Health & Fitness
How That Diet Mentality is Killing You
Ask anyone what someone should do if they want to lose weight, and you will get some form of "go on a diet" as an answer. I don't know how this became the prevailing mentality.
Everyone knows that if you want to create a better relationship with your spouse or your children, you can't "go on a diet" with that relationship and hope it's fixed in 30 days.
If you're in trouble financially, a 30 day "money diet" isn't the solution. We intuitively know for most things in our life that if we want to make real change, we can't just put a bandaid on the cut. We need to create a life that supports a healthy relationship, a healthy bank account, and a healthy body!
Diets Don't Work
Period. Sure, you can lose some fat by dieting, but study after study after study shows that people who lose weight on a diet invariably gain it all back, and often gain more!
Even if you do lose weight and keep it off, doing it through some crazy diet with super low calories or zero carbs doesn't leave you in a better state of health overall. Many times, after a diet, people will lack energy, have mood swings, or have trouble sleeping because they have starved themselves of both calories and required minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients.
Diet Mentality
The real problem with diets, even if they did work, is that the whole premise is built on restrictions and punishments. The artificial battle you create between you and food sets you up for almost guaranteed failure. I know because I did low carb, Atkins, low fat, low calorie, low this, low that, and it all ended with low results.
It all changed for me and my family when I began to think of food not as a necessary evil to be constantly battled against, but as something that I can enjoy, be proud of, and use to fuel this newly active body.
If Not Diets, Then What?
Just like with your relationships and your financial life, you need to begin (TODAY!) to build a lifestyle that supports a healthy body. There are, literally, an infinite number of ways to do that, so the fun part is finding out what that means for you. For me, it took a number of forms:
- CrossFit - I had tried every imaginable workout routine with limited success and was bored. After scouring the medical literature to find that short, high-intensity, compound, weight bearing movements provided the best results, my wife sent me a video of a couple people doing this crazy workout called "Fran," and I was hooked!
- Renewed academic interest in health - I went back to school and got a Biology degree from Georgia State University. Really, the reason I did it was so that I could understand all this biochemistry mumbo-jumbo I was reading in the medical literature, and it turned into a passion and a career!
- I started playing Soccer again - I was a soccer player when I was younger and quit after tearing my ankle all to pieces. When I started getting back in shape, I traded in evenings in front of the TV for evenings under the lights on the soccer field.
- Adventure Races - when I ran The Savage Race, a 7+ mile course with over 25 obstacles, I found myself on top of a 3-story structure, covered in mud, scrapes, and bruises, and completely and totally in awe of what I had accomplished. Fat, 23 year old me could NEVER have done such a thing.
Your list will look different than mine, and that’s not only okay, but awesome. Look at the next couple weeks or months as your opportunity to find out what healthy you like to do!
- Try out bike riding (you can get a used bike on craigslist!)
- Try out Yoga (give it 6 months!)
- Try out a sport you’ve always thought would be fun
- Start rock climbing
- Try a CrossFit Class
- Play some Ultimate Frisbee
- Take a hike up Blood Mountain
- Take a cooking class
Whatever you do, find yourself a replacement for sitting in front of the TV or computer. Try out new things and find something you love.
It Won't Happen Overnight
This is another problem with the diet mentality. Creating a new lifestyle that, by necessity, is wildly different from the one you currently lead is a long-term project. There will be setbacks, mishaps, whole cakes eaten, and days that you feel like you can't possibly change and it's just not even worth it.
Write all that down. You'll LOVE to be able to read about your thoughts and feelings you had during the struggles that you have overcome.
Don't worry about next week. Don't worry about the scale. Don't worry about what you look like in a bathing suit this summer. What's more important? How you look this summer, or how you feel and how you live your life for the next 20-30-40 years?
Some Thoughts
Maybe you’re addicted to sugar?
What does it mean to be Fit?
THIS GUY was told he would never run again. (fair warning, this will make you cry.)
THIS GIRL was told she would never compete again.
About The Author
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My name is Graham Lutz, and I am the Owner and Head Trainer at Formula CrossFit in the heart of Peachtree Corners, GA. I have been married to my beautiful wife, Heather, for close to 8 years and we have our 4th child on the way! My interest in nutrition really took off when we found out our second son had Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disorder which causes extreme pain and many other symptoms if he consumes wheat. It was a blessing in disguise because our family is healthier than we ever would have been otherwise!