Comments on: What does dieting mean to you?

By: Carole Hicks

Carole Hicks — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:32:56 +0000

oops. Sorry. I just posted a reply about the big hairy ape here. Wrong post, wrong place. Anyone reading this who hasn’t seen the pic will wonder what in the heck I’m talking about!! :-)

By: Carole Hicks

Carole Hicks — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:30:44 +0000

Roni. Thanks for posting that lovely photo. After seeing that, I now am feeling pretty good about myself!

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:54:16 +0000

Thanks for posing more food for thought…Each time you do I learn a little more about myself…

Diet for me??? I did it all, low carb, fasting, odd combo’s of food…etc. I got to my highest (somewhere over 300 lbs.) and was considering gastric bypass. My mom had it done in the 80′s when it was in it’s infancy. The things I most remembered were her throwing up each and every time she ate and it didn’t matter what she ate. I didn’t want to do that…I take pride in the fact that I have only thrown up twice in the last 10 years!!! I hate it, and I’m sorry to share it…but it makes my point. I decided in secret to follow WW thru my friends books. Never been to a meeting but I follow the plan, albeit the older one ;). Somewhere near the 50 lb. lost spot I got pregnant. The most beneficial thing my obgyn said to me…”you DON’T have to eat for two, eat what you feel your body needs and it will take care of your baby. You won’t hurt the baby, it will take what it needs before even you get it!”

To me I don’t look at my “diet” as a “diet”, to me it’s a 4 letter word…NASTY!!! It’s a lifestyle change…

By: Mark Salinas

Mark Salinas — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:08:13 +0000

Absolutely about ones lifestyle, keeping active, wise choices(mostly :) ) and accepting the fact that we are human will help avoid compulsiveness. My take anyway! Very good! thanks for sharing!

By: SMK

SMK — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:32:52 +0000

Oh and to add on…I didn’t feel bad about eating that chicken sandwich or the chips. In fact, I was glad I eaten it when I was at my spinning class later that afternoon because I had enough fuel to get my through the class.

I had been having problems getting through the past few classes because I hadn’t eaten enough for lunch.

By: SMK

SMK — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:30:21 +0000

You know, even though I am on WW and counting points, I don’t really think of myself as ‘being on a diet’. That phrase has always had such a temporary meaning to me. AND what I have been doing for the last year is in no way temporary.

I realized that I wasn’t ‘dieting’ yesterday at work. We received a free BBQ lunch from our company. I went down to the cafeteria with everyone else. We had a choice of Shredded Chicken, Beef or Pork on a white or wheat bun. I got chicken on the wheat bun and a bag of Sun Chips and a diet coke. I ate the entire sandwich and some of the chips before I was starting to get that ‘full feeling’ I try to avoid.

After eating, I overheard one coworker ask another if he was going to get the free lunch and the coworker said that he couldn’t because he was on a diet. I thought to myself, ‘I’m on a diet too but I still had the free lunch’

That made me re-evaluate whether I really considered myself to be on a diet. I don’t think I am. I honestly think I have made some permanent lifestyle changes. Sure I still have relapses into my old behaviors but I don’t think I will ever let it get to the point it was at before. Plus, I feel better than I have in years so I must be doing something right.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:04:24 +0000

I hate the change that the word diet has undergone from its original meaning of the food that one consumed over the course of a day/month/year, whatever, to its contemporary meaning of what a person eats in order to lose weight. That’s why it really irritates me when I make healthy choices while eating out and others still ask me, “why, are you on a diet”. My parents do this all the time and I have to remind them, my eating is not a “diet” in its most modern form, but a lifestyle change. And as such, I make healthy choices all the time, not to lose weight anymore but so that I can feel the best that I can. I tend to like this terminology better because if its life, then there’s no mess ups or falling off the wagon which make more sense with something temporary like a “diet”. So I guess to me, dieting or a healthy lifestyle (as I like to call my diet) is just a matter of making good, informed, nutritious choices 99 percent of the time and allowing myself a little wiggle room the other 1 percent.

By: EmmaElizabeth

EmmaElizabeth — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:17:53 +0000

4 years ago was when my eating/body image started to control my life. I was in the worst place in my life and it was something I could control or rather couldn’t. I suppose I should mention I also tried diet pills when I was 17. I never “dieted” for the most part. But every minute of the day was consumed with food and what I looked like. It was an OBSESSION. It’s weird to say I had an obsession but never dieted. As I got my sh*t together- the obsession faded, however I was still fat. I tried WW on my own, eventually joined WW online and most recently tried mtgs. None of it worked. I’ve never looked at diets as a diet, but did look at WW as a diet. Am I just weird? lol. I do Behavioral Counseling (for a place I would LOVE to plug because- well it’s my job- and I could mention all my resources!) now mostly working with people focusing on weight mgmt. It’s soooo hard for me to even fathom things being a “diet” and all the craziness that goes with it. It’s a lifestyle change! Granted WW is alot like that and making it a lifestyle habit, but really….. idk… I was talking to a client tonight and she went on and on how WW didn’t work for her and she couldn’t find the word for it, but she’s like “it’s like a…. a….” I interrupted her and said “Job?” “Yes! Exactly! It’s like a job!” She didn’t have any kids or things standing in her way, but it consumed her life trying to follow everything. (Much like my experience with it) As I’m rambling on here- it’s about lifestyle. It’s about incorporating small changes that become everyday habit and then adding more and more. Yes we can still have a Big Mac, but not everyday. Yes we can have a ‘bad’ meal, but not every meal. It’s not about making extremes or completely cutting out something. That’ll make you want it even more. Soooo bottom line- “dieting” to me is having a goal, but making the behavioral changes to get there. :) Prior to age 22, diet meant drastically cutting out everything “good” to eat (junk!).

By: Laura Jane

Laura Jane — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:12:45 +0000

Great question. It’s funny how many different ideas people get when they hear the word “dieting.” In general, I try to avoid the word “diet.” I know it sounds cliche and the latest buzzword is “lifestyle change.” But that phrase is cliche for a reason – it’s so true – that’s really what it should be about. To me “dieting” or “lifestyle change” is about focusing on eating healthy, never throwing in the towel, never giving up, making the best choices possible. I try to focus more on improving my habits rather than just losing the pounds.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:22:59 +0000

I have a very similiar history to yours. Crazy diets (the watermelon diet) and any new pill that came on the market. All the while consistently gaining. It wasn’t until my little guy was 13 months old that I realized something needed to change. He is my driving force. I refuse to teach him the bad habits that I learned growing up. I agree this is a “lifestyle change”, and I can already see the change in him. At 16 months he tries to drink as much water as I do! LOL! Even though the weight is not coming off quickly, for the first time in a long time I feel good about the choices I am making. I never want to go back to desperation dieting again!