"Not a diet, but a lifestyle change!"

Does this bother anyone else? I'm talking about how these days all the "experts" say that you can't diet...because diets don't work, you have to make a "lifestyle change" and that apparently does work? My problem with that is that now everyone who goes on a diet slaps a lifestyle change label on it even if what they are doing is basically dieting. I'm not talking about crash dieting...I just mean that, in general, if you are eating less and healthier with the objective of losing weight, then I'm sorry, but that's a diet.

I know I may get flamed for this, because probably a lot of people on here classify their changed eating habits this way. I'm honestly not trying to start an argument or anything, I just wonder - where is this long-term data that says that lifestyle changes will the keep the weight off for good? There's not, because it hasn't been proven. I do believe that there are people who truly have changed their lifestyle, over time, to the point where it is unlikely they will regain weight. I think that's great and I hope to be one of those people. I just don't like how everyone and their dog now says it as if it's going to ward off future weight gain or something.

I won't lie. To lose weight, I went on a diet. Over time I realized that depriving myself of certain foods would lead me to crave them excessively. This is the first time in a long time that I allow myself what I'm craving, in small amounts. I will do everything in my power to keep my weight in a healthy range. I exercise, I eat reasonable portions and plenty of fruits and vegetables. I lost very slowly over a long period of time so I feel like I've had practice. I'm just not comfortable saying this is a lifestyle change just yet. Maybe in a couple of years I'll classify it that way, but not now.

Anyone agree/disagree? Just had to get my 2 cents out there :)

Well, a diet by definition is what you eat.  I try and have a healthy diet all the time, sometimes it works, sometimes I'm not so good at it.

A crash diet is not a lifestyle diet and I personally don't think that they work, because unless you can live like that forever, you will go back to what put you in the situation you're in before the crash diet.  I get the same thing if I deprive, I want it more and end up indulging way more when I finally break down, which I always do.

I'm a big supporter of the lifestyle diet, eating well, eating enough, but not too much, eating clean (as little processed food as possible) and trying new, healthy, delicious flavours.  That's my diet, or it tries to be most of the time...

Calling it a lifestyle change is looking forward to the future. While I agree that many people refer to what ARE diets as 'lifestyle changes', many people on this site DO make lifestyle changes. Diets are temporary, and have a negative connotation--it makes you think of diet drinks, and diet foods, and pills, and eating only steamed broccoli and skinless broiled chicken. And it's about so much more than that...it's about changing a lifetime of bad habits.

If it really bothers you, go ahead and call it a diet. But to me, that's simplifying what is for many people, especially those who face 100+ pounds to lose, a complete overhaul of the way that they live so that they can keep the weight off. Because diets end, but changes are meant to stay.

^^ I've eaten chicken and broccoli (and rice) 3 times this week, lol.  Not a crazy deprivation thing....I just had a lot of broccoli and a lot of chicken in my fridge.  No pills though, lol.

I guess for me, there is a difference between "diet" and "crash diet"...what you referred to I would consider the latter (diet drinks, skinless chicken breast, etc). I think so many people have such a negative connotation that they do think of a diet that way. But, I see your point that diets do have an end, and lasting changes you make shouldn't.

Actually, the research is out there. See my post on the National Weight Control Registry.

Isn't that just the small percentage of people who kept weight off after dieting (the 5 percent or whatever)? Eating low-cal, low-fat, 1300 cal a day sounds like a diet to me. It at least sounds very restrictive.

Original Post by allnaturalgirl02:

Isn't that just the small percentage of people who kept weight off after dieting (the 5 percent or whatever)? Eating low-cal, low-fat, 1300 cal a day sounds like a diet to me. It at least sounds very restrictive.

 

 Yes...these are the people for whom dieting has worked. Unless you make it a lifestyle change, the weight will come back on and you will be among THAT 95 percent or whatever. 1300 is just an average, they ate a wide range of calories.

Gotcha. That makes sense.

You'd be amazed at just how much of an impact one's wording has on one's success rate.

I guess I see it as both a diet and a lifestyle change.

To me, a lifestyle is a more permanent thing than what we have grown to see the meaning of the word "diet". Being on a diet has come to mean something short term, something that we do for a while and then go back to eating the way we always have.  Whereas, I am looking for a permanent change. This probably means I will always be on a diet-- not a short term sacrifice but a complete lifestyle change.

I dunno, I personally have changed my diet so radically that I can't imagine ever going back to eating what I did before. Maybe be less strict once I'm done losing fat, but certainly I'm never going to go back to having soda and french fries all day, even if I could maintain my weight doing it.

I think it's just meant more as "Once you see how unhealthy you used to eat, you won't want to eat like that". A lot of people go on diets with the idea of just going back to their old, bad eating habits once they lose the weight. Of course, most people (read: 95%) also think of a diet as just eating healthier foods, rather than actually counting calories and being precise.

Also, I never understood the low fat thing. I cycle my macronutrients.. today being low carb.. here's my percentages so far for the day:

Fat - 40.6% (51 grams)
Protein - 44.9% (126 grams)
Carbohydrates - 13.3% (37 grams)

And I would never go much below 20% fat, even on a high carb day..

Fats are healthy and important.. the low fat trend is just a result of the false association between fat consumption and being fat. Carb consumption easily contributes much more to being fat than fat does.

Of course, that being said, not all fat is equal.. the fat you get from a thing of fries, for example, obviously being much less healthy than say, the fat in a handfull of nuts or in fish/flax oil..

I agree it's become the popular lingo....seems none of us are on diets, we are all on lifestyle changes. "Nope, can't have that muffin. I am on a lifestyle change". Or "gee I can't wait until I lose 10 lbs so I can get off this lifestyle change" lol....diet has become a dirty word. Like "fat" or "obese", it carries a lot of negative connotations.

I have to say though, I DO consider this a lifestyle change for me, I and I was considering it that long before I realized it was the popular term. At age 36, I found that my weight had climbed to over 300 lbs. No "diet" was going to fix that, especially when so many had failed in the past...nothing short of a major lifestyle change was going to cause permanent weight loss. So I did it. There's no "diet" for me, except in the sense that anything we eat is a diet, either balanced or healthy or unhealthy or whatever. I am not employing any diet tricks like cutting out all carbs or eating cabbage soup every day or only drinking diet pop. I approach food and exercise in a completely different way now, and in a way that is sustainable for life. And that makes it a lifestyle change.

This is really eye opening! Thanks for all the responses. I do agree that thinking that you are going to go on, and then at some point go off, a diet is not helpful. The people who do keep the weight off, really do change the way they eat permanently. That's what I'd like to do. I guess I just saw the term lifestyle change as becoming the catch-all term for any sort of change in eating (as victoriagirl said). I'm certainly not suggesting that people here on this site are not changing their lifestyles. If they are, more power to them! and I enjoy the feedback on posts in this forum from those who have maintained long term. That's what we're all striving for.

Calling it a "lifestyle change" is the new packaging for diets.  I totally agree with you.  It's another marketing tool too. 

"Diets don't work.  Weight Watchers does." for example.

The problem is that it is so challenging and takes a long time to establish a habitual lifestyle change.  I think people are really trying to change, but it's hard and the road is riddled with setbacks.  They are discouraging.  I've been discouraged lately because of my setbacks but I keep going anyway and do what I can.

This is all very nuanced and kind of confusing at 1 in the morning, but here's my take:

People in general mix up "life style" and "diet". I agree with ibez that once you actually do change your life, you can never go back. It's like trying to un-learn something-- you just can't do it. I used to never even notice what I put in my mouth. I'd go out to eat 2, 3 times a week, and order salads covered in Ranch dressing, three types of meat, bacon, cheese, etc. and think to myself "Wow I'm so great because I ordered a salad!"

CC changed that. It opened my eyes. It changed my life. Now I think about everything I put into my mouth. Yes, I'll still go out and have a burger and fries if I so choose, but I know the consequences and I can offset them, with knowledge at my side. I've practically become a vegetarian-- even chicken feels too heavy for me and makes me sick. I work out five times a week. Yes, my life is radically different than it was a year ago, and I think the key differentiation between "diet" and "life style" is the sustainability. Diets don't work because you feel like you're undergoing punishment. When you finally hit that elusive goal, you reward yourself with forbidden treasures. But when you change your life, you don't desire anything unhealthy, because you love the new you. You love the feeling of being healthy.

Weight Watchers doesn't teach you health. Diets don't teach you nutrition. A life style change necessarily implies (most) everything you consume is in pursuit of better health.

There's a saying 'give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life'

I think that's a good way of looking at the difference between lifestyle change and dieting.  'Dieting'  is a little like giving the man the fish....  someone (WW, CC)  says 'eat this much' so you do and you lose weight.  It's rather passive, following instructions, 'painting by numbers'.   A lifestyle change is like learning how to fish.... it's a life-skill.  It's you as an individual voluntarily making better decisions and improvements every day that you can happily live with and not just slavishly following someone else's plan. 

Calorie-counting (or portion-control) can be part of it, of course, so is exercise.  So the distinctions are a little blurred at the edges.  But the true 'lifestyle changer' has more than weight-control as their objective.

My two cents!  We are talking semantics here and I believe most of us are on the same page.  Two weeks of severe caloric restriction or 2 years of severe restriction will not make a permanent change for those of us who have issues in this area.

Personally I have to have that sweet occasionally, that hamburger occasionally, pasta occasionaly. But as someone earlier said, I believe I have finally learned to compensate when I have those foods that are not "the best for me".  If I totally left them out I woud end up eating too much of something and there goes the plan!  Some peope can exist on carrots, broccoli, apples, beans, etc. Unfortunately I am not one of those.  But I have been on this calorie counting, calorie burning routine for 10 weeks and now feel I can do it forever.  I can go out with friends for lunch, and have something I really want.  Come home exercise and cut back on the dinner calories.  It is working for me.  Alas, no lifestye change, because there are other parts of my life besides eating and that is part of the solution!   Eating and weight are just a portion of a good lifestyle.

You ladies are great and give out some good info!

Barbara

I do best when I change everything...food intake....exercise....attitude. So it really is a lifestyle change. Diet is one part of that lifestyle change. In the past when I only "diet" the pounds come off but are hard to keep off. Have to change everything that affects weight and appearance.

But the true 'lifestyle changer' has more than weight-control as their objective.

Yes, (sorry don't know how to quote) I think that's a good distinction.

oh and I forgot about the Weight Watchers slogan...I remember when I heard about that, made me so mad! WW *is* a diet...

My thoughts-  I, for one, am on a slow course at an attempt to change how I eat (i.e., lifestyle), period.  Nothing drastic, and I don't consider it "dieting," just trying to retrain myself to eat properly.  I'd been concerned about my slow but steady weight gain (50 lbs. over 6 years), and I've tried the "diets" which of course worked for a while, but then I reverted to old habits, blah, blah, blah.  I stumbled across this website almost 3 weeks ago, and after keeping a log of my intake for a few days, I realized just how much excess food I was actually eating!  I'm down 10 lbs. in 14 days just by reducing my intake, so it seems to me that I'm on the right track.  I haven't really changed what I eat, except I've cut way back on the fast-food lunches, and I've started substituting low-cal or low-fat ingredients in my cooking.  The key for me has been portion control (based on caloric value of a given meal), and my goal, besides losing another 60 lbs., is simply to retrain myself to eat less.  Forever.  Except Thanksgiving.