Does dieting make you miserable?

Whenever I go on a diet and cut out unhealthy foods it makes me feel miserable.

Its amazing how much pleasure you get from eating and drinking.

Yes, that's why I don't diet.

It's amazing how much weight a person can lose just by eating reasonable portion sizes, moderation when eating "treats", and learning how to make healthy dishes more appealing and tasty.

I agree with santonacci. I actually enjoy healthy foods though, so this lifestyle is great for me. If you like fast food, greasy food, chocolate, whatever then eat it! It may not be as nourishing for your body but it'll keep you sane. Just make sure you practice portion control and count the calories going in. I wouldn't advise constructing your diet out of these foods entirely, but in order to stick to what you're doing you need to make it work for you.

To add to that, calling it a "diet" makes it seem like you don't think of it as a lifelong committment, which could leave you yo-yoing. If you plan on going back to old habits as soon as you reach your goal, you'll surely gain your weight back!! So make certain whatever "diet" you're doing you can stick to for life. If that includes unhealthy foods, then that's okay! Make it work for you. It's all about balance.

You probably break your diets a lot, dont you? That's because from the sound of it, you're being WAY too restrictive. Those diets will make you loose weight for the first few weeks, but you'll gain it all back. The only way to loose weight and keep it off is to make a life change. Eat healthy foods (not low cal low carb low EVERYTHING foods) and allow yourself to indulge once in while. Pair that wit exercise and you're good to go! 

"Dieting" forces me to enjoy every bite of my healthy, well-rationed food. As a result, I enjoy every meal and am a happier person.

Maybe you're restricting yourself too much; if you don't allow any "bad foods" at all, you probably will be miserable.  The key is moderation.  If you can control your portions and make substitutions that you can deal with, then you can still enjoy most of the foods you like, just not all the time.

It's kind of funny how little I actually TASTED all those bad foods I was eating.  Now that I'm trying to eat healthier foods, I pay a lot more attention to tastes and textures of the foods I eat.  I find myself actually enjoying raw veggies with dip (something I would have laughed at a month ago, if it had been suggested to me).  Even those "bad" foods might be more enjoyable if you see them as an occasional indulgence, instead of something you scarf down.  I used to eat mindlessly; I'd go to McDonalds and down three sandwiches from their dollar menu, along with a large drink.  I'd eat a bag of candy in a day, or drink soda and eat salty snacks.  Now that I realize that there's a caloric price for those kinds of foods (a cheeseburger = 90 min on the treadmill, or whatever), I'm not so inclined to make a trip out for them.  They don't fill you up, they only make you crave more bad foods.  If you can get used to eating healthier foods that fill you up--find some that you actually enjoy--it gets easier.  Just make sure that when you do indulge, you check the calorie information so that you can eat a reasonable (forgivable) portion size, and try to compensate for those extra calories throughout the day by making sure your other meals are low calorie.

I'm sorry you feel miserable--be careful not to be too restrictive with your diet, because that makes you prone to bingeing and quitting.  If you really want to lose weight, this has to be a true change in your lifestyle, so you have to make compromises you can live with.  Don't give up---give it a chance to work!

I was restricting my calorioes (1300) and food (only healthy/lots of fiber/not much salt/barely any suagr/etc)  when I started dieting and I was miserable!

I actually started eating 1500 calories a day of whatever I wanted (of course I keep a few very healthy items in there) and I'm MUCH happier.

In this past month I have eaten birthday cake, I had 2 pieces of pizza one day, I had 2 beers another day, I've been eating a small portion of cinnamon toast crunch cereals for breakfast, etc. But at the end of the day - my calories are around 1500! I'm still exercising, and I get to eat whatever I want!

On days when I go out to dinner with friends, I exercise 20 minutes longer - or eat healthier in the more in anticipation of a good meal and wine!

That's why I no longer diet.  I just figure out the eating habits that need to change, and change them slowly one by one.  I'm not missing all the unhealthy foods I used to eat, but I do allow myself some discretionary calories each day, just enough for a small piece of chocolate, or I save them up for 3 days and have something special like a piece of pizza.  It's all a matter of controlling the portions and learning to be satisfied with lots of vegetables - high bulk, low calorie foods. 

It's not easy, but it's better to change your bad habits for life than it is to "go on a diet" and be miserable only to gain it all back when you can't stand it anymore.

Yes, diets make me miserable. I have a history of yo-yo dieting and it has ruined my metabolism.

I don't consider counting calories a diet, probably because there are no foods that are off limits. Mostly I eat healthy, but I do make allowances for foods that aren't so healthy, I just don't eat a lot of them. 

I prefer healthy food for meals and I'm very good at making those healthy choices - but I love desert. Yesterday, I spent 4 hours out to ice cream with my friends - I had a medium frozen yogurt and a blueberry muffin. It was delicious and I enjoyed it immensely. I also enjoyed the conversation and fun with my friends.

I'd rather work out than diet - I got 2 hours of intense activity yesterday so I didn't feel one bit guilty about my desert, I earned it. I loved being active - I'd happily work out for 4 hours if I had the time. I usually go in the morning by myself to the gym and do something in the afternoon with a friend (a run, a walk, a dance class, a weight lifting class). Dieting makes me miserable - exercise does not.

Though last night I certainly could have been ok with only a frozen yogurt - and a small one. I need to learn that kind of control. 

Yeah, I'm pretty much miserable.  Even though I have cut out most junky foods, counting calories has left me permanently hungry, and it's uncomfortable.

No, it doesn't, but that's because I don't deprive myself.

I totally get where everyone is coming from on telling you "don't diet, make a lifestyle change," but the fact of the matter is that I am counting my calories and I am eating in a calorie input/output deficit, so I'm dieting. I am not following some silly Hollywood Diet or Cookie Diet or Low-Carb Diet or any of that, but I'm eating below my maintenance calories, so I am dieting.

But I am not suffering. Last night I had a one-person angel food cake with blackberries and blueberries and drizzled with a wee bit of abuelita chocolate cinnamon syrup and it was wonderful and fit my calorie allowance for the day.

I eat foods I enjoy; I've just had to find different foods to enjoy. Yes, I miss a big bowl of pasta with sundried tomato cream sauce, but I'll have it again, just not soon and not in the quantity and frequency I used to.

If I were suffering, I couldn't have kept this up for the past eight months.

All I can say to you is find your balance point. Focus on what you can enjoy and make sure that you do enjoy those things. Give yourself permission to take a break if you're going to break, but also give yourself a firm conviction that you won't let that break drag on so long that you lose all your progress.

yes i find when i was starving/restricting i was a miserable biatch. to this day i dont know how my FH did not leave me lol.

Nope.  I'm really enjoying my (I don't want to say diet) journey to losing weight.  I'm trying new foods I never thought I would, I became vegetarian and now have much more variety of foods.  I'm exercising and feeling great about myself.  I have a long way to go, but when I get there I want to be happy and healthy and to have learnt about healthe and nutriton.

If what you're eating makes you miserable, find different things to eat.  If you want to lose weight, high calorie foods are OK in small portions, low-calorie foods are good in large portions..  Make sure everything you eat is flavoursome and interesting.  If you like food, nothing is more miserable than bland, dull fare...  And don't forget exercise.  If you do a little exercise you can afford to eat a little more... always good for the soul. 

The time it takes to lose the weight should be time spent working out what food choices and portion-sizes will keep you slim for life....  'Delicious' doesn't have to be 'fattening'.

I hope you really listen to most of these responses you are getting.  "Dieting" blows, but controlling your diet rocks.  I love cheeseburgers and pizza and chips and all the usual high fat fare.  I still eat it all, but I just make it differently.  I use 1/4 lb Jenny O turkey patties on light bread, lettuce, tomato, pickles, mustard and ketchup and it is delicious.  I make pizzas in my toaster oven out of whole wheat tortillas, pizza sauce, pepperoni, part skim mozzarella and veggies.  Both of these things are right at 300 calories (big deal).

I went to Red Robin this weekend and ate the 950 calorie mushroom and swiss burger and enjoyed every minute of it with no guilt afterwards.  I don't deprive myself because I know that so long as I'm exercising regularly and eating great most of the time, I WILL lose the weight and keep it off.  Misery sucks so find ways to do this and make yourself happy.  If you are content with your body and don't really want to lose the weight for YOURSELF, then so be it.  Life is too short to be miserable period.

like others, i don't diet, so my answer to your question is, "No."  now ask me if being overweight and sedentary made me miserable.

There is no food either "good" or "bad" but thinking makes it so. I'm with all the folks who don't restrict, just change a little bit at a time.

My first week on the site, I ate just like always, the foods in the quantities I usually ate, I just counted the calories. The second week, I wanted to make a change or 2, and I make them, slowly, one at a time.

I'm with pgeorgian, being fat and sedentary made me miserable. Obesity is my #1 health problem. Today I feel that I am doing something about it that I can keep doing (and keep improving) indefinitely. I feel so much better about being me!

I totally agree with everything that's been said on this thread, and can think of nothing I could add regarding lifestyle vs diet.

Funny, though, when I read xavier7's original post, it really resonated with me for a different reason.  It's easy to get distracted anytime anyone on CC uses the word "diet" - it's a trigger word that will provoke a rainstorm of advice about denial, "good vs bad", lifestyle vs restriction & denial.

What I heard in xavier7's remark was the loss that comes when one gives up an unhealthy means of coping with feelings, with life, and does not yet have any new coping skills to compensate.  I have lost 91 pounds, I have stable moods, I enjoy eating healthy and occasionally have a splurge meal and/or a small portion of something high cal/fat.

And a small piece of me still sometimes misses the dubious freedom of eating as much junk food as I want and the numbness that comes with binging.  When I first changed my life, I was "miserable" whenever feelings or stressors popped up and I couldn't run and hide in emotional-eating.  When I quit smoking, I found it helpful to acknowledge that I LOVE smoking, and it harms me.  I also LOVE gorging on crap, a little is not enough and that's the problem - most junk food has limited appeal to me in small portions.  I gained 100 pounds chasing the junk.  Just like any other abusive relationship - how I feel about it doesn't matter, it harms me and it must go.

So at first, just like leaving an abusive lover, I could be miserable and lonely, but I was taking the first steps toward a healthier, better life.  As time passed, those abusive lovers/cigarettes/Ding Dongs lost their appeal, and the new health-affirming life grew a comfortable skin.

So I just want to say, xavier7, if you share some of these feelings, it will pass.  There's nothing wrong with missing old habits, even if they are unhealthy.  And it's natural for a new way of life to feel uncomfortable - new habits take time to become a normal way of life.

And if I'm off-base and you're miserable because you're practicing a restrictive, tasteless, boring "diet"...then...well...what they said...

I used to be misarable dieting....however this time around I am not!   I am eating foods I enjoy this time, just smaller portions...I haven't ate a single healthy choice, or lean cuisine meal....and I am getting good exercise.  So far I have felt great, not bad!  I also have people tell me how good I look, and congrats on losing weight...so for me, it's been wonderful.

As sooo many others have said. It's not a diet- it's a lifestyle change!

I agree with Clairelaine and the rest that say  I don't diet.  Yes, dieting did make me miserable!  Now that I'm a nutritional eater I can have that reasonable slice of pie.  Terminology and attitude about what you are doing makes all the difference.  I look forward to meal prep now.  I have fun converting unhealthy recipes into something that I can truly enjoy; because the are nutritionally balanced, and taste good!