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The main mistake people do is thinking of it as a diet, instead of changing a lifestyle. If you are dieting for 3 months and then going back to how you were ea

by Keats 12y ago

The main mistake people do is thinking of it as a diet, instead of changing a lifestyle. If you are dieting for 3 months and then going back to how you were eating before, you're just losing your time. I've never been fat so can't comment for that part but when I'm cutting/bulking I eat the same things but in different quantities. It's not about fighting your body, it's about having discipline.

sergiosgc 12y ago
> It's not about fighting your body, it's about having discipline I like the Scott Adams' approach to discipline: self control, or motivation, is a finite resource. Just like attention span, or muscle endurance. You have to work around it, much as you work around your other limits. Dieting techniques are techniques to work around this limit. This also means that saying it is about discipline conveys nothing actionable. It's like saying running the marathon is all about muscle endurance. True, but not actionable and thus useless.
coldpie 12y ago
> The main mistake people do is thinking of it as a diet, instead of changing a lifestyle. Yes. It really gets to me when people say they're going on a diet. There's no such thing as "going on a diet." There is only "changing your diet." If you change your diet for a while, lose weight, and then go back to your previous diet, you will gain the weight back.
- bryanlarsen 12y ago
  Worse, you may gain the weight back and more since the diet may have reduced your metabolism and/or made changes to your gut flora.
bluecalm 12y ago
>>It's not about fighting your body, it's about having discipline Yeah, and giving up heroin, smoking or alcohol are just matter of discipline as well. People are just lazy slobs who can't control themselves why should we ever think about how to help those people if all that is needed is just stop taking heroin/drink alcohol/smoke cigarettes. Oh, and I've never been addicted to cigarettes/alcohol/heroin so I have found that I just need to cut on those for few months if they affect me somehow. It's not about fighting your body, it's a about having discipline.
- Evgeniuz 12y ago
  I think the author of previous comment meant that changes need to persistent, not transient. One can't just stop taking heroin for few months to improve their health and then go back using it again. Same with food - if you want your weight to stick, you need to adhere to your diet permanently and don't start eating junk food once you hit your target weight.
  - chriswarbo 12y ago
    > One can't just stop taking heroin for few months That's exactly the point; but not in the way you intended.
Mvandenbergh 12y ago
>It's not about fighting your body, it's about having discipline. The whole reason for the lifestyle change is so that you don't need discipline. Forcing yourself to go to the gym against your desire is only going to last so long. What helps is to realise that "things I enjoy doing" is a flexible category and that by getting good at activities you can move them into that category. This may also mean giving up or doing less of existing hobbies. I used to play a lot of computer games, now my default activity on a Saturday is to play tennis, go swimming, or climb. There's friends who still structure their free time around gaming, I don't see those friends as much any more because the degree to which we share a hobby has changed. A lifestyle change is inherently disruptive - almost by definition it will change how you socialise and with whom. Frequently people want to change their lives without changing who they are (which I understand) but that's inherently a tricky proposition. If old-you was that great, you wouldn't be where you are now.

by Keats 12y ago

sergiosgc 12y ago

> It's not about fighting your body, it's about having discipline I like the Scott Adams' approach to discipline: self control, or motivation, is a finite resource. Just like attention span, or muscle endurance. You have to work around it, much as you work around your other limits. Dieting techniques are techniques to work around this limit. This also means that saying it is about discipline conveys nothing actionable. It's like saying running the marathon is all about muscle endurance. True, but not actionable and thus useless.

coldpie 12y ago

> The main mistake people do is thinking of it as a diet, instead of changing a lifestyle. Yes. It really gets to me when people say they're going on a diet. There's no such thing as "going on a diet." There is only "changing your diet." If you change your diet for a while, lose weight, and then go back to your previous diet, you will gain the weight back.

bryanlarsen 12y ago
Worse, you may gain the weight back and more since the diet may have reduced your metabolism and/or made changes to your gut flora.

bluecalm 12y ago

>>It's not about fighting your body, it's about having discipline Yeah, and giving up heroin, smoking or alcohol are just matter of discipline as well. People are just lazy slobs who can't control themselves why should we ever think about how to help those people if all that is needed is just stop taking heroin/drink alcohol/smoke cigarettes. Oh, and I've never been addicted to cigarettes/alcohol/heroin so I have found that I just need to cut on those for few months if they affect me somehow. It's not about fighting your body, it's a about having discipline.

Evgeniuz 12y ago
I think the author of previous comment meant that changes need to persistent, not transient. One can't just stop taking heroin for few months to improve their health and then go back using it again. Same with food - if you want your weight to stick, you need to adhere to your diet permanently and don't start eating junk food once you hit your target weight.
- chriswarbo 12y ago
  > One can't just stop taking heroin for few months That's exactly the point; but not in the way you intended.

Mvandenbergh 12y ago

>It's not about fighting your body, it's about having discipline. The whole reason for the lifestyle change is so that you don't need discipline. Forcing yourself to go to the gym against your desire is only going to last so long. What helps is to realise that "things I enjoy doing" is a flexible category and that by getting good at activities you can move them into that category. This may also mean giving up or doing less of existing hobbies. I used to play a lot of computer games, now my default activity on a Saturday is to play tennis, go swimming, or climb. There's friends who still structure their free time around gaming, I don't see those friends as much any more because the degree to which we share a hobby has changed. A lifestyle change is inherently disruptive - almost by definition it will change how you socialise and with whom. Frequently people want to change their lives without changing who they are (which I understand) but that's inherently a tricky proposition. If old-you was that great, you wouldn't be where you are now.