Four Letter Hell. "DIET"

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highvoltagequeen
highvoltagequeen Posts: 60
in Health and Weight Loss
Someone asked me yesterday, Why do I call it a lifestyle change. Why don't I just diet and exercise?

After giving it some thought, here it is.

Because, after I've lost 20lbs on a "diet".. I begin to feel like I've accomplished my goals. It's like I think that weight loss through dieting is something that can be earned like a trophy in one monumental burst of effort and then admired and coveted for the rest of one's life.

What usually ends up happening is that I completely wear myself out. Thinking that I've earned it, I give myself permission to slack off for a while and recover mentally from the calorie counting and the exercising. But because I end up saying "I'll "START" again "TOMORROW"... I end up needing to take more recovery time than usual. This is when the guilt-spiral downwards starts.

Then the guilt from my lack of "calorie counting" and exercising grows so large that merely eating feels like a huge disappointment from the universe. It consumes me so much and the guilt grows so large that I think I start hoping my weight will collapse on itself like a dying star and voila! Thin.

At some point in this endlessly spiraling disaster, I am forced to throw all of my energy into trying to go on a "DIET" again, just to dig myself out of the stretch and sweatpants I've grown into. The problem is that I enter this round of attempted weight loss already burnt out from the last round.

That is why, I do not diet.

Replies

  • Tzavush
    Tzavush Posts: 389 Member
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    well said....

    diet always feels to me like the short term solution to a long term problem....
    Unless the "diet" is the lifestyle change then it really only solves the problem for this moment, not the future.
  • kacarter1017
    kacarter1017 Posts: 651 Member
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    Well said!
  • ronchap
    ronchap Posts: 60
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    people ask what diet I'm on and I tell them that I'm not dieting because every diet I've tried usually fails in the long run so i tell them I just changed my life style. And isn't it amazing how many people try to derail that by offering things that really isn't in your meal plan or say like you can eat a little piece of cake. No I can't because it's not in my plan for today. If I want a piece I'll plan for it.
  • missb92
    missb92 Posts: 200 Member
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    That makes total sense and is the best way to look at it! Ive been listening to everyone else on here saying how its a lifestyle change and not a diet. As much as I know that thats the way it has to be in order to succeed, if im totally honest with myself, i think of it as a diet. But you've just made it clear for me now, so thank you :flowerforyou:
  • highvoltagequeen
    highvoltagequeen Posts: 60
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    Thank you, thank you, thank you and you're welcome.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
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    Yup, that cycle is why I don't diet. I never have. I pretty much don't believe in it.
  • jazgal
    jazgal Posts: 122
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    Cannot believe how much weight some of you have lost .... congrats! I wonder what it would be like if we had to eat cake and ice cream and the other stuff was bad for us ... lol ... nice to live in la la land sometimes ... Wonder why when we do lose our weight we gain it back and start the roller coast ride all over again?? and yet others eat and eat and nothing goes to their middles ... wonder if some of us have an allegy to food .....

    Best to all ....
  • kissmekates101
    kissmekates101 Posts: 17
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    when i consider it a diet i tend to take it from one extreme to another, either restricting my calorie intake too much or binging horribly :( even though i dont always take my own advice i really believe its best to just focus on being healthy, eating the right foods and exercising, and your body will love you. sometimes its easier said than done though, especially for me who cant seem to find the balance

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