“which diet?”

One of the forms I filled out for my doctor’s appointment today asked whether I had experienced weight loss or gain. I explained that I’d lost 20+ pounds over the past 18 months (going from 162 to my current 137) but that it was by design, not accident.

During my visit, the doc asked me, “Which diet did you use to lose the weight?”

That’s one I’ve heard a lot lately, and although there’s a quick, simple answer, hearing the question makes me want to launch into a philosophical discussion. The quick, simple answer is “Healthy food choices, portion control, and lots of exercise.”

Note that those three ingredients are long-term strategies, whereas “going on a diet” is a short-term fix. That’s the substance of the philosophical discussion.

I feel like an evangelist who wants to spread the word: don’t “go on a diet”; learn how to eat, and start moving your body. Read Walter Willett, join a gym, start your meal with a sald, put less on your plate than you used to, stop eating sooner, and learn how to distinguish true hunger from the desire to taste tasty stuff. There. That should hold me for a while.

Posted on March 16th, 2005 under fitness. Tags: food choices, Walter Willett. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.

life (over IP) Says:
April 15th, 2005 at 7:24 pm

Found another member of the “dieting” choir

Mary’s fitness blog makes the same point about diets I’ve made for the last 4 years. The only effective weight management plan is an ongoing commitment to specific lifestyle choices or, as she puts it “Healthy food choices, portion…