“It’s a lifestyle not a diet”. Have you heard those words before? Actually, have you heard them so many times that they don’t even mean much anymore? I know, me too. When I struggled with a weight problem, I heard this so often that eventually, I just tuned it out. I had failed at “making it a lifestyle” so many times that I didn’t even give it a second thought. It hadn’t worked for me and I wasn’t listening.
Have you ever heard a familiar song on the radio and suddenly realized that you had never really heard the words before? Maybe it meant something totally different than what you had thought? That’s what happened to me with this phrase. I finally tuned in to “It’s a lifestyle, not a diet” and it’s my hope that slowing down and breaking it down will allow you to apply it to your own life, too.
When it finally made sense, here’s what it allowed me to do:
1) Stop my “DIET” thinking and find a healthy way of eating that I could maintain forever.
- No more drastic measures like cutting whole food groups or following ridiculous food plans. Have you done the cabbage soup or grapefruit diets? Wow! I was left either insatiably craving the villain foods or being so sick of allowable foods that I couldn’t endure anymore. Those plans set me up for failure.
- No more concoctions of pills or other remedies that were just downright unhealthy.
2) Make peace with the fact that I needed to be on food defense forever. Just as an alcoholic needs to have rules around alcohol, I needed rules around food. At first, I didn’t like that one bit. I wanted to eat what everyone else ate and not think about it, but the reality was that I had an unhealthy relationship with food. When I came face to face with what was going on, my obsessive thoughts about food weren’t normal in any way. I had to come to a place of acceptance that my behaviours weren’t just going to go away and I needed to deal with them on an ongoing basis.
3) Get to the bottom of why food was so satisfying and comforting to me in the first place. I can assure you, if you have a weight problem like I had, you’re not there simply because you like food. The problem is that you get too much pleasure from food. Period. You must figure this out and change it.
Writing these things here may sound simplistic but I assure you, they will require time, effort and persistence to resolve.
If you are someone who struggles with extra weight, I encourage you to read this old catchphrase again, “It’s a lifestyle, not a diet”. Slow down and ask yourself what that means to you. Do you believe it? Can it work for you? What does it look like in your life?
Becoming healthy is a complicated effort and I hope you’ll get in touch with me if you have questions, ideas or a need for support. You can email me at deanna@deannaadler.com
Remember, the only limit to what is possible is what you choose to believe.
I totally agree. Great article. It must be a lifestyle – and you have to be willing to have that as a lifestyle. That is why people fail. They think if they can have a plan for a certain amount of time – and reach a goal then they can reward themselves – not thinking that they will gain in back with bonus when not on the plan anymore. This is why dieting never appealed to me – but being a healthy eater does. It just makes good sense. Eating real food and cutting out the junk and sugar DOES make a difference. You aren’t hungry like in a diet for one thing. There are plenty of good healthy foods out there that are great and satisfying for you and won’t put fat on your body. It does mean saying no to things I like though – so it has to become a lifestyle choice – or I know I won’t stick with it either.
Like the guy above commented it’s right