A random thought on rigid dieting
stroutman81
Posts: 2,474 Member
Scarcity of enjoyable foods will pretty much always make them more desirable. Which is why I find the more liberal people are with their food choices, the more consistent they tend to be. What's more is the fact that it's consistency without effort. Rather than walking around anxious about food rules, fretting over "bad" foods, and feeling guilty at the smallest indiscretions... they're simply eating when they're hungry and stopping when they're full.
It's the folks who box themselves in with rigidity who lose control of their appetites and lose their sense of physiological vs. psychological hunger. They're always craving and therefore they're always caving. Each cave is followed by a hefty dose of guilt. Once they've beaten themselves up enough, it's back to a punishing regiment of dichotomous food labeling and inflexible dieting.
I don't know about you, but this doesn't sound like a healthy and productive relationship with food. It's time to think in terms of what really matters - total daily calories and relatively loose macronutrient goals. You can have your cake and your health if you're sensible about it. Better yet, when you include things you love, you're also maintaining your sanity.
Want to know an even better side effect?
You're giving yourself permission to eat food. Permission nixes the sense of deprivation and the need for rebellion with binges.
There's a smarter way. You simply need to believe it and loosen the choke hold you have on your perceptions about "good" and "bad" food.
It's the folks who box themselves in with rigidity who lose control of their appetites and lose their sense of physiological vs. psychological hunger. They're always craving and therefore they're always caving. Each cave is followed by a hefty dose of guilt. Once they've beaten themselves up enough, it's back to a punishing regiment of dichotomous food labeling and inflexible dieting.
I don't know about you, but this doesn't sound like a healthy and productive relationship with food. It's time to think in terms of what really matters - total daily calories and relatively loose macronutrient goals. You can have your cake and your health if you're sensible about it. Better yet, when you include things you love, you're also maintaining your sanity.
Want to know an even better side effect?
You're giving yourself permission to eat food. Permission nixes the sense of deprivation and the need for rebellion with binges.
There's a smarter way. You simply need to believe it and loosen the choke hold you have on your perceptions about "good" and "bad" food.
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Personally, I refuse to obsess about food. I don't even count calories, despite being on MFP. I just try to make healthy choices most of the time, and when I do eat something that's not the healthiest choice, I keep it to a reasonable portion size. This works fine for me. I'm losing the weight without making myself crazy.0
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I need to print this out and hand it to all the foolish women at my work that are this 'soup diet' or that 'no carbs diet'. I've tried restricting myself in the past, it's torture. I rather focus on overall cals and macros and enjoy my ice cream.
Great post, as usual.0 -
Great post!0
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This sums up my thoughts on the matter much more eloquently than I could have put it.0
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:drinker:0
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Excellent post!0
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In for all the inevitable posts about Strout not caring about his health.
I'm in 100% agreement. The overall diet is important, specific foods are meaningless without the context of everything else. If I've eaten enough carbs for the day, but need protein and fat, steak is a better choice than ice cream. However, if I've hit my protein, and but need carbs and fat, bring on the Haagen Dazs!0 -
Amen!
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I'm slowly coming to terms with the OP's thoughts; I used to be on a diet of 1400-1500 calories, and was practically starving myself come lunch time so I could have a decent dinner at home after work. Although it's nice to look at the scale and say, "Damn, I lost 3-4 pounds this week", it's not the healthiest thing that I've done either due to the unbalanced food diary I had. I've decreased my weight loss goals to 1 pound a week from 2 pounds. I figure a more gradual weight loss, although taking more time, will be less stress on me in the long run and therefore less guilt and depression.0
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I agree completely and have been trying to live this way for 5 years now. I have tried to explain this on too many occasions to the people who at parties or events slide up to me on the buffet or dessert line and who with a smirk tell me " oh you can't eat any of this you are on a diet" No I just changed my food focus and can eat anything I like. I eat in moderation and if it is an event or party it is one night or day and I am back to my normal meals.
There are a few things I gave up completely by design and mostly because of the way I feel after. I don't drink anymore since running the day after drinking I feel sluggish and clammy. I cut back on beef especially at night since it doesn't digest as easily and can make me feel bloated. My choices based on my body.
I don't preach what I do to others nor do I pay the slightest attention to what they suggest I MUST do to be successful0 -
I have to disagree honestly. I've always been liberal about what I eat and it's never stopped me from having a lot of cravings, and I've never been one of those people who just stop eating when they're full either.0
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Totally agree!0
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I have to disagree honestly. I've always been liberal about what I eat and it's never stopped me from having a lot of cravings, and I've never been one of those people who just stop eating when they're full either.
However, by your diary you seem to conform to what he's saying just perfectly.
You're eating in what appears to be a balanced, healthy approach with pretty good macro ratios but it doesn't appear that your calorie goal is too low and you have occasional treats such as chocolate and ice cream.0 -
I agree for the most part, but I believe rigidity can be a good thing for some people. Deeming some foods as "bad" isn’t always a bad thing. For the large part, taste is learned behavior. If one has been eating fast food, chips and candy (the “bad” foods) for some time, that is what is going to taste good to them. Grilled chicken and steamed roasted broccoli are likely not going to be as satisfying. But they switch to these things because they believe them to be “good” foods.
Most likely they will, as you suggest, eventually give in to their cravings for the familiar “bad” foods. They will feel guilty after. The process will likely repeat. Sounds bad, but the end result could be better eating habits, because while this is happening two important things may also happen. They develop a taste for the “good” foods, and they learn that eating the “bad” foods on occasion doesn’t ruin everything. They learn moderation.
Certainly everyone doesn’t need to go through this process. But I believe some people do need it. I believe it because I needed it.0 -
I have found by removing certain foods from my diet that the cravings for them actually disappear.
Rather than becoming intolerable by omission, it becomes rather relaxing not to even have them around.0 -
I agree... There is no reason to beat yourself up about what you eat. For example, most days I eat my healthy lower sugar or sugar free oatmeal for breakfast, but today I decided I wanted to splurge so I had a McDonalds Steak, Egg, Cheese Bagel meal. Now I have used up half of my daily calorie intake for just breakfast. I know I am going to aerobics tonight so I will earn more calories and I know that for Lunch and Dinner I will have to eat smaller meals than I normally do, but I am not beating myself up about it.0
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I have to disagree honestly. I've always been liberal about what I eat and it's never stopped me from having a lot of cravings, and I've never been one of those people who just stop eating when they're full either.
It's not the foods fault. It's a choice. It's bad eating habits/patterns, not food. Since changing my lifestyle I still let myself eat whatever I want, I try not to overdo it, I try to listen to my body instead of just eating it all because it's good. I enjoy it better now.
I believe in moderation not deprivation.0 -
I definitely agree with this. Thanks OP for posting!!0
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Have to agree as well, find a daily calorie allowance & projected weight loss plan for the week you are happy with and log your food, job done. I aim for my daily allowance and if I go slightly over I dont worry unduly. I eat what I fancy. I joined MFp a few days ago and prior to MFP I was dieting at home by myself by counting up the calories I ate , just keeping a running total on a piece of paper, nothing fancy and also trying to get out of the house and get more active by going for a walk rather than lying down on a couch watching tv, I lost 18lbs in 6 weeks, I thought Id lose about 6lbs so I was very surprised . Im here for the long haul and in total have 100lbs to lose and a lifetime of healthy eating ahead of me. Its a little easier for me as I do the cooking and food shopping in our house compared to say a busy young person who is grabbing food on the go and maybe has no cooking skills or the right space or equipment.0
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the problem with eating whatever i want and trying to have a healthy and "normal" relationship with food is that i can never seem to eat in moderation. 80 percent of the time eating whatever i want leads to eating MORE of whatever i want, which leads me wanting even MORE of whatever i want. it's not about me being hungry. i just want to eat more of the foods i love. the other 20 percent of the time i seem to get a burst of extra motivation and an iron clad will that allows me to eat in moderation. most of the time, trying to have a healthy relationship seems to lead me to having an unhealthy binging relationship.. and the only way i have been able to combat it is by 1. replacing what I want with a healthier version of it or 2. cutting it out completely.
i've resigned myself to the fact that i'll probably never have a great relationship with food although i do continue to work on it.0 -
Ironically, I'm currently listening to my office mates talk about how important it is to give up wheat, dairy, grains, and anything else that's unnatural. Huh...0
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I agree with you.
I have a lot of healthy, low-cal (relatively) foods I very much enjoy and they make up the majority of my diet on a daily basis. However, if I get invited out to dinner (or just want to go) or I want a sub or pizza or a piece of cake, I don't say no to it. I simply adjust elsewhere that day/week.
So I'm rigid in some ways, but flexible when I want something special.0 -
Ironically, I'm currently listening to my office mates talk about how important it is to give up wheat, dairy, grains, and anything else that's unnatural. Huh...
Wheat, dairy and grains are unnatural??0 -
Coworker brought in donuts this morning.
Rigid dieters would see them as offlimits. Unclean, unhealthy food they can't have. They either completely abstain through an act of enormous willpower, or they say "just this once" and eat three of them.
Me? I ate one. It was delicious. I moved around the rest of my food for today a little to bit to make some room. I didn't come across as "that dieting guy" and I didn't binge.
This is food freedom.0 -
the problem with eating whatever i want and trying to have a healthy and "normal" relationship with food is that i can never seem to eat in moderation. 80 percent of the time eating whatever i want leads to eating MORE of whatever i want, which leads me wanting even MORE of whatever i want. it's not about me being hungry. i just want to eat more of the foods i love. the other 20 percent of the time i seem to get a burst of extra motivation and an iron clad will that allows me to eat in moderation. most of the time, trying to have a healthy relationship seems to lead me to having an unhealthy binging relationship.. and the only way i have been able to combat it is by 1. replacing what I want with a healthier version of it or 2. cutting it out completely.
i've resigned myself to the fact that i'll probably never have a great relationship with food although i do continue to work on it.
that's me, too...:sad:0 -
Ironically, I'm currently listening to my office mates talk about how important it is to give up wheat, dairy, grains, and anything else that's unnatural. Huh...
Wheat, dairy and grains are unnatural??
no - punctuation is used...anything unnatural AND dairy, grains, and weat.0 -
Another great post strout!
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Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition0
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