Why are women always on a diet?

- No idea how many calories they're consuming
- No idea what a reasonable calorie deficit should be
- Hormones. Effin post-40 hormones!! :laugh:

Because they don't feel confident about their bodies, but aren't willing to be disciplined about a solution.

QFT

Agree they have no idea how many calories they are consuming. Neither did I until MFP, and I was appalled and a little sickened the first week when I saw how much I was REALLY taking in. No wonder I had so much junk in my truck.

This is why I always log my bad days - because it reminds me that this is how I gained 20lb because every single day I'd eat like that and make an excuse to myself that it was fine because I wasn't fat and I'd stop if i got fat.

I think there not being honest to themselves. Yeah I eat decent and work out 4-5 days a week too but I BINGE a LOT and on JUNK. So that is why I'm still fat. I can't eat over 1,700 a day and lose weight even with my exercise. Many people are confused about serving sizes. Like when you make a cheeseburger. How much meat are you really using? Did you count all the condiments? If you have some ice cream did you measure a cup or eat a "bowl". I see people log "1/2c Icecream" Did you really eat a 1/2c of are you putting that because the side of the box says that is a serving and you only ate 1 bowl aka "serving"

I have a friend who says she never eats fast food but when we were going to school she ate wendys almost every day. When we go out she often goes to checkers or McDonalds. -_-

I think they are probably not truthfully logging their food and exercise.

When I am militant about logging, I lose. When I start eyeballing portions and not counting that cookie I ate after supper, I gain. Also the funny thing I notice about a lot of my friends is that they will go to the gym and burn say 300 calories, but then they'll stop and have a 400 calorie smoothie on the way home!

I have a lot of friends on Facebook who post what their burn at the gym was per whatever app, then half an hour later they post a picture of the burger and beer they're having at the bar. Although they've made great strides with their fitness, they are still overweight. I'm not sure if they care, though.

I think a lot of people think that exercising means they can eat whatever they want and still lose weight. I know I had that mentality for a while, too.

A lot of people ask what I've done to lose the weight, and I'm up front - it's log what I eat and exercise (hard, as in not just 100 calories but 500-700/day, if not more) at least 5x/week. They usually shut down after that.

It's likely that these ladies the OP works with need to open their eyes to the truth of what it takes to get fit and lose weight, and they need proper motivation. Unfortunately both need to come from within.

ETA that the people posting burns are posting maybe 125- or 150-calorie burns, not heavy burns that might justify a burger and beer's fitting in their macros.

My husband can decide to walk up 2 flights of stairs all week long and lose 10 pounds. For me, I have to work extra hard to lose it. My weight has been stuck for the last year, gaining and losing the same 5 pounds, eating 1360 calories and not losing anything, working out 3 times per week. It doesn't make sense. I'm a biologist, I know it doesn't make sense, yet... that's what was happening.

Two weeks ago I switched to 1600 calories based on a post by "Dan" about TDEE. I've lost 2 pounds, and last week I skipped the gym twice. We'll see if it's a fluke.

I lost 75 pounds fairly easily (a year of eating right and just walking for exercise = easy), I'm pretty healthy, but my last 15 pounds is holding on and being very stubborn. I've heard it all, everyone has an opinion. If I'm being honest, the ladies you work with are probably a good mix - some are lying to themselves, some have thyroid/metabolism problems (which is fairly common, especially in aging women, and isn't always diagnosed by the blood test), some are probably more worried about the number on the scale than the fact that their body is healthy, they want to be 125 but the scale says 135, they don't see that it's because they're muscular or whatever, they just see that it must be 10 pounds of fat. There is no one explanation that will cover it all.

But - just in my experience, if I'm not actively trying to lose weight, I'm gaining it. That's just how it is for me. My husband can eat all sorts of crap and hover around the same weight, yet I eat fairly healthy (vegetarian, very few processed foods at all, on the average day I drink only water all day long, with the exception of a cup of green tea in the morning) but if I spent a week eating similar to him (same things, just size-appropriate portions relative to what he eats) I'm going to gain a ton of weight and he'll stay the same. So... in short... what I'm trying to say is that, in general, men have an easier time losing weight than women - and we hate you for it

This is a serious question.

In my office all the women (aged 28-50ish) are on a diet seemingly all the time. They do Zumba and other stuff (according to them) yet they never lose any weight. Are all their metabolisms really that bad or are they lying to themselves?

I have one friend who says she needs to lose about 20 pounds so she cooks healthy and works out but hasn't lost any weight. On the other hand, I eat pizza or fast food about 5 times per week and I lost 15 pounds just by not snacking and quitting alcohol for a bit. I also watch everything I eat and exercise 4-5 times per week; strength training in the winter and running in the summer.

Can one of you wonderful ladies please enlighten to me why this is? Are they not serious about it or is it social?

It's important to be very mindful of what goes in our mouths. Tracking food portions and calories is imperative because you realize how much of what you are really eating.

My mom always says she needs to lose weight (she really isn't that fat) but she doesn't try super hard to lose it. She walks sometimes and does zumba with me sometimes, thats about it. She eats small portions but she doesn't eat the healthiest stuff all the time. I feel like the women just don't try hard enough.

People in general like to talk. Saying they are on a diet makes people feel like the person is "doing something". Meanwhile they are on the couch each night with a bag of Cheetos and a 2 liter of Pepsi. Every woman I know of claims to be on a 'diet', though I'm the only one I know that actually loses weight...

Women are always on a diet because TV and magazines tell us we should look the ladies on TV or the models in the magazine. This has made us self conscience. So even women (some not all) who are not necessarily overweight develop a negative self image and think they have to diet diet diet to reach society's standard. When they do this, it is usually a fad diet, they fail, thus continuing a vicious cycle of lowered self esteem.

This is part of the reason I love MFP and my MFP family. I have learned to accept me for me. I am never going to look like the super model in the magazine. I am who I am and that is all I can be. I am much happier person for learning this.

4.) Body comp issues...kinda goes back to number 3. Too many women at a healthy weight just aren't happy with their composition...so they diet even more and do even more cardio, when in reality they would benefit greatly by lifting something heavier than their handbag and dumping those endless hours on the elliptical...and actually eating a bit more, especially protein. Always amazed at the lack of protein in many females diets.

This is something I learned even after losing 82 lbs on MFP (I'm pregnant now, so my losing is on hiatus, as is my exercise, unfortunately, due to bleeding issues). I am doing The Roadmap when I return and plan on incorporating lifting into my fitness regime

Social pressure is probably a part of it for many people, but I choose to not tell people that I am 'dieting'. If there is a birthday, I eat the piece of cake I am given, log it as truthfully as I can, and make sure to compensate somewhere else.
TBH, I doubt I am correct in my calorie intake, so I set it a bit lower than it should be. The crazy thing is, I can be way off the other way too. For example, I had chicken in my lunch today, I weighed it because I had the opportunity, it was six ounces. I estimated more than that (eight ounces) before hand.
I am one of those girls who is always on a 'diet' and never loses weight. I was an overexerciser and undereater for months and lost nothing. Then I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. I have stuck to my plan for eight weeks now, hopefully it will work.

Binge eating when all the friends are gone. Food that goes in when nobody's looking doesn't count.

That and doing 15 minutes of the whatever it is of the month DVD and saying they did the whole thing.

People are comfortable with self-delusion. ^ was my MO before I got serious about changing.

Or maybe they just don't move at all when you don't see them? I used to eat pretty healthy, always passed up the cake or cookies at work, but I didn't do any extra moving around at work (other than taking the stairs) and when I got home from work, I sat in front of the TV and/or computer for the night. So not so much the calories in as NO calories out (other than a little over my BMR). When I got a dog that has to be walked and started moving more, I lost weight without even paying attention to what I was eating. When I joined a gym and started paying attention to calories in and out, I lost even more. Now I don't pass up the cake at work--I fit it in to my calories for the day or exercise it off when I get home.

I feel sorry for those women. I've been trying to encourage the ones where I work to check out this website and/or get a BodyMedia Fit Link like I have when they ask me about my weight loss.