‘I’m on a diet’, ‘ I need to go on a diet’, these are just a couple of examples of the reasons why I dislike the word diet. To me it’s a dirty word, that no one really knows the meaning of. It’s a way of people letting you know they’re on a weight loss journey and 9 times of of 10, it’s not going to be a healthy sustainable one, so let’s talk about that.

The meaning of diet.

1. the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

A diet is what you eat day in day out, it’s not something you can be on or go on, it’s literally what you’re eating everyday. Whether you eat the same thing everyday, the same meals every 2 weeks or something new every month, this is your diet and there’s no 2 ways about it.

Not only do I have an issue with the word diet, I also have a problem with ‘diets’ themselves. I personally don’t believe that changing the way you eat majorly by either making a drastic calorie cut, cutting out a certain food group or restricting yourself is sustainable.

Yes, it might give you great results for a week or month, but you’re not going to be able to keep that way of eating up for a long period of time, so when you do go back to eating ‘normally’ this can cause weight to actually go on more easily, especially if you’ve done a major calorie cut.

Why?

When you do a calorie cut that’s drastic, this causes your body to go into starvation mode. It uses the fat to fuel itself, which is why weight will start to drop off. You’ll also likely start to feel very lethargic and even grumpy – which isn’t ideal. When you’ve reached your ‘goal’ or the end of the meal plan you’re on and start eating normal, the body is so shocked that you’re giving it food that it clings on to what it’s being provided – just in case you ‘starve’ the body again. It’s like a coping mechanism.

Lifestyle change.

This is why I’m a big believer in a lifestyle change instead, as it’s more sustainable and will change your whole way of eating, rather than being something that works ‘just for now’. For example, if you crave cake everyday, you might choose to find a low fat muffin recipe that provides you with that fix everyday but is healthier than eating a piece of cake with icing everyday.

As I’ve mentioned in another blog post, I’m a big believer in moderation not restriction, so say you eat a chocolate bar everyday, you might try and eat say a piece or two of chocolate when you have the daily craving but 2 or 3 days a week, you go for the full bar.

By making small changes, these will provide a big difference in the long run and gradual fitness goals, eating goals or even weight goals are much easier to stick to than a drastic change to what you’re used to eating everyday.

What is it you crave the most? For me it’s hands down chocolate and donuts!

Love, always – B
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