Ooops! I only just realized this is Thursday!


Have you made these mistakes?

…you fail on the weekends.
You strive to eat well and hit the gym throughout the week, but once you leave work on Friday evening, all bets are off.

…you make exercise excuses.
No doubt, it's difficult to make exercise a priority in your life. Perhaps you had an extra busy week and didn't have a spare moment to get the gym. Soon thereafter, that exercise-free week turned into two, then three weeks and so on.

…you don’t care where calories come from, as long as you are under your goal.
It’s easy (and important) to focus on the calories, but you should also focus on the quality of foods your calories are coming from, as well as meeting other nutrient goals.

…you starve during the day and gorge during the evening.
You might think that eating as little as possible throughout the day will help you lose weight. Perhaps you skip breakfast altogether and only eat a small snack during the day.

…you go "off" your diet on special occasions.
This is a very slippery slope once you step onto it. An extra drink for a friend's birthday, a high-fat dessert at your co-worker's retirement party, and pretty soon, you view almost every "special occasion" as a way to justify overindulging in excess calories.

If so, it could be your “diet” that is making (or keeping) you fat.
When you're "on a diet" excuses like these make it easy to go off of it. After all, you just go back on again once you're done having your fun. Forget the "diets" and start going on a "healthy lifestyle" instead.


I know this has been discussed before but how do you dump the “diet” mentality and embrace a “healthy lifestyle”?



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Have you made these mistakes?

…you fail on the weekends.
I used to be the queen of start-over-Monday. It took me a long time to enter the land of start-over-right-now. I slip sometimes, but I think if I’m doing well six days a week and go a little overboard one Saturday a month, it’s not so bad.

…you make exercise excuses.
I don’t make excuses that allow me to skip exercise, but I do sometimes catch myself thinking things like, “I’m really tired/sore/time-crunched/unmotivated/bored today. I’ll cut my workout short/take it a little easier/use lighter weights…”

…you don’t care where calories come from, as long as you are under your goal.
I don’t count calories, but I do try to make sure my food is colorful and I’m getting my five fruits and veggies a day, minimum.

…you starve during the day and gorge during the evening.
This was a bigger problem when I lived alone and there were no witnesses in the evening. It doesn’t happen any more.

…you go "off" your diet on special occasions.
No, I’m trying to build special occasion splurges into my plan.

I know this has been discussed before but how do you dump the “diet” mentality and embrace a “healthy lifestyle”?

Hate to sound like a broken record, but baby steps are the key. When you go on a diet, you wake up one morning thinking you can change everything that day, forever. Never, ever works. By taking baby steps, you build new habits and make them part of your life before you try to change something else. I think the changes are more likely to stick that way.

quote:

Originally posted by BrenauMom:


Have you made these mistakes?

…you fail on the weekends.
Not as much as I used to. Less meals out, and not wanting to "start over" on Monday keep me from this.

…you make exercise excuses.
Yes, more often than I'd like but I'm realizing that exercise has to be a part of a healthy lifestyle.

…you don’t care where calories come from, as long as you are under your goal.
When I did WW and had 25 points/day, I'd maximize my points by eating diet foods. Like those that are filled with sweet-n-low, fat-free, yucky tasting stuff just to be able to eat more. Not anymore. I do care where my calories come from. More fruits/veggies, high-fiber stuff.

…you starve during the day and gorge during the evening.
Another old habit I've broken. I try to eat regularly throughout the day.

…you go "off" your diet on special occasions.

Sometimes. I am trying not to look at this as a "diet" but a way of life and special occasions are no reason to go overboard.

If so, it could be your “diet” that is making (or keeping) you fat.
I agree w/Denise on this. Eating a piece of cake or having an extra glass of wine at a special occasion did not make me overweight. It is all the daily bad habits that do that.


I know this has been discussed before but how do you dump the “diet” mentality and embrace a “healthy lifestyle”?

I'm trying to ditch "diet" mentality. When I think of myself as on a "diet" I go into restriction mode. That ends up making me obsess and I end up eating more than I normally would. It is about balance and eating right, like 90% of the time.

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Jill

you fail on the weekends.
I used to... but it doesn't work too well... and got over it.

…you make exercise excuses.
Sometimes... I don't really like exercising... but I mostly do it. I don't expect that I will EVER be perfect in this area... so for now... Good enough is working for me.

…you don’t care where calories come from, as long as you are under your goal.
I'm pretty much the opposite... and actually care a LOT about where my cals come from... but I've seen people post a "PERFECT 20 point day" on the WW boards that is entirely made up of diet foods... and no "real" foods at all.

…you starve during the day and gorge during the evening.
No... I eat pretty regularly during the day.

…you go "off" your diet on special occasions.
Yes and no...

An extra drink for a friend's birthday:
I might do this. I'm not too much of a drinker, though.

a high-fat dessert at your co-worker's retirement party.
Yeah... I'd probably do this. If it was a good friend. If it wasn't a good friend... I probably wouldn't even go to the party.

But, I wouldn't call it "Going off my diet"... that is just "real life"... I'm not too much into the deprivation lifestyle or eating carrot sticks instead of dessert at a party.

But I don't go to THAT many parties... I drink maybe once a month. I have dessert 2-3 times a week. Shoot, I know LOTS of "dieters" who LITERALLY eat 700-2000 calories in "Diet Friendly" desserts a week and somehow THAT is ok... but having an extra drink with a friend is "bad".

I've seen research that for MOST people... parties and social situations are NOT the cause of their weight gain... for MOST people... stress eating is a cause of weight gain. People have actually studied this. It isn't one dessert at a party that makes people fat. It is the dessert at 3pm because of a bad day at work that does it. And doing this several times a week...

Have you made these mistakes?

…you fail on the weekends.

No. I do purposefully plan to eat more on the weekends but it is planned and calculated, not a free for all by any means. I just save my dessert and wine calories for the weekend.

…you make exercise excuses.

NO! I love to exercise and do something every day, and generally more so on the weekends because I have more time to workout.

…you don’t care where calories come from, as long as you are under your goal.

In general I try to eat nutritiously but I sometimes do fall into this trap where I'll plan to have a sundae for dinner on a super hot weekend night in the winter. Not healthy but it's a maybe once/twice/year thing.


…you starve during the day and gorge during the evening.

No, I try to balance my calories throughout the day although I do eat slightly more at dinner as that is my social time with dh.

…you go "off" your diet on special occasions.

I plan for my special occasions and only get 1/month and even that isn't an eat whatever pass.