Diet or Healthy Lifestyle Journey

minimommy1

I am curious as to how many people on this site are just doing a diet or are trying to have a healthy lifestyle journey.

By diet I mean you are attempting to lose weight quickly (at least 2lbs a week) for an event or to reach a certain number on the scale. This is a temporary thing that will stop at some time in the near future. You have cut back calories extremely and tend to feel hungry and suffer cravings.

A healthy lifestly journey is an attempt to change your lifestyle and therefore is a permanent change and not temporary. You focus on the health of what you eat instead of the numbers on the scale. Your aim is to work on changing the bad habits slowly so they become permanent changes including the weight loss. Your caloric intake is not cut severly so you are never really hungry and when you have a craving you find ways to satisfy it with control. Your goal is to find a way to live healthy for the rest of your life.

I am just trying to take a bit of a survey because of some comments I have read. I would appreciate your imput.

sweets2001

I definitely in this to live a healthier lifestyle and to set a good example for my children. Dieting is something you do every day since whatever food you intake is part of your daily diet

mandycasey

Well to be honest i'm a bit of both when i started this journey ( end of jan ) i said it was a change of lifestyle - not a diet. I have changed my life completly and have a new relationship with food ( still love it and a bit too much really, but i'm getting there) having said that i also want to see it on the scales. As a big girl i needed to lose it 4 my health - my fitness has improved a hell of alot and i have lost a reasonable amount, If i couldn't see it on the scales i prob wouldn't be as focus and keen and slip back to old habits. To me its still a lifestyle change not a diet - i have treats at weekends as thats how i see it long term xx

RAFValentina

I'm doing it for both. However, I don't seem to have the hunger pangs or anything. Been selecting what I eat and when I eat it very carefully and scheduling exercise in every day, weekends being very light exercise like walking or swimming or both. I find I eat unnecessarily when I'm bored - not because I'm hungry. By keeping myself busy and away from food outside scheduled eating times I find I am more than happy! Not even hungry! I guess this is the same for a lot of people.

dls06

If you want to keep the weight off forever, it should be a lifestyle.

prettyfitchick

For me this is a lifestye change. I am not just cutting back cals for now I am change the foods I buy and learing how to cook healthy meals for life Alot of people in my Family suffer from health problems that may not have had to happen if they would have ate healthy meals and find away to excerise. (side story) I got really upset with coworker the other day becuase we are having a pizza party and he said I could not eat pizza becuase I was on a diet and I said I am not on diet and He said well What do you call eating healthy foods and exercisng I said lifestyle change I can still eat pizza I just have make sure its the correct protion size and includes veggies But I am not doing this for the short term

minimommy1

Thanks to those who have replied. I don't feel quite so alone now. I keep reading all these people making dates to lose weight by and cutting calories extemely. They seem to focus so much on the scale. These are all things that I did for over 25 years and I finally realized that they were right when they said that diets don't work. I failed everytime because I put my whole focus on the numbers on the scale and if it didn't read what I thought it should I would binge or just give up. I would starve myself which you can't do for long before you give in.

I finally have come to the understanding that while I want to see the numbers on the scale go down I can't obsess on that. Instead I now focus on making the right choices and doing the right things, learning how to do the right things. It is a journey. Yes the scale is going down slow but more important than that I am not hungry, I am not unhappy, I can live this way forever and when I reach the "goal weight" it will stay off because I am living the lifestyle naturally.

I sometimes wonder why it took me 25 years to figure this out and I want to shout at some of these people -' please listen to me there are no short cuts , learn to live healthy and you will loose the weight'

Ok I am off the soap box now. It has just been frustrating because all I seem to see are people "dieting" and I want to learn to live healthy but can't seem to connect with those who are interested in sharing those kind of tips. I have 150lbs to lose - I have lost 20 (including before MFP). This is a long journey for me but I finally am on the right path. I just want to stay on that path.

maura5880

Absolutely looking at it as a lifestyle change, and wanting to be healthy, not skinny. Of course I want to lose the weight, but it's more important to me to be happy & healthy than to be skinny. I enjoy eating healthier foods than the crap I used to eat. I do incorporate "spike" days where I up my calories a bit and I struggle to find things to eat since I seriously don't even enjoy those foods anymore.