Can I confess something to you? I hate dieting. I hate it with a passion. I hate it so much that I do not do it. More on that in minute. Diets are damned in the full sense of the
dictionary definition: to condemn to a punishment or fate; to condemn vigorously and
often irascibly for some real or
fancied fault or defect; to condemn as a failure by public criticism; to
bring ruin on.[i] Sounds just like a diet,
does it not?
Diets often feel dirty and not the fun variety. Dirty:
not clean or pure; disagreeable,
distasteful, or objectionable but usually necessary (as in achieving a desired
result); highly regrettable; likely to cause disgrace; conveying ill-natured
resentment[ii]. Sounds
about how felt that last time I went on a diet.
So why do we do it? Seriously, even the people I know that enjoy
competing in body building cringe at the thought of dieting to become
stage-presentable. Even health conscious fitness professionals, like me,
dislike the idea of food deprivation.
About four years ago a couple of guys that I worked with decided to
compete in a body building contest. I
did not then, and still have absolutely no intention of stepping on stage; I
dieted with them just for the experience.
Over the course of five weeks I went from being 185lbs to being
162lbs. I know what some people are
thinking: “You dropped 23 pounds in five weeks, that’s fantastic!” Yes I did,
and no it was not. On the surface the
results sound great, and, in the mirror, I looked great at 5% body fat with an
incredibly flat stomach, washboard abs, muscles on muscles and veins popping
everywhere. I looked like I was in a
permanent state of muscular vascularity…awesome, right?
But I did not feel
awesome. Some people are genetically blessed to maintain such a low body fat
percentage with little effort or strain.
I am not “some people.” While on
the surface, I looked great, I felt terrible. My energy levels tanked, my mood
became constantly grumpy. My ego could
not take it. As someone who lifts
weights and loves the feeling of growing stronger, the worst possible mindset
imaginable happened; I felt small and weak.
I felt scrawny, not brawny. Not to mention, that kind of quick change is impossible to maintain. Nobody ever takes pictures of the body builders four days after the competition when they have been binge-eating and 15 to 20 lbs in that time. It is what happened to me. The body is not designed to manifest that kind of change that quickly and have it stick. But that fact does not sell magazines.
I am big believer that
personal experience is the best teacher.
Although I learned a lot about the strict dieting methods of body
building preparation, I will not repeat the experience. I am not saying that
this is a terrible thing for all people.
But I do believe that that particular approach to weight loss is best
reserved for those who love body building enough to pursue it as a lifelong
commitment. For the average person, such
methodology is best avoided. However, intentional, or not, this is often the
route that many people misinformed people take: the-everything-must-go, only
veggies, chicken, and water may stay. This sudden and drastic change makes for
some short-term, fast results. But, when considering the average person
obtaining positive results for permanent change, causes more harm than good.
Often, human nature is to
fear what is not understood and without knowledge the word “diet” becomes a
source of confusion and mystery. So what is a diet? Diet: food and drink regularly provided or consumed; habitual
nourishment; the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person for a special
reason; a regimen of eating and drinking
sparingly so as to reduce one's weight.[iii] When defining “diet” most people only view in
the context of that last definition. Who likes the idea of reducing or sparing? Seriously, with this mindset, a diet is off
to a bad start before it begins!
I mentioned at the beginning that I no longer
diet, and I don’t, if you define a diet by what I just highlighted. Look at the first part of the definition
again, food and drink regularly provided
or consumed; habitual nourishment. Do
you eat? Do you drink? Congratulations, you are already an expert on
dieting. Think about it, you already
know how to diet. You do not have to learn to do anything new. The only thing to do is make choices that will
increase the quality of what you already do.
Does that not sound more enjoyable and more doable? So instead of focusing on taking away put an
emphasis on adding in: add in more fruits and vegetables, water, lean hormone and
antibiotic free meats. Increase the
intake of sources of healthy dietary fats: avocados, olives, nuts and fresh
fish. If you do these things you are
improving upon the most important definition of diet: eating real, healthy
food. By increasing the quality of your habitual nourishment you will do just
that. Eating healthier foods puts the
nutrients into your body that is missing from food-like products; all that
stuff at the grocery store that comes in boxes, bags, wrappers, and bottles.
Eating real food will naturally improve all of
the functions of the body, not just make it easier to reduce that waist
line. Feed the body the nutrients it
needs and energy levels will improve, so will mood and mental attitude, sex
drive too. A great love life starts in kitchen, and that has nothing to do will
cooking a romantic dinner on Valentine’s Day.
But, that certainly will not hurt.
Do what you do to improve, not deprive,
yourself. Positive choices to increase
the quality of the nutritional intake will always lead to better health. The resulting improvements in health lead to
those positive choices becoming easier to make.
It is a great cycle to change your health and the only way to get out of
that cycle of dirty diets that are damned to fail.
[i] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/damned
[ii] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dirty
[iii] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diet
