what is a "lifestyle change"?
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jjpptt2
Posts: 5,650 Member
I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
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Replies
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I believe lifestyle change refers to long term, life long changes, as oppose to a diet which often refers to a short term plan - of which people often return to their old habits after and regain the weight.22
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Lifestyle change is grossly over used. It's become a throw away - convoluted term. It's now used in marketing to sell (legitimize?) temporary diets.
Add the word "lifestyle" to your advertising copy to make it sound more legitimate. Example - I lost weight doing "Slim Fast lifestyle." Yeah, right.
I'm sure there are exceptions, people who intend to use "elimination diet X" forever. But others use the term "the keto lifestyle" (one example) to describe the next 9 months of their lives, without any thought whatsoever to maintenance. I think there are people that assume weight loss is the "cure" for their bad eating habits.11 -
Diets as enacted are typically temporary and single goal driven, seen as something to do that has a start and end point. Diet also carries the meaning of losing weight, which you will be finished with at some point. Yes the word "diet" can also just be a descriptor of what someone eats, but the "journey" and "lifestyle" language is just a response to the usage of it as project based eating.5
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I admit it's a bit of a cringey, trendy term, but I can't think of anything better to describe a maintenance-oriented approach to losing weight. I spent 5-7 years slipping into habits that led to a lot of weight gain and related health issues. Now I'm trying to change those habits for good, because I don't want to go back to that place again. If I wanted to dump the weight fast, I might be doing things differently, or be more impatient with my relatively slow progress. But since I'm focusing on "lifestyle change" the slow and steady approach has been working well because the scale isn't my only measure of success.
I can see a difference too between moving out of an extended period of obesity and a smaller cut. If I needed to lose weight from time to time in the future if I've slipped above my maintenance range either on accident or after a bulk, I think the approach would be different than what I've been doing for the last year and change.11 -
I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.11 -
In my opinion a "lifestyle change" is making a change that benefits your health that is sustainable for the rest of your life whereas a diet is a short term solution that isn't sustainable and teaches me nothing.
For example in my previous unsuccessful attempts at dieting I would cut things out or severely restrict my calorie intake, not realising that in the long run I was setting myself up for failure because I had no intention of learning to moderate my intake once I got to the weight I was at. That was me dieting, it never ended well.
Now I have made what I consider to be lifestyle changes, because that is what they are: changes to my lifestyle or "better habits" if you really don't like the term lifestyle change; small modifications to my diet that don't make me feel restricted; having a better relationship with food and making little changes to my day that increase my activity, like taking the longer route on the way home, cutting down on time spent on the sofa watching TV by watching it mostly when I am doing other things.
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I look at a diet as a temporary calorie reduction or limiting a type of food. Atkins diet, low fat diet and countless others. The difference between calorie deficit and maintenance is not a radical adjustment. The retraining of proper calorie intake is the major part of the lifestyle change and it goes on forever. I have other lifestyle changes that fit in like exercise or not eating fast food on a daily basis.2
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I definitely think the term has taken on a life of its own over time and is almost losing meaning.
For me, though, it means I have changed most things in my lifestyle. I used to vacation at outlet malls, now I hike in national parks. I used to eat fast food and casual restaurants about 5 nights per week, now I do so at lunch on Saturdays. I used to drink 2 diet sodas per day and now I drink 12 glasses of water and some coffee and/or tea. I eat 10X the vegetables I used to eat. I have changed the style in which I live my life.10 -
Your diet is the way you eat. But when people "go on a diet" they are typically making temporary changes in order to reach a goal weight or aesthetic result. What they do once they get there is rarely planned, kind of a "I'll cross that bridge when I get there" type of thing.
A lifestyle change is making a permanent change, whether it's changing the way you think about food, changing your activity level, changing what foods you eat, etc. Something you intend to do for the rest of your life, so you don't just reach your goal, you maintain it permanently, or even continue progressing to new goals.
Like previous posters, I have come to dislike the term because it is so often used by the industry and often seen in a fitspo slogan with a picture of a table full of vegetables or a dewy woman holding a pink handweight and a protein shake. I do honestly believe a lifestyle change is what most people really need, but choose to spell it out instead because the phrase has become just another vague marketing term that is coopted by all sides.
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For me personally... if I just ate however I wanted, I'd probably average well over 4000 calories per day... which on most days would be a significant calorie surplus. Yes, at some point things would balance out and I'd stop gaining weight, but I have no interest in maintaining at 300lbs (or where ever I leveled off).
So for me, I'll be managing/controlling my calories for most of the rest of my life, regardless of whether I'm trying to gain/lose/maintain. In my book, that's dieting... it's a conscience and intentional managing of what and/or how much I eat. Just because it doesn't have a trendy name like keto or atkins or whatever, it's still a diet. I guess that's the crux of my dislike/lack of understanding about the lifestyle terminology.
I just googled "diet definition" and the verb use of diet is:
restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight.
I guess the "lose weight" part of the definition is where it loses me. Or I lose it.2 -
I think a lot of people use it to say I am changing my diet and activity not I am sleeping more, changing jobs, going back to school, moving to another country, growing my own food, going camping instead of going to casinos for vacation fun, wearing shorts instead of suits, selling the house and buying a condo, having a baby, getting divorced, going on medication, or whatever. It sounds more important to say lifestyle change when it really is just eating a bit different and exercising more.0
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For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point).
Thinking about and/or measuring intake or simply paying attention to what and how much one eats may be a significant paradigm shift for some. As others said, it can often be an effort to create existentially "better" and/or "healthier" habits to support the efforts input in the kitchen.
Beyond that it's all semantics. The industry is so inundated with named diets that "going on a diet" or "dieting" connotes something far more structured than simply tracking and reducing calories, despite the applicability of the dictionary definition.
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I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.
So it's the existence of an end date that differentiates it? What if I say I'm going on a diet until I'm 100 years old? Yes, I'm being argumentative, but only to make a point. Is there an actual difference between a diet and a lifestyle change, or is it just semantics?0 -
I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.
So it's the existence of an end date that differentiates it? What if I say I'm going on a diet until I'm 100 years old? Yes, I'm being argumentative, but only to make a point. Is there an actual difference between a diet and a lifestyle change, or is it just semantics?
I think you're maybe getting hung up on the fact that "diet" means "way of eating" in addition to "restrict[ing] oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight". Lifestyle change is about focusing on the former rather than the latter: I am not on a diet, but I have changed my diet.7 -
I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.
So it's the existence of an end date that differentiates it? What if I say I'm going on a diet until I'm 100 years old? Yes, I'm being argumentative, but only to make a point. Is there an actual difference between a diet and a lifestyle change, or is it just semantics?
Every term used in the diet, weight loss, fitness industries are semantics. Diet, lifestyle change, Paleo, low carb, clean eating, HIIT, heavy lifting, eating healthy. They are all vague terms or shorthand that people use when they are trying to sell you something or need clickbait for their blog.
When people use these terms, they mean - diet is temporary, lifestyle change is permanent. Regardless of what the dictionary definition of each word is. Honestly if you are going to criticize terms used in the industry with dictionary definitions there is a long and arduous list for you to work through!5 -
I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
When I started out 5.5 years ago I was a 2-3 PAD smoker who was very sedentary, and my diet was not particularly nutritionally sound and I was just over the line of overweight to clinically obese. I went in for my 38th birthday exam and came out with some really bad blood work...my triglycerides were so high that they couldn't even get a number on my cholesterol, pre-diabetic blood sugar levels, vitamin D deficient, and high blood pressure.
For most of my life I was a pretty lean, healthy and fit guy and a competitive track and field athlete from 3rd grade through high school, and I couldn't believe at 38 what was going on.
I dieted to lose weight...but at the same time, I delved into nutrition and my diet evolved into something much more nutritionally sound than it was before. I also introduced regular exercise back into my life...something I hadn't done in well over a decade.
TLDR - My lifestyle change was basically implementing a more nutritionally sound diet along with regular exercise.
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MegaMooseEsq wrote: »I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.
So it's the existence of an end date that differentiates it? What if I say I'm going on a diet until I'm 100 years old? Yes, I'm being argumentative, but only to make a point. Is there an actual difference between a diet and a lifestyle change, or is it just semantics?
I think you're maybe getting hung up on the fact that "diet" means "way of eating" in addition to "restrict[ing] oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight". Lifestyle change is about focusing on the former rather than the latter: I am not on a diet, but I have changed my diet.
Can you elaborate?MegaMooseEsq wrote: »I am not on a diet, but I have changed my diet.
I read that as a change in habit, such that eating an appropriate amount and/or a balanced diet becomes habit, rather than requiring constant effort and attention. i.e. being on a diet = attention and effort, having changed my diet = new habits and tendencies.1 -
I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.
So it's the existence of an end date that differentiates it? What if I say I'm going on a diet until I'm 100 years old? Yes, I'm being argumentative, but only to make a point. Is there an actual difference between a diet and a lifestyle change, or is it just semantics?
Probably not going to make it to 100 if you're restricting calorie intake that long if you want to argue extremes.
The point is to be successful there has to be a plan for maintaining your goal weight and per your dictionary definition that's not a diet.1 -
That's fair, and kind of what I'm otherwise inclined to think.I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.
So it's the existence of an end date that differentiates it? What if I say I'm going on a diet until I'm 100 years old? Yes, I'm being argumentative, but only to make a point. Is there an actual difference between a diet and a lifestyle change, or is it just semantics?
Every term used in the diet, weight loss, fitness industries are semantics. Diet, lifestyle change, Paleo, low carb, clean eating, HIIT, heavy lifting, eating healthy. They are all vague terms or shorthand that people use when they are trying to sell you something or need clickbait for their blog.
I'm not just arbitrarily criticizing terms for no good reason. I'm asking about a term, a concept, that seems to have traction on MFP. I've been at this for some 7+ years and I still feel like I'm on a diet. I anticipate being on a diet for the next 10 years at least (I assume that at some point I'll stop caring). It sometimes seems like I'm missing something.When people use these terms, they mean - diet is temporary, lifestyle change is permanent. Regardless of what the dictionary definition of each word is. Honestly if you are going to criticize terms used in the industry with dictionary definitions there is a long and arduous list for you to work through!
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I see people talk about changing their lifestyle or making a lifestyle change, as opposed to dieting. What does that even mean? Admittedly, it's one of those terms like "fitness journey" that makes me cringe. But I'm trying to be open minded here... help me understand.
For me, this is absolutely a diet. I'm managing what I eat and how much I eat based on my goals. It requires almost constant attention, and I don't see that ever changing (unless I completely throw in the towel at some point). What am I missing?
The bolded is a lifestyle change. As long as you do what you stated above, you have changed how you manage and relate to food.
Most people refer to a "diet" as a temporary thing that goes out the window once you get to "X" goal or whatever. Managing your diet going forward is a lifestyle change.
So it's the existence of an end date that differentiates it? What if I say I'm going on a diet until I'm 100 years old? Yes, I'm being argumentative, but only to make a point. Is there an actual difference between a diet and a lifestyle change, or is it just semantics?
End date, end goal, whatever. Sure the term "Lifestyle change" get's overused, but given how often people look for quick fix plans, supplements, shakes, and fad diets, the idea that you need to make permanent changes to lose weight and maintain the loss is helpful.
At some point in time, if you are successful in reaching your goal, you will have to decide if you will work to maintain the weight loss or return to the former habits that made you overweight the first time. If you are going to maintain new habits that serve the goal of maintenance, then congrats, you've made a "lifestyle change".2
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