Do you know the definition of going on a diet?
The definition of – going on a diet – is to implement a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one’s weight (Merriam Webster, 2010).
Sparingly? Why, that just sounds awful. I rarely do anything sparingly. And most certainly not when it comes to food. This does not mean I am a glutton but I do enjoy a good meal.
If you have ever been on a diet (as defined above) then you know how difficult a diet is to manage – both during and after you are done with the diet. But imagine if the next time you decide you want to lose weight, you also decide that you are simply not going to go on a diet.
Sounds easy, right? You want to lose weight and I’m telling you not to go on a diet. Okay, that last part is confusing. Let me see if I can help you discover how you can lose weight without dieting.
6 Reasons Not to Go on a Diet:
(1) According to the dictionary you will only be allowed to eat and drink sparingly on your diet (e.g., carefully, scarcely, frugally, inadequately, etc.).
(2) Going on a diet means you will eventually have to come off the diet. Can you do this without gaining back all that weight you worked so hard to lose? Not if you go back to your old eating habits – you will gain the weight again, maybe even more the next time around.
(3) Being on a diet often means depriving yourself of foods that are good and good for you. Whether you low-carb, low-cal, low-fat, or merely take sweets off your menu, you are telling yourself you cannot have those things because you “are on a diet”. This way of thinking can cause diet failure faster than you can say: “I’ll have the Fettuccine Alfredo”, or “How about another chunk of double fudge chocolate cake, yum.
(4) Going on a diet is often a monumental occasion. There may be a whole week or more of festivities leading up to Day One of your diet. These pre-diet celebrations may include (but are not limited to) excessive eating and drinking; avoiding any type of exercise – if you have a perfectly good child (or more) you can simply make (him, her, or them) do your bidding; and daily pep-talks about just how well you are going to do on this diet.
(5) Going on a diet means that if you stray even once while you are on the diet then you have failed the entire diet and will have to begin again (starting with the #4 reason to not go on a diet).
(6) Going on a diet will not help you achieve your weight loss goals. You do wish to lose the weight and keep it off, right? If you’ve answered yes, then going on a diet is not going to work for you.
You cannot radically change the way you eat (even for a short time) and expect that once you go back to eating “normally” you will be able to maintain your weight loss.
So now what do you do? You do still wish to lose that weight, don’t you? And now going on a diet isn’t going to work; so what’s a person to do?
2 Simple Ways Not to Diet and Still Lose Weight:
(1) Change your mind.
(2) Change your lifestyle.
Change your mind about how you view dieting. You do not want to diet. You want to get healthy. You want to lose weight and keep it off; but more than that you want to improve your health, which may just prolong your life – your new healthier life.
Now that you have changed your mind about going on a diet you must change your lifestyle. You must decide that now is the time to start eating healthy, get exercising, and begin a whole new way of life.
You want to live, not die-t, right?
The Bottom Line:
Until you realize that you must change the way you think about dieting – choosing instead to get healthy – you will not shed that weight and keep it off.
Take it from someone who spent years and years on one diet or another and has now begun a new life plan. I did not go on a diet this time; I changed my mind and my lifestyle; and now I am getting healthy. 12.6 pounds and 16.5 inches gone in just one month assures me that I’m going to love my new lifestyle.
And you can too. Live healthy: mind, body, and spirit; and be amazed at what not going on a diet can do for you. Good luck to you in all you do!
Sources:
Merriam-Webster
Personal Experience (What one month of not going on a diet has done for me)
*To stay updated about San’s personal weight loss journey – Lose the Fat Keep the Fab, my 52 weeks to wellness – please visit AskSanAnything at YouTube and learn how you can get healthy too.
**To discover the 3 best ways to avoid dieting and still lose weight please read: The 3 Best Tips for Your Weight Loss Success.
***And please check out 42 Ways to Live Healthy: Mind, Body, and Spirit – The Quick Reference Guide. It’s a fabulous guide to some of the best weight loss tips, success stories, and other health related articles on the internet; written by AC’s very own wonderful writers and updated often. Enjoy!
