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Dieting
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Anyone else share this view of dieting? Is it really this easy? If not, why not?
The diet industry has made billions of pounds from people going on diets. The implication of ‘going on’ a diet is that you will eventually (and probably quite soon) ‘come off’ it.
But there’s no need for all this going and coming. Think about it – if you write down what you eat this week then that will have been your diet for the week. And if you’re not happy with the way you look or feel then you need to change that diet. No going and coming, just change.
There’s any amount of advice available on what to eat and what to avoid so work out a diet that you feel you can live the rest of your life on. It’s that simple. If you don’t want to change what you eat then don’t. But don’t expect to feel any better about how you look and feel.
But do stop wasting money going on diets.
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Yes, I so agree with you Geoff. About a year ago I noticed my weight had crept up, so I stopped blaming age / bad knees etc. and took a look at what I was eating, and how much exercise I was doing, and improved both. I did use a book - but it was more about healthy eating for life than a diet book. The book had lots of recipes ideas in it, which was useful when making improvements to my eating habits. I lost a lot of weight very easily. A year later its still gone (probably much to the annoyance of frequent dieter friends who all told me "you'll put it back on"), and I didn't cut out anything totally.
However a few friends have bought the same book, on my recommendation, and found the eating suggestions in there not for them. So I think its a question of finding what healthy eating style suits you and your lifestyle, and then keeping an eye on what you're eating, so as not to slip back into bad habits.
No-one ever emerged from being lost in the jungle for weeks/months and said "I just couldn't shift the weight". (I'm not recommeding getting lost in the jungle as a healthy way to lose weight!!)
But the diet industry is big money and people like the idea of quick fixes, so I'm afraid people will keep wasting money on diets.
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I agree with you, Emma. It should be more about having a healthy lifestyle rather then a faddish diet. It's quite simple - if you expend more calories than you ingest, you'll lose weight.
Therefore, increasing exercise levels, eating sensibly but not dieting and having all (most?) things in moderation will cause people to lose weight and, at the same time, enable them to enjoy their life.
If people can't do that, then they need a psychiatry book, not a diet book.