Diets are a freaking waste of time!
Emican2020
Posts: 35 Member
Whhhhyyyyy do I diet? Because I wanted quick results, but did I ever stop to think of lasting results. I used to think that the diet would help me lose weight (sometime it did and sometimes it didnt). When it did I felt confidENT until life became real again and I couldn't stick with the DIET for life. For over 12 years I have dieted and I'm done! Done! Done! All diets have brought me is extreme GUILT! made me feel like a failure, sad and total misery. I have not failed, my diet failed me.
I'm tired of wasting time and feeling guilty if I eat a slice of pizza or eat ice cream on a rare occasion. I'm going to track calories. I may not be totally perfect at it, but change takes time. I'm going to work on cutting down portion sizes while still enjoying the things I like.
Here's to a newer, happier me!
I'm tired of wasting time and feeling guilty if I eat a slice of pizza or eat ice cream on a rare occasion. I'm going to track calories. I may not be totally perfect at it, but change takes time. I'm going to work on cutting down portion sizes while still enjoying the things I like.
Here's to a newer, happier me!
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Replies
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Best of luck! I lost 30 lbs last year eating the same foods as always by tracking my calories and reducing my portions. MFP is a wonderfully flexible tool for losing weight using the approach that works for you
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Welcome to your freedom. 14 -
Absolutely
I was the exact same and kept gaining and yo-yo dieting. Awful way to live.
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I've been trying without success to convince my sister in law of this. As I type she's on yet another round of low carb "clean eating". Why she's doing that yet again, after seeing my success and after it hasn't worked long-term the last 3 or 4 times she's done this, I'll never get.4
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I've been trying without success to convince my sister in law of this. As I type she's on yet another round of low carb "clean eating". Why she's doing that yet again, after seeing my success and after it hasn't worked long-term the last 3 or 4 times she's done this, I'll never get.
My adult daughter is the same way. She thinks it's crazy to count calories. Her plan is to drink the ACV and take a supplement. Although I told her that there is no evidence that ACV helps with weight loss, she believes that because a celebrity says it worked for him, then it must be good enough for her.
SMDH!6 -
Wonderful revelation! Wishing you much success!3
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Deleted due to technical issue.0
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I'm where you are now, diets don't work... or at least not in the long run.
I was doing LCHF and denial has done nothing for me, exactly nothing - I weigh the same now as I did this time last year in spite of losing nearly 2 stone during the course of that year. Denial of a food group isn't something I can sustain long term but it was the new great thing and lots of other people were doing it so it must work, right??? Wrong!!!
I'm going to do it properly this time, eat as I was eating before I tried to be clever, log what I eat, smaller portion sizes, deny myself nothing if I want it but work it into what I'm eating rather than a massive fall off the wagon because I couldn't stop eating the carbs!6 -
It was pretty eye opening for me as well. I quit dieting and I'm down 44lbs. 7
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Thanks for the comments everyone. It makes me feel that much more confident that this time I'm doing it right. I want this soooo bad.1
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I think you are well on the path to success with your attitude. A diet will never work if you can not sustain it for life. If it is unsustainable because you are denying yourself of too much you will always resort back to your old habits. Some can do something like LCHF and continue doing it for years but if you know you couldn't then don't even bother going down that path to begin with. It is just one of many tools out there to lose weight.
Good luck with your journey.2 -
So true, I've been on this site for years now and never have gotten to my goal weight. Desperation this past year lead me to "try" some different things... the latest intermittent fasting. i did that for three months and weigh the same this year as I did last year.
I'm fed up.. all the deprivation has done zero. So?.. give up the deprivation. That's how i see it.
Before counting calories and obsessing over all this... I'd lose weight by exercising.. really walking two miles a day. I'm back to that and sensible eating ...no more fads .. .or strict eating plans that are no way sustainable.5 -
I have done the diets over and over again as well. I always gain more after each round than I did the times before. Good luck!2
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Years of yoyo dieting here. Mfp was the BEST thing I've ever done. No restrictions, moderation, learning and losing weight! It's completely sustainable! Good luck 6
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Good luck1
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Sounds like you're on the right track. As long as you can eat fewer calories than you burn, the weight is going to come off.
The only foods you might consider cutting out of your life are the ones you find hard to keep around without nibbling (and sometimes, you can even have those, say... at a restaurant. For example, I will go to the fridge and scarf down leftover potato kugel. I can stick to a reasonable portion at dinner, but after dinner, if it's around... it won't be for long. That being said, every Saturday after synagogue, there is a buffet which includes kugel. While I can't keep it in my house, I CAN limit myself to two squares@roughly 110 calories each and then leave the buffet go home. So, once a week, I get a treat and stay within my calories for the day.)5 -
Agree whole heartedly with your change of attitude and thinking. If you enjoy pizza have some. If you like a beer, have one. Just fit it into your MFP #'s and carry on. I'd rather be happy and a little over my daily goal than miserable and being under. Do a little extra exercise if you have too. Mental happiness is as important as physical to me. Best of luck with your new attitude:)1
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emilykc822 wrote: »Whhhhyyyyy do I diet? Because I wanted quick results, but did I ever stop to think of lasting results. I used to think that the diet would help me lose weight (sometime it did and sometimes it didnt). When it did I felt confidENT until life became real again and I couldn't stick with the DIET for life. For over 12 years I have dieted and I'm done! Done! Done! All diets have brought me is extreme GUILT! made me feel like a failure, sad and total misery. I have not failed, my diet failed me.
I'm tired of wasting time and feeling guilty if I eat a slice of pizza or eat ice cream on a rare occasion. I'm going to track calories. I may not be totally perfect at it, but change takes time. I'm going to work on cutting down portion sizes while still enjoying the things I like.
Here's to a newer, happier me!
LOL. What makes you think tracking calories and cutting portion sizes is anything other than dieting?
Definition: Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated and supervised fashion to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight. In other words, it is conscious control or restriction of the diet.
So yeah, you're still dieting.5 -
Yes honey!!! Release that restriction and live by making reasonable choices, moderation and loving yourself! I think we all have been there and can relate, it feels good knowing that the program you have created for yourself is by you and for you! Everybody's mission is different and what works for one may not work for another. Learning about yourself, educating yourself and staying focused is key! We all are gonna hit bumps along this journey but along the way ,our goals are the same!2
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emilykc822 wrote: »Whhhhyyyyy do I diet? Because I wanted quick results, but did I ever stop to think of lasting results. I used to think that the diet would help me lose weight (sometime it did and sometimes it didnt). When it did I felt confidENT until life became real again and I couldn't stick with the DIET for life. For over 12 years I have dieted and I'm done! Done! Done! All diets have brought me is extreme GUILT! made me feel like a failure, sad and total misery. I have not failed, my diet failed me.
I'm tired of wasting time and feeling guilty if I eat a slice of pizza or eat ice cream on a rare occasion. I'm going to track calories. I may not be totally perfect at it, but change takes time. I'm going to work on cutting down portion sizes while still enjoying the things I like.
Here's to a newer, happier me!
I support your new healthy mindset and am with you on abandoning overly restrictive fad diets. But 'cutting portions' is still dieting.1 -
Traveler120 wrote: »emilykc822 wrote: »Whhhhyyyyy do I diet? Because I wanted quick results, but did I ever stop to think of lasting results. I used to think that the diet would help me lose weight (sometime it did and sometimes it didnt). When it did I felt confidENT until life became real again and I couldn't stick with the DIET for life. For over 12 years I have dieted and I'm done! Done! Done! All diets have brought me is extreme GUILT! made me feel like a failure, sad and total misery. I have not failed, my diet failed me.
I'm tired of wasting time and feeling guilty if I eat a slice of pizza or eat ice cream on a rare occasion. I'm going to track calories. I may not be totally perfect at it, but change takes time. I'm going to work on cutting down portion sizes while still enjoying the things I like.
Here's to a newer, happier me!
LOL. What makes you think tracking calories and cutting portion sizes is anything other than dieting?
Definition: Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated and supervised fashion to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight. In other words, it is conscious control or restriction of the diet.
So yeah, you're still dieting.
I consider calorie restriction being "on a diet" too. People love to hate that word but unless you're using it to describe all the food you eat; It's the same thing. That being said; it works lmao
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Excellent insight, OP: I think you're on absolutely the right track.
And don't let pedant-grumpery* here about terminology get you down.
Actually, Merriam Webster defines "diet" (first definition) as "food and drink regularly provided or consumed", not even restriction (that's in subordinate definitions).
But no worries, you, OP, communicated completely clearly exactly what you meant. And you're thinking clearly about how to succeed at your goals, too: Double win.
(* AFAIK, no, grumpery is not a word. But ya knew what I meant, amiright?
) 5 -
I also consider calorie restriction to be "on a diet."
Also, the clean living thing isn't necessarily related to weight loss (like the guy in my office that tells me "eating peanut butter is like eating POISON"--he embraces pseudosciency stuff but it's not to lose weight, as he's already thin as a rail.)
But I am guessing you are probably referring to the really 'crazy' diets, OP. Like "drink a shot of apple cider vinegar and then eat nothing but grapefruit all day", lol. Good for you for rejecting that silliness. I yo-yoed for years too.3 -
Traveler120 wrote: »emilykc822 wrote: »Whhhhyyyyy do I diet? Because I wanted quick results, but did I ever stop to think of lasting results. I used to think that the diet would help me lose weight (sometime it did and sometimes it didnt). When it did I felt confidENT until life became real again and I couldn't stick with the DIET for life. For over 12 years I have dieted and I'm done! Done! Done! All diets have brought me is extreme GUILT! made me feel like a failure, sad and total misery. I have not failed, my diet failed me.
I'm tired of wasting time and feeling guilty if I eat a slice of pizza or eat ice cream on a rare occasion. I'm going to track calories. I may not be totally perfect at it, but change takes time. I'm going to work on cutting down portion sizes while still enjoying the things I like.
Here's to a newer, happier me!
LOL. What makes you think tracking calories and cutting portion sizes is anything other than dieting?
Definition: Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated and supervised fashion to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight. In other words, it is conscious control or restriction of the diet.
So yeah, you're still dieting.
Yep, if I'm eating in a deficit eg not my maintenance calories, then I'm on a diet.1 -
Well, if everyone wants to be a pedant, anyone who eats is dieting since, in the broadest sense, one's diet is the food one eats. None of us ever stop eating a diet.
Do I win the pedantry prize????
OP, I know exactly what you meant because I came to the same realization myself. Calorie management is a different issue to food choice, in my mind anyway.
The "dieting" mindset that tied food choice into weight loss says that certain foods were off limits during weight loss but not weight maintenance. This usually resulted in weight regain because it ignored the impact that the calories in those foods had on weight.
Calorie management not tied to food choice is freeing because whether you're restricting calories to a deficit or maintenance levels (which is still a level of restricting since you're preventing weight regain), you are free within the parameters of your calorie budget to select foods of any kind in proper portion and still maintain and/or reach your desired weight. Brilliant, and so much more manageable long-term.6 -
^^^so much this!!1
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I knew what you meant, and I'm taking the same approach as well!1
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Its the only thing that works long term,none of these crash diets,eliminating certain foods,etc,totally pointless and not long lasting! Good for you2
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Traveler120 wrote: »emilykc822 wrote: »Whhhhyyyyy do I diet? Because I wanted quick results, but did I ever stop to think of lasting results. I used to think that the diet would help me lose weight (sometime it did and sometimes it didnt). When it did I felt confidENT until life became real again and I couldn't stick with the DIET for life. For over 12 years I have dieted and I'm done! Done! Done! All diets have brought me is extreme GUILT! made me feel like a failure, sad and total misery. I have not failed, my diet failed me.
I'm tired of wasting time and feeling guilty if I eat a slice of pizza or eat ice cream on a rare occasion. I'm going to track calories. I may not be totally perfect at it, but change takes time. I'm going to work on cutting down portion sizes while still enjoying the things I like.
Here's to a newer, happier me!
LOL. What makes you think tracking calories and cutting portion sizes is anything other than dieting?
Definition: Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated and supervised fashion to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight. In other words, it is conscious control or restriction of the diet.
So yeah, you're still dieting.
Exactly. The problem is that many people view "diets" as a temporary fix for their health. I think that is what the OP was saying.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Traveler120 wrote: »emilykc822 wrote: »Whhhhyyyyy do I diet? Because I wanted quick results, but did I ever stop to think of lasting results. I used to think that the diet would help me lose weight (sometime it did and sometimes it didnt). When it did I felt confidENT until life became real again and I couldn't stick with the DIET for life. For over 12 years I have dieted and I'm done! Done! Done! All diets have brought me is extreme GUILT! made me feel like a failure, sad and total misery. I have not failed, my diet failed me.
I'm tired of wasting time and feeling guilty if I eat a slice of pizza or eat ice cream on a rare occasion. I'm going to track calories. I may not be totally perfect at it, but change takes time. I'm going to work on cutting down portion sizes while still enjoying the things I like.
Here's to a newer, happier me!
LOL. What makes you think tracking calories and cutting portion sizes is anything other than dieting?
Definition: Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated and supervised fashion to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight. In other words, it is conscious control or restriction of the diet.
So yeah, you're still dieting.
Yep, if I'm eating in a deficit eg not my maintenance calories, then I'm on a diet.
Even eating to maintain, is really still practicing a diet. You are not eating mindlessly, right? Doesn't have to be deficit, in my view.1
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