Some things I hear on a regular basis:
"What diet are you on?"
"I lost 20(or 40 or 60) pounds on the X diet, but I gained it all back when I went off of it."
"What do you think of the Y diet?"
"I'm starting my diet on Monday."
So, what's the best diet? The short answer is: the one you'll stick with. The bottom line is that I'm not a fan of diets. To me, a diet is something you're on or off of. A diet brings serious restrictions, cuts out certain foods or food groups, and requires a radical departure from your way of eating.
Does that mean that you're free to eat anything and everything in sight? Not exactly. You start off by making small changes. I usually recommend to my clients that they start off by writing down everything they eat in a day: when, what, and how much. Then we take a look at the patterns that emerge. Never eat breakfast? Then the first step is to work in a morning meal. Drinking 3 sodas a day? Start replacing those sodas with water to stop drinking your calories. You get the idea. Once that change sticks, we move on to the next step.
The ultimate goal is to eat healthy for life. By starting with learning your habits and making changes within that structure, you end up with your own personal "diet" that you'll be able to stay on for life.
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I never understood the eating breakfast thing! If I ate b-fast surely I'd be adding 1000 calories per day, that can't be good.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of diets either, hence the fatness!
'Going on a diet' seems to be the thing everyone wants to do but no one seems to do it.. Or for very long anyway. I think more people should just be aware of what they are putting in their bodies.. Most people aren't.. So, just writing down what you eat is a place to start. It makes you very aware.. That is, if you want to be!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe idea behind eating breakfast is to spread out your calories throughout the day, not to add extra. By going without eating for long periods of time, your metabolism slows down. Breakfast is intended to "wake up" your metabolism.
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