anyone given up the dieting mentality?

Question

I'm 5'7, 171 lbs. Within the past 2 months I lost 10 lbs. I have NOT enjoyed the past 2 months though. I work my butt off by exercising, I eat very healthy, but I am just NOT enjoying it. These 10 lbs I have lost have given me a HUGE boost in self esteem. I have never been unhealthy. I am never sick....no health scares of any sorts.

Has anyone else given up the dieting mentality and just gone with the flow? Ate what you wanted to eat, exercised when you wanted to exercise?

Answer 1

I think that if you approach this as a change to a healthier lifestyle rather than a "diet", you may have a slightly easier time. If you think of yourself as 'dieting', it seems like too much of a chore. And you'll get bored with it really quickly.

Your body needs regular exercise, but if "working your butt off" is quickly losing its charm, you're much less likely to keep it up. Instead, take up an exercise routine that you can maintain. Try doing moderate - rather than intensive - exercise 4 or 5 days a week for about an hour at a time. Do about 20-30 minutes of cardio and 20 - 30 minutes of resistance training. Or you can do something fun: hike, swim, walk a nature trail, ride a bike outdoors, etc. If you lighten the load just a bit, you're much more likely to keep it up long term because it will seem like less of a chore.

Also, as far as food: just make a habit of generally eating reasonable amounts of nutritious food. If you drastically cut calories (fewer than 1200 a day) for an extended period of time, your metabolism could actually slow down. And there's no way you can keep that up. What happens to most people is that as soon as they get off a diet and start eating normally again, they immediately gain weight. (Yet another reason I advocate the healthy-lifestyle-approach rather than the temporary-diet approach.) There is also no need to completely cut anything out of your diet - just eat the higher calorie/sugar/fat foods in moderation and in reasonable amounts. And - if you generally eat well and get regular exercise, an occasional splurge won't be a problem!

I hope this perspective is useful. Best of luck to you!!

Answer 2

Dieting ruined my life for about 5 years. Now, I just eat more or less what I want and make sure my weight doesn't get above a certain number (5'6" 140 lbs.). I exercise for fitness and to make myself feel better instead of losing weight.

Answer 3

Yes and no. I am coming to accept the person I am not (which unfortunately was Kate Moss)... anyway. I think that in the long run we would all be happier by choosing our disciplines wisely and focusing on adding more good and tossing more bad habits. In a way that is giving up a "dieting" mentality for a "healthy" one. If you convince yourself you are denying your body then ultimately you will feel deprived and no matter how good you think you look, you won't feel truly well. If you are able to talk yourself into giving more to yourself you will come to feel more fulfilled. Hope that makes some sense :) Good health!

Answer 4

I'm totally against dieting. I think instead of confining yourself to an arbitrary number of calories, people should just eat natural food, not junk food, and stop eating when they're full.

It's worked for me!