Tired of all the "real dieters"

OP is a judgmental hater. Find something more constructive to say instead of putting people down please?

I think it is important for people to clarify when they say they are at 1200 if they are eating 1200 net or gross. There is a big difference. I am set at 1200 calories a day as well. After my daily activity and working out I end up eating anywhere from 1600 to 1800 calories. Sometimes more but my NET is 1200. There is nothing wrong with netting 1200 calories. I actually work out so I can eat more! Or more importantly drink beer. ha!

I'm not tired of the real or fake dieters. Whatever works for someone is fine with me. And if it doesn't work, they'll find that out soon enough. Everyone must find their own path.

Me, I choose diet and exercise. Yep, I am ON A DIET. I've been on this diet for 20+ years and plan to stay on it for the rest of my life. I only maintain a healthy weight when I diet. If I don't think about what I'm eating everyday, I will over eat.

Diet. Say it with me friends. It's not a dirty word. It's a wonderful thing. And it's only as temporary as you make it.

The problem with the word DIET is that most people (it seems you may be in this category, I could be wrong. If I am, I do apologize) think this word means what they DON'T or CAN'T eat/drink (yes, what you drink affects your metabolism too!). That's what screws people up. Your diet is comprised of what YOU DO EAT/DRINK.

See, it's the four letter word F-O-O-D that screws people up. FOOD is not evil. FOOD IS YOUR FRIEND!

So, on a diet one chooses carefully what they can and can't eat or drink, but in a lifestyle change they do, what? Eat and drink without thought? I doubt seriously that is the case, but if so, I'll take a diet every time.

I do limit what I can and can not eat or drink. Some things are limited to occasional use only. Some are thoughtfully added on a regular basis. Food, for me at least, can be friend or foe, depending on how I choose to control it.

It think the comment was referring to the definition of the word diet.

Your diet is what you eat and drink. Period. When people think of "going on a diet," what they mean is, "going on a restricted diet." The definition of diet is what you eat and drink, regardless of quality or quantity.

Edit: As an example...

My dog's diet consists of dog food and water.
My cat's diet includes cat food and water.
My diet includes whatever I can fit into my 1800 calorie allotment while insuring that I eat enough protein and fiber.

I'm not sure which comment you're talking about, but yes I know the definition of the word. It would seem those that say they aren't on a diet may not though.

Even if you use the MFP common usage definition of diet = "restricted diet" I am still on a diet. I restrict things in my diet. As do you, and I'm guess most everyone else on here who is trying to lose weight or get/stay healthy. Whether you restrict carbs, fat, calories, junk food, alcohol, sugar and/or something else, it's still a restrction diet.

Restriction diets are good things.

Well I sure wish someone would help me out here. When I put my info into MFP it set my goal at 1200 calories?

MFP sets every woman that says they are sedentary and want to lose 2 lbs per week at 1200. If you have a lot to lose that is probably fine, as long you log all activity beyond being sedentary and eat most or all of those activity calories back so that you have 1200 net calories.

Example - if you do exercise to burn 350 calories today, then you should be eating 1550 calories today (1200 base plus the extra to fuel your exercise). You don't need to hit it exactly every day, but it should average out pretty close over the course of several days.

If you don't have a lot to lose, you would probably be better off setting to lose 1 lb per week. And if you have only a few (20 or less) to 1/2 lb per week.

Oh, Thank you ..this is so helpful to me.

There is more than one definition of the word 'diet'. The broader meaning is about lifestyle, and actually literally means a way of life, although it is used solely with regard to food nowadays. The more narrow meaning is a prescribed course of restricted food intake.

Normally you can tell from context which meaning someone is using. For instance, 'I can't eat that - I'm on a diet!' tends to mean a person is restricting their food intake, whereas 'I try to eat a healthy balanced diet' tends to refer to the broader meaning of what one eats on a day to day basis.

i don't get what's so bad about 1200 calories? i changed my diet a week and a half ago. i pretty much eat meat and veggies, and even added coconut oil and i still have to force myself to get near 1200 most days. i could eat way more than 1200 in a day when i was eating junk food. but now eating REAL food and good fats, i'm staying satisfied much longer. also, the ONLY exercise i've had in the last week and a half is a few minutes of roller blading, yet i've lost 10 lbs in the past week and a half. i thought i having success, but apparently i'm wrong. lol

I agree as well..This is NOT a diet. I's a lifestyle change. I too, eat in moderation, which includes cakes, ice cream, chips, burgers and so on from time to time if it fits in my intake. I usually do treat meals at least once a week and go a little over my intake if needed for gatherings, holidays, so on. :happy:

all these judgmental forum posts really make me annoyed.

if you dont like how someone is doing something so much than stop reading their journals.

I come on here for my goals and I frankly will eat as much as I am hungry for and when I am drinking 8-10 glasses of water AND eating healthy/ watching my sodium which is a big deal for me I often just hit 1000-1300.

If people don't like my food diary then they can stop reading it..

I don't mind constructive criticism but I hate when people are rude or tell me how I HAVE to eat the RIGHT way. If I tried to please everyone Who knows what I would end up eating because I have had people want me to eat more, less, protein, no meat, more meat, eat back exercise.. dont..etc.

Just let them do their thing. If you want to help do it gently and if you just wanna pick on them on a forum just unfriend them and save everyone the trouble.

Only the defensive seem to see it as judgmental...those individuals who want to justify their habits. This post was a "response" tithe thread condemning "fake dieters" so if you didn't read that thread then this post kind of lack context. In any case I wasn't judging anyone--expressing disapproval of changes that are unhealthy, yes. this is not the same as judging the individual.

I read the previous thread and figured this was a response to that. A little "tongue in cheek" but good information none the less. I do think newcomers who think 1200 is the norm because that is what MFP spits out to almost everyone if you plug in a 2lb loss/week deserve to know that there is an alternative that might work for them

bump

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AWWW thanks. you're a sweetheart. I can't believe that people 2x my size are eating 2/3 as much and claiming to be stuffed--It's completely antithetical to what I would view as a sustainable, healthy, and lifelong approach to weight management. Maybe these people really can eat 1200 calories forever, but I honestly doubt it. At some point I think MOST people snap and that's when the weight comes piling back on. I just wish people could be a bit more patient..take one meal at a time, one workout at a time, one day at a time until they reach goal and then continue doing the things that got them to the finish line.

I only eat around 1200 calories a day most days and honestly if fills me up when i started it didnt do **** for me and i spent hours and hours being hungry but now its actually really easy i only work out 30 minutes a day though so im not sure if all of this pertains to me or not but, and this is just me, i cant allow myself to eat more than that if i start eating when im not hungry just for eatings sake i'm going to be rite back where i started so if at the end of the day i dont reach 1200 calories i cant go stuff my face with cake thats just silly
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There is more than one definition of the word 'diet'. The broader meaning is about lifestyle, and actually literally means a way of life, although it is used solely with regard to food nowadays. The more narrow meaning is a prescribed course of restricted food intake.

Normally you can tell from context which meaning someone is using. For instance, 'I can't eat that - I'm on a diet!' tends to mean a person is restricting their food intake, whereas 'I try to eat a healthy balanced diet' tends to refer to the broader meaning of what one eats on a day to day basis.

I don't see the difference in your examples. But diet refers only to food, not to lifestyle, which would include many things beyond food.

Yep, as I said, its literal meaning is 'way of life', and it originally referred to entire lifestyle, but nowadays is used solely with relation to food. Words change meaning over time. If you check the OED, you'll see the etymology. But even in its modern meaning of solely food, the two meanings are different, as I was describing. A prescribed course of restricted food intake is different from a description of one's general food intake. I am not on a diet, as in I am not on a prescribed course of restricted food intake, but I do have a diet, in that I do eat! You yourself quoted 5 different dictionary definitions. They all mean something slightly different - that is why they are listed from 1 to 5, with different definitions. Number 3 is what I was referring to as the narrow meaning. Number 4 as the broader meaning. Number 1 is a broader meaning still.

di·et [dahy-it] noun, verb, di·et·ed, di·et·ing, adjective
noun
1. food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health: Milk is a wholesome article of diet.
2. a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease: a diet low in sugar.
3. such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight: No pie for me, I'm on a diet.
4. the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group: The native diet consists of fish and fruit.
5. food or feed habitually eaten or provided: The rabbits were fed a diet of carrots and lettuce.

The OED also includes the original meaning:

1. Course of life: way of living or thinking.
2. esp. Customary course of living as to food: way of feeding.
3. Prescribed course of food, restricted in kind or limited in quantity, esp. for medical or penal reasons; regimen.

It has 7 different meanings, but I won't cite them all, as most aren't used nowadays. People tend to use meaning 2 when they are talking about any general food intake, and meaning 3 when they are talking about a particular restricted food intake. You wouldn't say 'I'm on a diet' to mean 'I'm on a customary course of living as to food'. You'd mean you were on a prescribed course of food.

You wouldn't say 'I'm on a diet' to mean 'I'm on a customary course of living as to food'. You'd mean you were on a prescribed course of food.

Actually, I would use "I'm on a diet" to mean "I'm on a customary course of living as to food". I've been on a diet since jr. high school when I first started caring what I looked like. There is no prescribed course of food, just me limiting food as part of my customary course of living. Dieting is how I avoided obesity.

We can argue semantics all day but I'll still be on a diet at the end of that day. And if you are restricting calories or anything else, you will be also.

I wish some girl who wasn't 23 years old and only has 4 pounds to lose would not be so critical and judgmental of other people.

Do you think that she got that way "by accident" or "due to good genes"? She is ticked off (as I used to be 10 years ago until I got tired of banging my head against the wall for no good reason) because of all the people who are misinformed thinking that what they are doing is a good thing and those who are blatantly fibbing, whether it is the people who YOU KNOW aren't logging accurately due to lack of progress or those who live on 1200 calories a day, are otherwise healthy and who claim to be full.

It's frustrating to see people making the same mistakes and proliferating the same MISinformation over and over and over again.