New approach to eating healthy

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hjy319
hjy319 Posts: 269 Member
in Motivation and Support
So I remember a lady I went to school with a long time ago, we were talking about addictions in a class and the instructor asked how many people were smokers, she raised her hand, then the instructor asked each person how many times they had tried to quit. She responded I have never quit, but I also haven't smoked in 20 years. She further explained that if she admitted to herself that she quit, she would crave a cigarette, because she would feel like a quitter, so instead she said she wakes up every morning and makes a choice not to smoke and it has worked for her for 20 years.
So I am thinking that when I tried the low/no carb diets I wanted carbs like no tomorrow, but now that I am choosing to eat healthier and make the lifestyle adjustment, I am using a similar approach to her. I am not quitting any food I am just choosing not to eat it that day, and I choose to eat something not healty then I need to go to the gym for a longer work out.

Replies

  • lhague
    lhague Posts: 258
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    Good approach. You do need some carbs tho to have a good healthy diet, especially if you train and want to keep the weight off permanently. Maybe it should be...today I choose to eat wise.

    Good luck, and will will make that my mantra now. Thanks.
  • hjy319
    hjy319 Posts: 269 Member
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    Oh I leared the hard way that the low/no carb diets do not work for me, I passed out while trying it once. My body needs fuel. I have tossed out the word diet from my vocabulary and am making healthy eating and the gym a lifestyle.
  • lhague
    lhague Posts: 258
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    Wow, that stinks. People who don't workout think they will just cut carbs, high protein diet. They what they don't realize is that once the go off the "diet" and introduce carbs back, they balloon up.
  • Luckymam
    Luckymam Posts: 300
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    That's the principle I've been working by. I read a book last year called "I can make you thin" by Paul McKenna. Basically. You eat WHATEVER you want, as long as you are truly hungry, you savour the food, and you stop as soon as you start to feel full. No foods are banned or "bad". People are so punitive with themselves. I DEFINITELY think that once you start banning certain food, you want them all the more, which is a recipe for failure. "Black and white" thinking is what kills most diets. People feel like they've failed if they eat the "wrong" food and give up. I see so many posts on here by people agonising because they ate a piece of cake yesterday or panicking because they have to go to a restaurant tomorrow, and I just think, "calm down! It's only food!"

    I lost over 40lbs last year, and I have another 38 to go. I am NOT on a diet. I am kind to myself, I eat healthily, I exercise regularly, but if I TRULY want cake/chocolate/sweets/chips/crisps, etc, then I'm going to have them. If I told myself I can't ever have them, then I'd fantasize about food all day, and who wants to live like that?!
  • LindieAndie
    LindieAndie Posts: 45
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    That's a great approach. I guess I do that too, but I've never really thought about it consciously. It's just like taking it one small step at a time, instead of committing to a goal that seems unattainable. It does work best!
  • swalker79
    swalker79 Posts: 2
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    That's what I started to live by last year after years of trying various 'diets'. There's no point in doing a diet. A diet is a short term thing, whereas short term is not what's needed, it's a lifetime change.

    Good luck!
  • tinkerbell1964
    tinkerbell1964 Posts: 152
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    That's what I started to live by last year after years of trying various 'diets'. There's no point in doing a diet. A diet is a short term thing, whereas short term is not what's needed, it's a lifetime change.

    Good luck!





    totally agree it's a life time change :smile:
  • kate205gti
    kate205gti Posts: 84 Member
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    excellent post :) i did the low carb thing too - it worked short term but I craved toast more than anything! plus lack of energy feeling washed out, etc.. now i have toast if i want (just wholemeal without butter) and i have the energy to go to the gym and get that post workout buzz that feels so good!! no diets any more - just healthy choices :)
  • gc_tweety
    gc_tweety Posts: 205 Member
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    This is no diet, its a lifestyle. During previous efforts I would cook different meals for me and my family, how was that gonna work long-term? I now cook the same meal for me and the family, I am teaching the kids by example what dinner should look like and they love it. I love food and will always love food I just give it the respect it deserves now. I look at it as fuel for my body not a reward and not a right in the way I saw it before and that seems to work.
  • catherine1979
    catherine1979 Posts: 704 Member
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    That's what I started to live by last year after years of trying various 'diets'. There's no point in doing a diet. A diet is a short term thing, whereas short term is not what's needed, it's a lifetime change.

    Good luck!

    Totally, totally agree.

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