Life style change vs. dieting

One final comment from me - well may be :glasses:

Anyway all I know is that with 60lbs gone people around me have noticed and so I am often asked "what are you doing" When I start to explain to them that I have changed everything about my life, what I eat, when I eat, plus exercise, every time their eyes just glaze over and they lose interest. I have found that what they really mean is 'what quick and easy diet did you use' They want me to tell them - oh I cut out all bread, or I only eat salad, or I am doing the south beach, south pole, or whatever crazy fad diet , or that I am popping this pill or that drink. Because everyone is looking for that quick fix diet. I'm doing what you hear all the expects tell you to do, eat right, exercise and be patient, never the answer they are looking for, but certainly the answer that is working for me :blushing:

HA! The south pole diet! Does that consist of ice cubes & an occassional penguin? LOL I get the same reaction. My SIL asked me what my secret is & I told her "I bust my *kitten* every day! I watch what i eat & I exercise like crazy." She looked at me like it was some sort of foreign idea. People are looking for that magic pill. I couldn't agree with you more on this!!

Always cracks me up - don't they think that if there really was an quick / easy way to do this we would be screaming it from the roof tops. Heck we would be bottling it and selling it ! :noway:

I tell them Oh Yeah... I am on the broccolli diet. Ooooh Ahhhh they say, what is that one. OH I eat Broccolli instead of potato chips!! :huh: they are not happy:bigsmile: I am

Anna, I'm curious, don't you think you will gain weight back when you up your calories?
Kelly

I eat healthy most days. Popcorn is one of my favorite snacks, I eat it a few times a week. I don't think of popcorn as unhealthy. It is way better than chips....

Like I said before I'm doing a life style change and dieting. I hope not to gain weight back. Yes I will be eating more calories than I am now, but now I'm eating at a rate that will allow me to lose weight. When I eat more calories I'm hoping to eat at that healthy medium where I'll maintain weight and not lose or gain. The main reason I gained weight in the first place was due to a medical problem and now everything from that is pretty much balanced out.

Okay. Here is my question for you lifestyle change people. If your lifestyle has changed why do you still eat junk, but in smaller amounts? See to me that sounds like a diet, because you are just eating less of the same thing.

Now I know there are people out there like rider that are doing things that they never have done before and have completely changed their life. And as a result lost weight. But I have alway exercised and ate fairly healthy, the only thing I'm really doing differently now is just eating less and drinking more water. Eventually I'll eat more, but not as much as I was before, but not as little as I am now.

Hi Anna,

Nice to see the debate continues! For me the "lifestyle change" was not that I would eat healthy 100% of the time. In the past, I thought little about what/how/when I ate. I'm an emotional eater and a binge eater. Although I understood nutrition, I seldom if ever applied it to what I ate. Over the years I've found myself existing on TONS of refined carbs, lots of sugar etc. Whereas before I might eat 80% junk and 20% healthy now I eat 90% healthy and 10% junk (if that).

There are a number of reasons for this. In today's society eating 100% healthy is nearly impossible....or at least it takes a level of effort that I'm not willing to employ. I like food and I enjoy the social aspect of food. I enjoy going out with friends and I like exploring foods. My lifestyle goal was to achieve a more balanced approach. This is an approach that is realistic in my life, allows me to become healthier without becoming one of those annoying people who constantly obsess about every bite that they eat.

Everyone in the world is on a diet....some on a calorie deficit diet, some on a healthy diet, some on a colorie rich diet, etc. Any food regimen is considered a "diet" by definition. But as I said in my earlier post, the connotation is very different. The common definition of a diet implies that it is short term, involves a short term change, and usually involves deprivation. The psychological effects of deprivation cause most people to go on binge/starve cycles. They binge for the "one last fling" prior to starting the diet, then are extraordinarily disciplined for about 2-4 weeks, and then feel frustrated and deprived and give up. The normal result being that they gain weight.

I think one of the primary differences in our approaches has to do with why we are doing this.

You gained weight as the result of a medical condition not as the result of a poor lifestyle choice. Whereas, I got to where I am today through poor choices. A "diet" won't fix it for me in the way that it will for you. I had to change how I approached food. Although the majority of us have the same goal: to lose weight, our motivations and approaches differ as do the reasons for how we got here.

I think you'll find that the majority of us that are trying to loose 30 pounds or more have a story similar to mine, if they are being honest with themselves. We ate too much, ate poorly in terms of nutrition, went on yo-you diets that exasperated the problem, and exercised too little. For us, diets are part of the problem.

It really doesnt matter what its called as long as it is working for you. Life style change yes..healthier eating yes....some people as myself will have to do this for the rest of my life to keep the weight off..so do I want to be on a diet for the rest of my life...heck no...Ive already been on a diet for 50 years and I am still fat....so I guess dieting didnt work for me..but since I have been eating healthy and change my life style I have lost over 40 lbs...but like I said that works for me...

I LOVE food. Like, it's a passion. So, "eating to live" would suck a lot of fun out of life for me. Instead, I learned to love the right kinds of food. 2 years ago, if you told me that I would sigh in pleasure at a cup of steamed carrots sprinkled with cinnamon, I would have laughed. Now, I love stuff like that.

I enjoy food more now. I don't get drawn to creams and oils as much. Like, oily food doesn't taste right to me. I appreciate more natural, delicate flavors a lot more. Also, I savor things more. I realized this for the first time on Thanksgiving. My sister wolfed down her slice of pumpkin pie in three bites. I, however, savored mine for a good 10 minutes, letting the flavors play on my tongue, making sure I tasted each and every spice. It was delicious and soooo satisfying. So satisfying that I had no desire for a second piece!

Now, though I do love food, I have broken my habit of depending on it to make me feel better. Instead of running to food when I've had a bad day and becoming a slave to grease and fat, I tell myself that, no matter how crappy of a day I've had, I am going to enjoy a nice, filling dinner. And then I'll have one, but it will be healthy.

Hi, I have been a member since late September.. I read all the post, but I never write lol. I felt like I needed to reply on this one. Hope no one minds. It’s going to be long. I agree with everyone's opinion on here, but the two words have different meanings for me. When I started this I was clearly on a diet, and sort of still am. When I started I made sure I was under my calories, drank my weight in water. Exercised when I could. Moved faster at everything I did, no snail moving for me. I lived off of lean cuisine, and Healthy choice. Now here's where my lifestyle change started coming into play. I have
three boys 14,15,17. They all play soccer, football, and wrestle. During football the boys ate anything they wanted. They needed a lot of calories for the way they were working out to stay fueled, and to feel energized. At this time I made 3 diff. meals a night. 1 for the boys, 1 for my DH, and 1 for me.
Now wrestling season is here, and they need to lose weight, even though they have the same hard work-out. I started to make home cooked meals that worked for us all. You can't put boys on a diet. They don't like the food :sad: lol.
So I started making changes to what they did eat. For example choc. chip granola bars instead of chocolate chip cookies. Popsicles instead of ice-cream, splenda instead of sugar. Fiber one cereal instead of fruit loops. You get the picture. Now their losing weight yet are fueled enough for any of the sports. I see it as a lifestyle change, because it changed for everybody in my life, and not just me while everyone else had meat, and potatoes. I also explain why, and how I make things so my boys can make the right choices on their own if their out somewhere. Come to find out they adapted faster, then I did. They consume a lot more calories then me but they are growing boys that have a lot of exercise calories that they rack up. I've also learned portion control because I found myself eating the same portions as my growing boys. As theirs got bigger so did mine.:mad: I also have a husband
that has diabetes so he had to make the lifestyle change also. As for cheating, and indulging once in a while, well I have not cheated once since I started this diet/lifestyle change.:happy: I never thought I could do that, but this site helped with that. I had planned on eating like crazy on turkey day....that was my reward for being so faithful. Well turkey day came. I found my self not really interested in PIGGING out. I ate a lil turkey a salad and some dressing (had to have mom's dressing):) def. not enough to go over my calories. Then I seen the desert table couldn't wait to dig in....then I picked up a fork the smallest fork in the drawer. I took a bite of everything I wanted, and had a big black cup of coffee then I was done. I felt full, and satisfied. I didn't feel guilty. I Checked the scale faithfully for the next three days....I was down a pound
Oh, and my boys made their weight class for wrestling. So I guess this change in all of our lives is working. Sorry about the rambling.
shell

I think you'll find that the majority of us that are trying to loose 30 pounds or more have a story similar to mine, if they are being honest with themselves. We ate too much, ate poorly in terms of nutrition, went on yo-you diets that exasperated the problem, and exercised too little. For us, diets are part of the problem.

There it is in a nut shell for me - 'diets are part of the problem' Yep Yep :frown: :ohwell: