don't take it to heart. Your opinion is valid, it's just that you posted in the debate forum where people with different opinions come to have fun. I was wrong, still, it's all in good fun.
It was originally in the debate forum, it got moved though (along with a few other threads and the deletion of at least one thread).0 -
Diet as both a noun and verb doesn't have any emotional baggage for me it's simply descriptive of what I might be doing or my overall food choices. I diet every Spring to get down a few pounds to my best cycling weight - I could make it sound sexier and say "I'm cutting" but that sounds pretentious for an old fella...
Personally I find the phrase lifestyle change used simply to describe eating less intensely annoying - lifestyle is far more than that. Eating less can certainly be part of a bigger change though.
"You can't eat that - you're on a diet!" or "She won't eat with us, she's on a diet!"
I find that mindset amusing and on the rare occasion it cropped up I used to respond with "watch me" or the more challenging "why not?" if I could be bothered to engage.
Yeah if I were to say "I'm cutting" I would have to qualify it with "weight" as that's simply not what I associate the verb "to cut" with in relation to one's body. Going off of @amusedmonkey said, it's also just not a word that most people I know use in relation to weight, at least not around me. I think I've heard it used outside of the internet exactly once, though I recognize that people use it all the time.
I totally agree with you with regards to your thoughts on the phrase "lifestyle change".5
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