I have well meaning co-workers.

I've been losing the Lose It! app since September. I get it. I finally get it. I'm not on a diet. I have a calorie allotment that I can chose to spend however I want to every day. What I chose to spend my calories on is up to me.

The other day, one of my colleagues comes in and asks me "are you still doing that diet thing? We're going for cupcakes....want me to see if they have a sugar free or fat free one?"

Um, no. Just because it's sugar free or fat free doesn't mean it's calorie free. And if I wanted to spend my calories on a cupcake, it would be a full of sugar full of fat one.

I replied, "no thanks "

For the first time in my life I don't feel like I have to stick to a plan. I'm not on a diet. I don't have to eat endless amounts of carrot chips and clear broth soups. I can eat whatever I want to eat....whatever I chose to spend my calories on.

It makes me happy.

Yes! To be successful, especially in maintenance, we have to switch our thinking from 'diet' mode to this is my new LIFESTYLE!

Agreed. People still ask if I'm still on my 'special diet'... which apparently what 'paying attention to what i eat' means, lol... It'll go away, eventually. People around me lost interest and stopped asking.

And I love cupcakes.. and if I'm gonna have one, its gonna be a GOOD ONE!

Great job!

That's why I love calorie counting. It's very easy to just keep doing it into maintenance because you literally can have ANYTHING as long as it fits within your calories for the day.

I remember when I went out with some friends and got a burger and fries. One of them said "aren't you on a diet? You can't eat that." I said "I was never on a diet, and I made sure to leave room for these fries and I am going to enjoy every second of them!" She was confused, as are the other people who see me eat pizza every so often.

I sort of feel the same way. I still eat healthy 98% of the time but on Monday the guy in front of me in class had a Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme bar in his bag and I was like, "OmnomnomWANT!" I held off the craving but then I went to my drawing class Tuesday night and saw one in the vending machine. I still wanted it so I was like, "OmnmnomHAVE!"

I feel better avoiding the whole "diet" trap like the rest of you do. I don't feel that I have to eat a certain way but I make the changes permanent gradually. I'm gradually adding in veggies I normally wouldn't like for example but if I still want that Cookies 'n' Creme bar from time to time...soooo totally worth it.

Exactly! A diet is temporary. It's something you are either doing or not, so if you are doing it there will come a time when you are not. And when that happens... what? Putting weight back on usually.

I am not on a diet either. I'm counting my calories. Right now I get about 1300. That number might change as time goes on, but it's still just counting calories. I can make those 1300 calories out of carrot sticks or cupcakes, it's up to me. Since I want to feel good (and eat more!) I most often choose healthier stuff, but when I want pizza I eat pizza. Nothing is off limits, nothing is forbidden, there are just things that are too calorie dense to be worth it too often for me.

Hah I love this! You fake them all out. :P

I'm going to try the calorie bank thing. I think it'll be a lot easier since I'm on such a tight food budget! I'm glad I read this thread.

I am using the lose it app as well and love it.

Yep...i'm trying to make it a lifestyle. Not something that you can "fall off the wagon." I'm trying to think of it like anything else i've done in my life...exercising, studying, cleaning the house, whatever. Sure, there are occasional times that the house gets really messy. But generally i keep it clean. If it gets messy, i'm not going to fall apart...it might take a few days to get it back to where it was, but i'll still be a clean person. I'm trying to think of eating healthy in the same way--that i AM a healthy eater, and that means i will eat healthy 95% of the time, and if i deviate from that occasionally, no big deal.

I'm on a diet. I'll be on this diet for the remainder of the duration. Calorie counting = awesome! Semantics tho. I eat "regular" food, I eat "diet" food, I eat less most of the time, sometimes I eat more. I'm on a diet. Took me 30 years of dieting to realize I must diet forever, or diet, then stop and regain, and diet again. I intend to reach my goal, and try with all my might to maintain the loss.....but I'm on a diet. Whatever works for you word-wise, more power to you.

This is generally why people who say it's a lifestyle do so and avoid going on diets. As you said, when the diet ends you regain the weight and start over. The lifestyle ends when you take your last breath. The latter isn't supposed to result in a yo-yo effect like the former tends to.

Merriam-Webster:

diet
c: the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person or animal for a special reason
d : a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight <going on a diet>


The goals tend to be different. Weight loss versus actually living healthy. I want to lose weight but I also want to be a fit person who ages gracefully. I love her to death but my Mom didn't eat healthy or exercise so, sadly, she's not in the best of shape these days. She says she's "just getting old" but my math teacher is at least her age and that woman is built like a brick crapper. @.@ And heck, look up Helen Mirren in a bikini! The woman is 66 and has a body to die for! I want to be that awesome, fit person who makes good decisions, not the woman who can't keep her weight under control and gorges on twinkies then spends months eating "healthy" only to return to the twinkies later anyways.

Another way of putting it is this...what do you think about athletes who eat healthy? They habitually eat healthy and exercise. Would you say they are on a diet or that they have a healthy lifestyle? The goal for us is the latter, that's why diet doesn't fit, it's not actually a matter of semantics when you look at it that way. Even more...

This is also a problem for us. We don't want to "try with all our might to maintain the loss". Your diet will end, what we are doing won't. That's the difference. As I said above, an athlete isn't on a diet, it's how they live, it's how they exist - that's our goal. Repeatedly going on diets, gaining and losing, is actually not all that healthy or enjoyable. Constantly watching your weight go up and down? Wondering when the next "restriction" will set in? In the end, that's kind of more work actually.

I love this analogy! It IS exactly the same. Most of the time, I will choose cleaning/eating mindfully because the results are important to me. But from time to time, I just want to say, screw it, just for this moment, I'm going to be messy/more indulgent. As long as the ratio is 95% to 5%, it's all good!

When I lost the weight people would ask me the secret and I would say "Pizza every week and chocolate every day". They thought I was "being cagey" and not sharing my secret.

I think I need to start thinking more a long those lines. For whatever reason I still have the "diet" mentality. I feel guilty when I eat a chocolate or cake, even if I know it fits well within my calorie range. This morning I had an extra half cup of my boyfriends froot loops cereal, its been calling my name since he bought it and I finally gave in. After eating I felt like I "blew" my day because I already ate off plan, even though even after that I am under my calorie target today. When I read it, it makes perfect sense! I guess I just need to adjust my thinking.

Today is my boyfriend's birthday. I made him a brownie cake that I will go home and ice at lunch. It is in my plan to enjoy a brownie with him for his birthday. It's also my plan to go to my step-dad's 60th birthday party tonight and enjoy a cocktail (or ten! - haha).

I've banked calories all week, but even if I hadn't, it's still in my plan to do these things. Not to go overboard, but to know that I will enjoy them because it is a special occasion. Tomorrow is a new day.

I am not on a diet. I don't know that I will ever be on a diet again. I'll just lose weight and maintain my weight loss with my new outlook.