Do you consider your new lifestyle change a diet?

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  • maura5880
    maura5880 Posts: 346 Member
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    Heck no! It's a lifestyle change & it'll stay that way :)
  • revnica
    revnica Posts: 50
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    Definitely a life style change, diets never work for me!!!!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    When people say "How's the diet?" I say "Fine." No matter what. I don't argue semantics, and I don't give details unless they specifically ask because most people don't really want to hear the answers.

    That's how I feel.

    I didn't consider it "a diet" because I think of "a diet" as a short term fad with a name. Grapefruit diet, Slimfast diet, Cabbage diet, etc. I'm just learning how to eat the proper foods and amounts to get the results I want. At one time, the result I wanted was to lose weight. Now it's to maintain my weight.
  • bmqbonnie
    bmqbonnie Posts: 836 Member
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    Nope! Diets are temporary, usually with temporary results.
  • AussieGem
    AussieGem Posts: 96 Member
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    I dont consider it a diet! I am making dietary changes but to me it is a change in my lifestyle.

    Many people go on 'diets' - however most are completely unsustainable and restrictive. Yes you may lose 10 pounds or whatever, but once you stop you put it all back on. I guess that is why, for me, it is all about lifestyle change!

    At the beginning of the year, I was a lazy, fat, sad and lonely girl who was stuck in her ways eating anything that tasted good and didnt care enough about herself. Sure I would go on diets, but I did not have the right mindset. In my opinion dieting and living a healthy lifestyle can be two totally different things. What seperates them is the mindset that one has.

    Dont get down about what people say or what they may think. You have made a change for the better, take it as a challenge and prove them wrong.
  • chikachic817
    chikachic817 Posts: 55 Member
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    Yes and no. Right now it feels like a diet because I only started a week and a half ago. But I am trying to find healthy ways to fix some of my favorite foods, so that it can end up being a lifestyle change for me. So far, I feel proud of myself because I have gotten rid of most of the junk food at my house and have asked my parents to stop buying certain things I used to eat that were already prepared/processed like chicken tenders/frozen french fries/etc. from our local meat market. I've started using a food scale and am finding out that the portions I am now eating still allow me to feel satisfied after my meals :)
  • kyle4jem
    kyle4jem Posts: 1,400 Member
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    I hate the fact that the "slimming" community has hijacked a word that now means different things to different folks: DIET.

    In Nature your diet is the type of food stuffs you consume...koalas have a diet of eucalyptus leaves, pandas eat bamboo, etc.

    But nowadays diet so often refers to a program used to lose weight. These diets tend to be short-term (from a few weeks to a few months) and they normally incorporate a dietary change (low fat, low carb, only fruit & veg juice, VLC-food supplements/replacements, etc) These changes can only be continued for a definite period because your body needs balance and so often these diets shift that balance.

    Nowadays we talk about lifestyle change almost interchangeably with diet, but truthfully, if we are still in the weight-loss phase rather than the maintenance phase, then truthfully if we are honest with ourselves... we are on a diet!

    I am currently eating a deficit of ca. 750 Calories a day. This isn't a lifestyle change, because I can no more eat a deficit of 750 for the rest of my days than I could do without water. Put it simply, I'm on a diet. OK, it's not a branded program like Weight Watchers, Slimming World, Atkins, Dukan, LighterLife or SlimFast... it's an EAT LESS, MOVE MORE plan where I eat much the same type of foods as I always have, only now I count calories and eat within those limits as well as ensuring I get some sort of exercise every day.

    Next year I intend to move into eating maintenance calories based on the weight I want to end up being. This will still be a deficit on my current and ongoing weight for at least another 12-18months, but that will be a true lifestyle change as I will be re-educating myself as to what I can fit into a food and nutrition program based on 1850kc which will include going out to restaurants, drinking in the pub, having chocolate, biscuits, cakes and snacks from time to time and living within my weekly goals. No quick fix, no special requirements, just sensible eating, regular portions and enjoying exercising (walking, swimming, cycling)

    So yes... I am on a diet, but I'm looking towards a future where I will not have to count calories (meticulously) and just be able to enjoy leading the life I want to lead, eating what I want to eat and getting out and about and feeling invigorated :happy:
  • SusM321
    SusM321 Posts: 141 Member
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    Absolutely NOT, I'm not "dieting" either...I'm here to change my life as you said! I'm learning (or is it relearning) how to eat, play and work healthier. Like Mom taught me eons ago!! Dieting doesn't work...working to change yourself does! Although, I am eating a more nutritious diet; kind of tricky for those who don't get it! :-) I used to explain that I'm not dieting...I don't bother anymore if it's the same people asking. Wishing the best for all of us on this journey to a new way of being!
  • suzyqs4
    suzyqs4 Posts: 20 Member
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    My journey on MFP is a Lifestyle Change because it has to be permanent. I consider a diet to be temporary that would have a date to begin and end. Lifestyle changes are what what you know you have to do and will keep on doing.
  • ladybg81
    ladybg81 Posts: 1,553 Member
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    lifestyle change
  • aolani
    aolani Posts: 80 Member
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    Consider it a lifestyle change with me being prediabetic.

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