Do you think 'Diets' work long term? just wondered what people's thoughts were on this?......
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Do you think 'Diets' work long term? just wondered what people's thoughts were on this?......

posted at 8/2/2010 5:26 PM GMT
Total posts: 57
First post: 25/9/2007
Last post: 25/2/2010
Hi

I have been on a 'Diet' for the past 18 years ever since I thought I had a problem with my weight and that I should be slimmer when I was 15 years old The thing is I have gained and lost the same 2 stone over and over again and never got anywhere really. After working out that I have spent 5,000 pounds in money to lose 28lbs in weight Innocent I have now come to the conclusion that for me personally diets dont work. I feel they are too destructive to us to be able to actually enjoy food and now I look at food and automatically know how many points, calories, or syns are in it. I dont think; will I enjoy this? or it will it taste good? but 'will it make me gain weight'. I think my whole perspective has got skewed as to what my body needs. I have lactose intolerance and it has made me really question what I am eating now. Well it has had to really.

I have now decided after lots of thought and contemplation that I need to listen to my body; to eat when I am hungry and stop when I am full. An easy idea in theory but I really feel in today's society that we have forgotten how to do this. Everything is so available all the time and it makes it easy to overeat and also eat junk that our bodies dont like and take lots of energy to process. I have been the worst culprit for  this in the past but I need to change. I want to enjoy food, be healthy and be happy. So I am upping my exercise, measuring myself instead of weighing myself and am going to eat a healthy diet with lots of yummy food

Just wondered what other people feelings are on this? do you feel like you are destined to be on a 'Diet' for ever or do you feel like me and have cut back and exercised more to lose weight and not focused on the scales?

xx

Re: Do you think 'Diets' work long term? just wondered what people's thoughts were on this?......

posted at 16/2/2010 7:29 PM GMT
Total posts: 4668
First post: 25/6/2006
Last post: 10/3/2010
depends how you eat when you're not on a diet. the word diet has been skewed in its meaning. a sensible diet together with excercise is what is needed to maintain a healthy weight of a person, this weight may vary but being healthy is the point of a diet more then anyhting else.

also if you learn to enjoy healthy foods the easier it is.

When you say you're lactose intolernat have you had this tested?

generally it is said that if you eat sensible clean home made foods 80% of your diet then the other 20% can contain bad foods.

i apply this to myself, for some i agree it is harder to maintain a certain weight and that they may have to work harder then others but again size is not an indicator of being healthy, some people may be fat on the outside and some internally on the organs.


if you wish to maintain a  healthy weight you will have to change your lifestyle for the rest of your life, this includes a healthy balanced diet and more excercise, this can include walking everyday, some excercises at home that dont take too long and general movement using the whole body.
do-it.org


be the change in your life

Re: Do you think 'Diets' work long term? just wondered what people's thoughts were on this?......

posted at 17/2/2010 11:24 AM GMT
Total posts: 17
First post: 13/1/2010
Last post: 24/2/2010
Hi Guys,

I strongly feel that diets don't work in the long term, I've also spent years on various different diets such as weight watchers, detox, low carb, ultimate new york body plan, low GI etc. I think a lot of these diets have merits but the problem we have is that we tend to see things as a quick fix. Unfortunatley for most of us who need to diet we can not just change our eating habits for a period of a few months we need to make changes that we can incorporate into our lives forever. Last year I lost a little over 4 stone, I did this by eating healthily, doing exercise and trying to figure out what works for 'me'. I think that everyone is different and different things work for different people. At the begining of this year I started a blog after reading some other peoples (see the link below) this has really motivated me to keep going and I've discovered loads about eating good healthy foods that also taste wondeful, exercising so that you get hooked on it and leading a generally more healthy lifestyle. Have a look at my blog and some of the other ones I follow - there so interesting and motivational, and there all about leading a healthier life than a short term diet goal! xxxx

Re: Do you think 'Diets' work long term? just wondered what people's thoughts were on this?......

posted at 16/3/2010 2:09 PM GMT
Total posts: 11
First post: 12/3/2010
Last post: 16/3/2010
The problem with diets, I think is three things - one you gain weight when you stop the diet, two some of them are actually harmful to you especially longer term and three, like you say, they change your thinking about food but not always in a good way. 

I've tried all sorts of diets and long term they didn't work - because of the above.  But now I'm taking a different approach.  Actually (and this is ironic given the previous sentence) it was the special k diet that changed my thinking!  It taught me portion size and control - that I could eat well and be full and eat food I like & enjoy it - just less of it.  I had got into the habit of eating the same portions as my husband which had made me put on weight! 

That, combined with healthy eating options - I don't mean only low calorie, more what's healthy so lots of fruit and veges, whole grains, lean meats, oily fish etc and regular exercise I have found since November I've lost over a stone - around 9lbs since January (the nov-jan bit was special k, then abandoned for Xmas!)

For me, this is a change for life - not a diet or quick fix.  I want to find my healthy, maintainable weight that I don't have to either starve myself and endlessly worry about calories nor am I over eating and not exercising.  I want to eat cake or chocolate sometimes, go out drinking with my friends, and then lie hungover on the coach the following day - not doing any exercise!  But in between the cake, drinks and hangovers - I intend to eat well and exercise regularly! 

On the fitness side - I found that a lot of things didn't work for me - like feeling guilty, running on hard surfaces (hurts my knees), pushing myself too hard (I'm an over achiever by nature).  So this time I'm not doing any of those and it's working.  I still have bad days, difficult days and days when I hate the gym...but mostly it's good. 

I am hoping this approach will work longer term.  To be honest, its the longest term I've gone on anything exercise related!  Good luck with finding a healthy approach to food and weight that works for you.

Forums » Diet and fitness » Slimming » Do you think 'Diets' work long term? just wondered what people's thoughts were on this?......

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