Diets Don't Work...This Does

alijane9

The only thing that has ever worked for weight reduction for me is to go on a diet different from what I usually eat. This time I need to keep paying attention when I reach maintenance. What I've done in the past is go on a diet until I lost all the weight I wanted to lose, then I returned to my "normal" diet.

Forgive me, I'm trying to understand. So you are planning to be 'dieting' for the rest of your life on your new diet that's different from 'normal'? Is that not where it all starts to unravel?

anifani4

Here is my plan broken down into similar steps.

My weight loss plan

1. Education: Read and discuss to
A. Understand the physiological and psychological aspects of “dieting”.
B. Learn about optimum Nutrition
C. Understand and practice goal setting

2. Remember there is no BAD food, only portion size and choice.

3. It is not about all-or-nothing. Be flexible. Breathe. Relax.

4. Be mindful when planning food and eating.

5. Instead of focusing on reduced body weight, focus on health and wellness.

6. Feel good about how I look right now.

7. Have compassion for myself.

8. Help others through support and encouragement.

anifani4

It doesn't mean much to me.
As far as I am concerned, absolutely everyone is "on a diet". We've all got some style of eating, and that makes up our diets.

The only thing that has ever worked for weight reduction for me is to go on a diet different from what I usually eat. This time I need to keep paying attention when I reach maintenance. What I've done in the past is go on a diet until I lost all the weight I wanted to lose, then I returned to my "normal" diet.

You are correct...what a person eats IS their Diet. But most people recognize the word "diet" as a plan to lose weight. That is, see the number on the scale go down, become thinner or at least less fat/heavy.

I wish you luck with your plan. I'm nearly 70 and I have repeated your plan too many times to count, eventually gaining back all the body fat that was lost, even with the intention of careful maintenance. For me it is now about permanently changing the way I eat. My food plan (diet if you want to call it that ) is about heatlhy whole foods, controlling portions, limiting sweets.

laurelobrien

Well, if your goal is weight loss, "dieting" does work, it is in fact the only thing that works.

edit: unless you want to get technical and include people who exercise enough to lose weight without dieting, and people with hormone disorders etc

mmapags

First, I'm not really sure what is meant when the OP speaks of dieting. Does that mean following some prescibed diet plan that's based on a book that someone wrote? Or does that mean having a nutritional plan that involves a calorie defict and marconutrient targets? If it's the first, I'm out. If it's the second, I'm in. So the generic use of the work "diet" leaves too much open to interpretation.

Secondly, I think any plan that involves more that 3 to 5 key elements is too complicated and compliance becomes an issue and the potential for discourgement and failure go up exponetially with each additional element that's added. So I like to keep it simple:

-Moderate calorie defict 15% to 20% below TDEE
-Macronutrient targets that allow adequate nutrition to maintian health and meet my fitness goals.
-Nutrition comprised of at least 80% whole foods.
-Exercise 3 to 5 days per week. 3x strength training to maintain muscle mass and 2x cardio for overall health and endurance.

That's it. Not 8 or 12 things to follow. No long lists. I can stay focused on those 4 things and I don't elminate or restrict and foods as long they fit my calorie and macro targets. Beautifully simple and very effective.

KetsyBaby

I love your revised version, and it is very practical. Thank you for sharing.

---

Please Add ME To Your Friends Support Team, I am looking for like minded individuals who are at the beginning, middle, or near goal in their journey to help me stay motivated and positive. I love a great sense of humor! I have a long road ahead of me, and need a good network of friends.

Ketsy
40, Female
GTA, Ontario, CANADA


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

purple_tux1

Dieting is working for me.

peterdt

First, I'm not really sure what is meant when the OP speaks of dieting. Does that mean following some prescibed diet plan that's based on a book that someone wrote? Or does that mean having a nutritional plan that involves a calorie defict and marconutrient targets? If it's the first, I'm out. If it's the second, I'm in. So the generic use of the work "diet" leaves too much open to interpretation.

Secondly, I think any plan that involves more that 3 to 5 key elements is too complicated and compliance becomes an issue and the potential for discourgement and failure go up exponetially with each additional element that's added. So I like to keep it simple:

-Moderate calorie defict 15% to 20% below TDEE
-Macronutrient targets that allow adequate nutrition to maintian health and meet my fitness goals.
-Nutrition comprised of at least 80% whole foods.
-Exercise 3 to 5 days per week. 3x strength training to maintain muscle mass and 2x cardio for overall health and endurance.

That's it. Not 8 or 12 things to follow. No long lists. I can stay focused on those 4 things and I don't elminate or restrict and foods as long they fit my calorie and macro targets. Beautifully simple and very effective.

Glad that works for you and may work for some. I think most people need to address the mental part of "dieting". Some of weight gain has to do with bad habits too.

peterdt

Well, if your goal is weight loss, "dieting" does work, it is in fact the only thing that works.

edit: unless you want to get technical and include people who exercise enough to lose weight without dieting, and people with hormone disorders etc

sure, it works in the short term. 95% of people who diet without lifestyle change gain it back.

peterdt

It doesn't mean much to me.
As far as I am concerned, absolutely everyone is "on a diet". We've all got some style of eating, and that makes up our diets.

The only thing that has ever worked for weight reduction for me is to go on a diet different from what I usually eat. This time I need to keep paying attention when I reach maintenance. What I've done in the past is go on a diet until I lost all the weight I wanted to lose, then I returned to my "normal" diet.

I think that some people might define that as yo-you dieting.

GymAnJuice

bumping to read later

Topsking2010

Bump

peterdt

They mention Health At Any Size, and talk about turning the focus from weight loss to health. It seems as if the intention is to improve physical and emotional health, rather than to lose weight.

Yes, I think the article is driving at what you said.

"Most of the current approaches to weight management focus on weight loss as the primary outcome, but there is ample evidence that metabolic health may be achieved even in the absence of weight loss. Many of the reported changes in key metabolic areas (such as blood insulin levels) observed during weight loss interventions occur in the early stages, before significant weight loss is observed (Bacon & Aphramor, 2011). This suggests that changes in lifestyle, such as physical activity and eating habits, may be more important factors in metabolic health than weight loss itself."

Still it is important to lose the extra weight. For example, the extra stress on the knees and legs can eventually wear them out and be much more prone to injury.

mmapags

First, I'm not really sure what is meant when the OP speaks of dieting. Does that mean following some prescibed diet plan that's based on a book that someone wrote? Or does that mean having a nutritional plan that involves a calorie defict and marconutrient targets? If it's the first, I'm out. If it's the second, I'm in. So the generic use of the work "diet" leaves too much open to interpretation.

Secondly, I think any plan that involves more that 3 to 5 key elements is too complicated and compliance becomes an issue and the potential for discourgement and failure go up exponetially with each additional element that's added. So I like to keep it simple:

-Moderate calorie defict 15% to 20% below TDEE
-Macronutrient targets that allow adequate nutrition to maintian health and meet my fitness goals.
-Nutrition comprised of at least 80% whole foods.
-Exercise 3 to 5 days per week. 3x strength training to maintain muscle mass and 2x cardio for overall health and endurance.

That's it. Not 8 or 12 things to follow. No long lists. I can stay focused on those 4 things and I don't elminate or restrict and foods as long they fit my calorie and macro targets. Beautifully simple and very effective.

Glad that works for you and may work for some. I think most people need to address the mental part of "dieting". Some of weight gain has to do with bad habits too.

Agreed and my own progress improved when I dealt with some of my own emotional and habitual issue in regard to food. For me, a more simple and focused set of goals and methods helped this. So did setting my loss target and defict conservatively.

Honestly, eating at a 15% defict to TDEE, as I'm doing now, I could do indefinitley. It's doesn't have the emotional element of deprivation. It does involve patience though as the result don't happen overnight. But the plan is easy to compy with. Also, seeing my nutrition plan as a means to a health and fitness end in a very unemotional way has been a huge help.

So, yes you are correct, I have found what works for me and it may also work for others. It will not work for all as we don't all have the same emotional/ psychological/ habitual issues.

NeverGivesUp

First, I'm not really sure what is meant when the OP speaks of dieting. Does that mean following some prescibed diet plan that's based on a book that someone wrote? Or does that mean having a nutritional plan that involves a calorie defict and marconutrient targets? If it's the first, I'm out. If it's the second, I'm in. So the generic use of the work "diet" leaves too much open to interpretation.

Secondly, I think any plan that involves more that 3 to 5 key elements is too complicated and compliance becomes an issue and the potential for discourgement and failure go up exponetially with each additional element that's added. So I like to keep it simple:

-Moderate calorie defict 15% to 20% below TDEE
-Macronutrient targets that allow adequate nutrition to maintian health and meet my fitness goals.
-Nutrition comprised of at least 80% whole foods.
-Exercise 3 to 5 days per week. 3x strength training to maintain muscle mass and 2x cardio for overall health and endurance.

That's it. Not 8 or 12 things to follow. No long lists. I can stay focused on those 4 things and I don't elminate or restrict and foods as long they fit my calorie and macro targets. Beautifully simple and very effective.

Glad that works for you and may work for some. I think most people need to address the mental part of "dieting". Some of weight gain has to do with bad habits too.

This battle is sooo mental for me. Getting rid of bad habits and replacing them with good ones. I feel like I have finally figured it all out for myself and that feels great. Getting to know my body specifically has been a priceless discovery for me. Also what works for me may not work for someone else. There is no right way to tackle this and the psychological aspect is more important or just as important for me. I had to learn how to see taking care of my body as never ending, quality of life and health instead of being slim, and that changing the foods I craved and ate were very important to my journey. I finally can honestly say that I have no fear of gaining my weight back because I have changed so much. Losing continues to be a challenge but maintaining is no longer an issue.

Cdn_Dot

Bump to read later. sounds like a good mind set.

NCchar130

The most important point on that list for me is mindful eating.

I've yo-yo'd all my life and I've been a reader of food labels all my life. I even knew about the concept of TDEE (though didn't know it was called that). None of that really helped me though without a way to keep track of it. Which is why I went looking for a food diary. But what really hit me about a month into this was satiety/fullness. I can eat whatever I want if it fits. But I'm choosing to eat THIS and not THAT because for the same number of calories I can either feel full or like I'm just getting started. That's been a hard concept to explain to coworkers, family, etc who think I have eliminated certain foods from my diet that they know I love. I haven't eliminated them, they just may not be worth the calories on that particular day. I think the food diary brought that point home to me - probably everyone on MFP knows that awful feeling when you have like 75 calories left for the day and it's only noon and you're hungry haha.

kingscrown

Exactly! I started focusing on health and wellness and 76 pounds fell off. No amount of dieting ever did that for me.

bearwith

Absolutely agree. Many of here are yo-yo dieters who have been dieting and putting on more of the weight than you actually lost in the first place.

What I like about My FPAL is that you have to think about what you eat and this actually forces you to make healthy choices. Eventually this changes your choices

Mads1997

OP you are so not going to be popular.

Nobody wants to hear this common sense most are all looking for the quick fix of pills, potions and fad diets.

mmapags

OP you are so not going to be popular.

Nobody wants to hear this common sense most are all looking for the quick fix of pills, potions and fad diets.

While what you say about the quick fixes is true, there has been no sign of attacking so far. Just some pretty thoughtful discussion.

Qskim

They mention Health At Any Size, and talk about turning the focus from weight loss to health. It seems as if the intention is to improve physical and emotional health, rather than to lose weight.

Some issues within the realm of emotional health are alleviated by what is eaten...yes, switching over to these foods that help address hormone levels can mean less calories anyway therefore weight loss. I found it useful to myself to think of it primarily as an issue of physical health rather than weight loss..at the age I am and with arthritis I thought what's to lose (no pun) by just being healthier..but I also knew that losing weight would be a side bonus. I used to get pitting in my finger nails from psoriasis...after a lifetime of this it's no longer there and I can grow nails!

I often tell people who want to lose weight to treat whatever condition they have with food..I'm actually using a bit of cunning there because I know that this will (because most food choices for any condition are healthy) mean that calories will decrease anyway. It has a cyclic effect mentally..you begin by learning about nutrition for the condition..you eat accordingly knowing that everyday you are making a difference to your health (easy short term goal rather than a daunting 100lbs to lose) and begin to feel positive..you lose weight BONUS...you feel positive...you continue believing you now have a more holistic approach to your own health...your condition improves...you've lost weight...changed habits along the way...win win.