So what’s all the craziness about dieting? Do you diet? Do you know someone who is on a diet? Someone who was on a diet?

I’ll bet you do. I’m willing to bet everyone knows at least one if not more than a handful of people who have or had been dieting.

You would think with all the hype about diets and dieting that we would NOT have an obese nation? But it’s exactly the opposite. An astounding greater than 60% of the male and female population of America are obese.

So why the conundrum? We have so many options and so many opportunities for weight loss out there.. yet we seem to remain overweight.

I did a quick Google search yesterday when I was thinking about this post.  I less than 2 minutes I was able to find 11 or more different diet plans. And that was without digging deeper.

Everything from Nurtisystem, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, to the lesser known Mediterranean & Water Diet programs. As I was looking into diets… I also noticed the plethora of spokespersons for each diet program. Everyone from Beyonce, Queen Latifah, to Valerie Bertinelli.

So where is one to turn? Which program do you choose? Which program is successful?

So the answer is all of the work and all of them don’t work.

Yep, they all work for someone. Yep, they all didn’t work for someone. 

The problem is no two people are made the same. Your metabolism, your eating habits, your basal metabolic rate are not the same as the spokespersons’, or the same as your best friends, or that great looking model you saw on the internet.

But that’s only part of the equation.

The bottom line. Diets don’t work.

If you want to lose weight, simply buying different food, and following someone’s reccomendations on what to eat, when to eat it, and how much to eat of it then by all means give it a go. But all your going to do is find out the same thing everyone else has and still has to continually discover on your own. Diets, while will initially give you some results, you will bounce back to your pre-diet weight in no time. Ergo the emergence of the “Yo-Yo Diet” Phenomena. 

Anyone that has a success story will give you a clue as to what works. It’s called a lifestyle change. In order to change your weight, you are going to have to change the habit’s that created the weight in the first place. I’ll say that again just for posterity. You have to change the HABIT that created the weight in the first place in order to remove the weight you desire.

Here’s the irony of it all. The etymology of the word diet is crudely defined as ‘a manner of living’, or ‘to lead one’s life’. So even the origin of the word knew that you have to change your life, and not just tweaking what, when, and how much food goes into your mouth.

So simply enrolling into a new and improved eating plan will not give the long term weight loss results you want if you don’t change the lifestyle surrounding the food preparation!

My personal vice was always snacking. Boy did I love to snack. Snack while I’m in front of the TV. Snack while I’m working on the computer, etc. And I wouldn’t just have a small snack. NO. I had to eat a whole bag of greasy chips, or cookies. Or I would have a whole pint of ice cream. The list goes on.

It took a lot of discipline, and a lot of self discovery, but I now only snack on little things. In fact, my snacking has become almost non-existent.

With that being said, there is the other part of why dieting does not work.

You are human. You will slip up. You will have a moment of weakness. Heck you may have several moments of weakness. The idea being you keep at it, no matter how many times you break the rules. When you on a diet, everyone talks about ‘cheating’ on there diet. Quit worrying about cheating on your diet, and be human. Give yourself that leniency, in the long run it will be worth it.

Of course there are tons of aspects of dieting I have not even touched on. Everything from dieting with a friend, or making your diet public. To the time and money you spend on simply adjusting your spending habits.

The take home message is this. Dieting ALONE does not, will not and cannot work. If anything, it’s a temporary fix. Make LIFESTYLE changes to take better care of yourself and you’ll see results that are long term.

Here are some truths and pearls of wisdom when referring to dieting, weight loss or fat reduction:

1. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SPOT REDUCTION- you will not and cannot lose weight just in a particular area of your body!
2. MULTIPLY THE TIME IT TOOK FOR YOU TO GAIN THE WEIGHT BY 3 OR 4, AND THAT IS HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE TO LOSE IT – sorry it’s true, anything else is just a temporary loss and you will gain it back
3. THEY DON’T CALL THEM FAD DIETS FOR NOTHING
4. YO-YO DIETS ARE MORE POPULAR THAN EVER BEFORE
5. WEIGHT LOSS IS A SIMPLE MATH EQUATION: GET RID OF AND BURN OFF MORE THAN YOU TAKE IN
6. YOU WILL NOT LOSE WEIGHT IF YOU CAN’T ACCOMPLISH #5, NO MATTER HOW MANY PILLS YOU TAKE
7. WE ARE A CONVENIENCE SOCIETY – we love to be lazy. When was the last time you purposefully parked farther away when shopping?
8. DISCIPLINE AND PATIENCE ARE EQUAL PARTNERS IN THIS GAME OF LOSING WEIGHT
9. THINK ABOUT THE FOOD YOU ARE PUTTING INTO YOUR SYSTEM – are you living to eat, or eating to live?
10. NO MATTER WHAT RESULTS YOU GET DO NOT POINT FINGERS – the only person responsible for your weight is you.

Carpe Diem

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