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Old 11-29-2010, 11:00 PM   #1  
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Default I hate the word "diet"

Random little before-bedtime rant. I've decided I truly hate the word "diet" and its implications. When somebody says they're on a diet, it usually implies that they're temporarily living in a near-fasting state until they achieve the desired weight loss. Then the diet will be over and life will carry on as normal. For some reason I've been bombarded with this word in the last few days. Just a few comments I've gotten recently:

"Are you still on your diet?"
"Which diet were you following?"
"Wow, you can eat that on your diet?"
"How long have you been on a diet?"
"When are you going to give up your diet and start eating normal again?"

Seriously! All of a sudden I've been getting that word from every angle!

I am NOT on a diet, people! But of course, when you explain "I'm not on a diet, it was a sustainable lifestyle change," it just sounds new-agey and they don't really get the point. I didn't temporarily give up my favorite foods to get skinny. I am not following a fad diet. I can eat whatever I please, thank you very much, and I'm not going to quit eating what and how much I eat just because it doesn't fall under your definition of "eating normal." What I eat, how I eat, when I eat, and how much I eat is normal to me.

I'm starting to develop a cringe reaction every time I hear the word "diet." Anybody else annoyed by the word?

Last edited by mkendrick; 11-29-2010 at 11:00 PM.
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Old 11-30-2010, 12:00 AM   #2  
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The dictionary definition of the word diet simply states that it is the food or drink consumed on a regular basis. Therefore everyone is on a diet of some sort.

However I can certainly see why people using the word in the various ways that they use it can and does annoy you.

But people, as you very well know, don't always act the way we want them to act. They may say things with the best of intentions that rub us the wrong way. People can be so very, very dumb, and insensitive, and irritating, and so forth.

I no longer allow the stupid statements of other people to have any effect on me. I just smile sweetly, thank them kindly, and go on my merry way through life.

Nothing that others say and do can irritate you, unless you let what they say and do irritate you. They don't have that power, unless you allow them to have that power.

And in closing I certainly congratulate you on your weight-loss success. That took a lot of effort and work, and you should be proud of yourself. And what you eat these days is absolutely no one else's business.
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Old 11-30-2010, 12:20 AM   #3  
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I know. It does get annoying when people, especially ones on unhealthy or unsustainable diets, go on and on about their "diet" and how *I* should give it a try. ''

My friends know that I eat healthy, so they don't really consider it a "diet" so they don't really comment. They consider a diet something that deprives you. Like one of my friends thinks her "diet" is to live on a chicken breast a day, steamed broccoli and water for 3 months so she's in shape in time for her anniversary. I'd last about a day before I fell off THAT wagon...

When confronted, just say, "I'm not on a diet. I never was. Diets don't work for me."
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Old 11-30-2010, 12:57 AM   #4  
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It implies something temporary, which in the long run is not going to fix my problems. I've always love the little joke about how "diet" has the word "die" in it.
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Old 11-30-2010, 01:13 AM   #5  
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I hear you. There is so much pressure to "eat normally" aka overeat or eat sh!t, and so that somehow makes everyone who doesn't eat "normally" "on a diet." Why is what we eat ANYONE ELSE'S business?

I also cringe and feel smug (which is mean) when I hear about people I know who are on weird fad-y liquid diets bragging about losing 20 lbs in 2 weeks or whatever. Yeah, good luck staying on that FOREVER. It's none of my business so I don't say a word, but I do feel - probably not justified - like I'm taking the "better" path toward achieving a sustainable low weight by not taking any shortcuts.
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Old 11-30-2010, 01:59 AM   #6  
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"Diet" is one of the few four-letter words I've stricken from my vocabulary.

I absolutely love the suggestion to say, "Diets don't work for me, so I'm not on one." Let 'em puzzle over how you lost weight and maintain your slimmer shape!
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Old 11-30-2010, 02:23 AM   #7  
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I don't mind the word, it implies control and taking responsbility for me, and I'm definitely not starving. Of course, other people do sometimes make daft comments to me along the 'don't diet too hard' line but they do that anyway, even if I called it a lifestyle change.

I'm currently on a Weightloss Diet. I will eventually move onto a Maintenance Diet. I need the discipline, even of the word.
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Old 11-30-2010, 06:09 AM   #8  
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Every time I'm at my MIL's house, she'll be serving something and asks me, "Is this allowed on your diet?" I want to hurl something at her . Am I ALLOWED this on my DIET??!?!?!? Drives me nuts. This is no diet that I'm on and I'm ALLOWED to eat anything that I want. Everything I eat or don't eat is my choice. My choice.

Then I have a friend who always prefaces things such as, "I know you can't eat this, it's not on your diet." Well gee, thanks so much for deciding for me and monitoring my food. Sooo nice of you.

Then there's, "You can eat that on your diet???"

It just trivializes it in my mind. I mean come on people, I've completely reversed my life here and have been doing so for over 4 years. This is no *diet* that I'm on.

So yes, Megan, I could have written your post. In fact I'm sure I wrote one almost identical to it a bunch of years ago.

I guess for me it's not that I'm ON a diet, but that I adhere to a healthy diet.
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Old 11-30-2010, 06:48 AM   #9  
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I get that too! I get "is that good for your diet?" "Can you eat that on your diet?"

It's not a diet! I CAN eat whatever I want to eat, I just don't! Guh!
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Old 11-30-2010, 08:35 AM   #10  
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What I hate about the word diet is that little word on, as in "on" a diet. To me that implies that eventually you're going to go "off" the diet. We all know what happens when you do that. In most circles the word diet also implies deprivation, sacrifice, pain and suffering. A good healthy, balanced nutritional plan geared towards weight loss/maintenance is none of those.
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Old 11-30-2010, 08:43 AM   #11  
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I loathe the word too. But, when my friend uses it in this context I want to choke the life out of her:

Diet Sugar (Splenda)
Diet bread (no explanation needed)
Diet Milk (Almond Breeze)

It drives me insane when she says this stuff.
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Old 11-30-2010, 08:52 AM   #12  
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Ugh, I hate that word too!
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:32 AM   #13  
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I have cut that word out of my vocabulary. When people ask me about it, I simply say " I do not diet and I never will, I simply eat healthy". That usually shuts them up.
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Old 11-30-2010, 09:38 AM   #14  
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Technically every person is on a diet. Diet is simply what we eat - whether it's restricted for weight loss or not. I call what I'm doing my diet mostly because it's easiest, and really it is a restricted calorie diet. When I'm at goal I'm still going to be on a diet, it will just be a maintenance calorie diet.

I think the problem with the word is all of the fads and products that have popped up using it. It's made people think that in order to lose weight you have to go on some strange diet that doesn't resemble normal eating.
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Old 11-30-2010, 01:27 PM   #15  
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Reading other people's responses just makes me really think about how much I hate the word "can't" as well. It's a word I'm sure people perceived as being on a "diet" hear a lot. You can't eat this, you can't eat that. That's what I dislike most about how people use the word diet nowadays. Instead of just being the way you eat, it's become a term that means you CAN'T do so many things.

Personally, there is no can't in the way I eat, there is only the choices I make. If I turn down somebody's offer of food, it's not because I'm on a diet and I can't eat that, it's because I don't want to eat it. It just gets really annoying when other people who turn down food don't get a reaction out of anyone, but when I turn down food, omg, it must be because I'm losing weight and I CAN'T eat the food.
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