Diet vs. Lifestyle Change

hummzz

I see a lot of posts discussing their yo-yo with weight and now they've started "this diet." and hope it sticks. I also see how folks are substituting things that they have usually eaten with substitutes in the attempt to lose this weight.

Now I'm no expert, but I think we've all already heard this many times before. I really want to reach out to folks to let them know the reason we yo-yo with your weight is because once we've lost the weight we go back to our old eating habits. It has to be a lifestyle change. No more DIETS! Lets change our lives so we can maintain our weight that we've worked so hard to get to. I'm at this point in my life now I'm learning a whole new way to cook. I'm not buying pre-packaged foods and not gorging on the foods I love. Instead I'm cooking healthier, eating healthier foods and using portion control in attempt to be healthier and lose this weight I've accumulated over the years. I don't want it back after I reach my goal so I have to CHANGE!

I won't substitute butter with margarine and I'm really trying to go back to sugar instead of sweetener which I've used for years. This has proven difficult to me.

I'm not really sure why I wrote this, but it had to be said. In order for us to keep the wonderful bodies that we are striving to get we have to continue with the eating habits we are gaining from here. If you don't want to eat substitute food for the rest of your life learn to eat the stuff we love in moderation and in accordance to our calorie counts. That's all...

Love y'all.

centralvalgal

Excellent point... Very well said.

Sassy_Cass

I fully agree. Yo-yo styles are created by people trying to lose weight now with no focus on the tomorrow. On what you are going to do when you can no longer live so restricted. I often have this conversation with my mother, my neighbor and really anyone at the gym who is looking at the chocolate chip cookie and thinking "no I can't, I'm on a diet".

This is not about doing something only for today, this is about making a lifestyle change that you can support and maintain for... well you guessed it... your LIFE! If you are planning on dropping the pounds by not eating carbs, by eliminating pop, chips and pizza completely then take a step back and be honest with yourself. Can you really give it up for LIFE? If your first thought is no effin way! Then you won't stick to this "diet" and you will begin to yo-yo. You will do well when you cut out all your favourites but as soon as you give in, you will see your weight slowly climb back up... doesn't wound like a lot of fun does it?

So what do I suggest in my conversations? Have that cookie, but don't have it every day. We have an excellent tool here that can track our intake and assess the nutritional value of what we put in our mouths, that includes cookies and cake. You are allowed to have them, but have them in moderation. It's a LIFESTYLE change not a LIFE time of deprovation!

Make smart choices and allow yourself some freedoms with the things you love, make sure your not having them every day in excess and you are way more likely to stick to the lifestyle!

I recently saw the following quote and it has really stuck with me:

"if you focus on the results you will never change. If you focus on change you will get the results"

So I say - focus on change, change you can LIVE with.

:happy:

jessieinblue

You have the right attitude. Good post.

Also, butter is amazing.

dlaplume2

I agree whole heartily. I have been trying so hard to stick with my workout rooutine so it becomes ingrained into my lifestyle. I need to get used to exercising and make it a lifelong habit.

The other thing I find challenging, isn't the cooking. I think I have always done the cooking. My thing is I start to think that for everything I give up I need to reward myself. I can't do that. People say you shouldn't give up anything, you should eat in moderation. While I agree with that I need to learn and set a new moderate. I can't have a chocolate chip cookie everyday, because if I have a chocolate chip cookie everyday, then the treat will come where I have the chocolate chip cookie and ice cream. There will always be a celebration and people eating out in front of us. We need to use those wisely instead of saying "oh well it's only one day".

ajbeans

Good post. I've decided that I don't think I'm ever going to stop tracking my food, even if I find it easy to maintain my weight loss, because tracking helps me make sure I'm eating a balanced diet. When left to my own devices, I eat too many carbs, not enough protein, and my potassium level is practically in the basement. Tracking keeps me on... track. :-P So yeah, this is a long-haul type of thing.

spunky_spit_fire

vey well said, I am still new here and this in my 2nd week I am using Eating Healthy and Portion control I am measuring everything drinking LOTS of water daily :drinker: instead of a 2 liter of coke cola or more and I am riding a stationary bike for 20 mins (Goal 3 x's a day) my 1st week I lost 5 lbs and I got on the scales today and they have not moved I was wondering what else can I do to jump start this weight loss My Food Diary is open if anyone wants to take a peak and give me some ideas :-) thank you

TaraMaria

This is an awesome post! Any "diet" with a name is not what you want. You are making healthy choices that you can apply to every day life, not quick fixes that you don't see yourself living with for the rest of your life. I know when I started my MFP change a year ago, I was honestly scared of my life AFTER loosing weight. Maintaining seemed more frightening then actually loosing.

Now that I'm on the other side, Its still kind of unnerving but not quite as before. Mind you, I've only been at my goal weight for around 4 months but I think since its I lost the weight in a healthy way and I continue to maintain that healthy way of life, I don't have to worry about what happens if I stop eating a certain meal plan. I've been able to maintain easily and really enjoy my exercise routines more because of what my body can do now. I continue tracking calories, keeping track of calories burned but because I know its good for me! My knowledge of healthy eating, calories, exercise and everything else nutrition related is huge because of this amazing website and the research I've done and I know that is a big part of the lifestyle that I'm enjoying now!

There are my two cents! )

hummzz

vey well said, I am still new here and this in my 2nd week I am using Eating Healthy and Portion control I am measuring everything drinking LOTS of water daily :drinker: instead of a 2 liter of coke cola or more and I am riding a stationary bike for 20 mins (Goal 3 x's a day) my 1st week I lost 5 lbs and I got on the scales today and they have not moved I was wondering what else can I do to jump start this weight loss My Food Diary is open if anyone wants to take a peak and give me some ideas :-) thank you

You're doing great. I lost 5 lbs in my first week and only 1 lb the second week. I didn't weigh myself for two weeks and lost a whopping 8.5 on my next weigh in. Just keep sticking with it and doing what you're doing. Stay within your calories and keep exercising. All of us have different bodies and some will be quick to lose and other its a slow grind! But we'll get there if we stay faithful! Good luck and God Bless!

amysj303

It took me awhile to realize I wasn't going to be able to stick to any "diet". I thought I wanted someone to tell me exactly what to eat, I looked at south beach, juice fasts, and other things like that but it just dawned on me suddenly, if I can't do it forever I am not going to do it at all, yoyo weight is actually more dangerous in many cases than being overweight, and I read this recently:
"According to a number of studies published in respected journals, your yo-yoing ways have not "ruined" your metabolism. However, all those ups and downs may have changed your body composition in a way that makes it harder for you to lose at each successive cycle. That's because when you drop weight, you lose both fat and muscle, but when you regain weight, you gain back proportionally more fat." http://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-specialist/yoyo-diet.aspx?xid=nl_EverydayHealthWomensHealth_20110117

So think about that! Over time I have become a much healthier eater, I eat for fruits and veggies and less packaged food than before, and I started exercising regularly. I will try to eat more whole grains and less sugar, but I am not giving up sugar or butter either!

MRudman

Bump....I feel the same way.

susu5

Absolutely!!! Normal food!!!!