The Thing About Diets

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So, here’s the thing about diets. They ALL work in terms of being able to lose weight.

Here’s the other thing about diets; they’re all fails. No diet really works in the long term. These statements are not contradictory.

The reason is because there’s no diet that can be maintained for a lifetime. I don’t care if you’re counting macros, counting calories or counting points is your thing. The vast majority of people cannot sustain that diet forever. So, what happens is that you go on one of these diets and you follow it religiously and you do lose significant weight. You’re so happy about the weight loss but you’re getting tired of the diet. You feel the limitations, the boringness, the drudgery of the diet and you start to stray. Just a little at first and then it becomes more frequent. Then there’s that tipping point when all hell breaks loose, and you start to eat whatever and however much you want. Then that becomes the new pattern. Naturally, the weight comes back and in fact you will gain more weight back than you lost in the first place. I’ve been there and done that so many times and as a result became obese.

At this point you hate yourself and you give up on yourself for a period of time. You tell yourself things to make yourself feel better; things like big is beautiful, body positivity, obesity doesn’t really lead to bad health. You’ll do this until you begin the next round of a new DIET! The horrible cycle repeats.

For sure there are a small percentage of people who manage to sustain counting macros or calories. But what are the odds that you’re one of them? It doesn’t have to be this way. The best diet is a no diet nutrition lifestyle. It’s not the fastest method but it’s the most sustainable method. For me it was Paleoish/low carbish. But it doesn’t have to be. For my husband it’s Keto. I can’t do Keto. It’s not for me. That level of low carb and really high fat makes me depressed. It works wonderfully for my husband though. People are different. You have to choose something that you know you can maintain for the rest of your life. That means that it can’t SUCK and be so rigid that you feel deprived all the time. If it sucks to do it or it’s really hard to do it then inevitably, you’ll quit.

So, here’s my nutrition lifestyle. I eat around 1800 to 2500 calories a day of real food. Rarely ever eating processed foods or junk food. That’s a huge calorie range because it depends on what I’m doing that day. I do however, track my food on an app because I need to know what I’m eating and the nutrition that I’m getting.  But I just eat however many calories I need to fuel what I do in a day.  I eat more if I’m working out that day. The thing that I do try to carefully monitor is my carbohydrate amount.  I’m diabetic so it’s good for me to keep my carbs low, somewhere around 60 to 70 grams per day. Just to keep that in perspective, most people get around 250 to 300 per day. It doesn’t take much to get that many carbs in a day.  A couple of slices of toast, a glass of orange juice in the morning, a soda for a snack, some pasta at lunch, some mashed potato and a roll at dinner and some ice cream for dessert will take you there.  So yes, compared to the average person I’m super low carb.  I don’t eat wheat and almost no other grains except for occasional rice. As an Asian person rice makes me happy and a little rice (half cup) once or twice a week keeps me sane. I eat quite a bit of both proteins and fats. A lot more than most people. Remember, I’m not trying to cut calories so I have to get them from somewhere because my carbs are so low. Plus, protein is essential for making muscles. Muscles make you strong, so I’m all over that. I do eat fruit every day, about a small handful of berries at breakfast (strawberries, black berries or blueberries). Only occasionally apples, peaches or oranges because these are really high in carbohydrates. I also do not drink sodas or any fruit juice because they are nothing but sugar, i.e. carbohydrates.

I eat very well, very satisfying great tasting foods that do not make me feel deprived at all or make me feel like I’m on a diet. The results are amazing. I went from a size 18 to a size 8 and have sustained that for 9 years.  I’m not going to say it’s all easy; there is some struggle when I sometimes just want to order a pizza like I used to do. Or when I go to a Chinese restaurant and just want to eat ALL THE RICE but I can’t. This nutrition path is a lot easier than counting calories and a lot less hungry than cutting calories.

By the way; for those of you thinking that my cholesterol levels must be terrible because of all the fatty meats and added fat I eat; that would be incorrect. I used to have to take Lipitor, a cholesterol medication for 5 years before I started eating this way. That was when I was obese and yet I was eating around only 1200 calories a day and very low fat. Since changing my nutrition to what it now my doctor took me off the Lipitor because my cholesterol levels became very good. Not only the cholesterol improved I was also able to reverse almost 15 years of steadily worsening diabetes. The way that I eat may not work for you; everyone is different. You may need more carbohydrates and do well with more. You may not need so much protein because you’re not working out that much. The bottom line is that no one regardless of how much will power you have can sustain a “DIET” for a lifetime. A lifestyle change for lifetime is the only way that a person can achieve a healthy fit body.

A typical day’s food for me on a day that I workout:

Breakfast
2 strips bacon or sausage
2 eggs scrambled with butter
3 to 4 strawberries
Coffee with 3 tablespoons of heavy cream

Lunch
2 Smothered pork chops
Turnip greens
Cabbage
Salad with ranch dressing

Dinner
Ribeye steak pan grilled in butter large (around 12 ounces)
Half of a roasted sweet potato with butter
Sautéed broccoli in butter
Big ole salad with balsamic salad dressing

1 1/2 glasses of red wine (I never gave up wine and chocolate)
2 small squares of dark chocolate