The Difference Between Diet and Lifestyle Part II – No end date
When most people go on a “diet,” they usually want to lose weight or look good at a specific time in their life. Most of the time there is an end date in which they must accomplish this goal. And after this end date, usually people plan on returning to their previous eating habits.
A lifestyle has no end date. Yes, you may have short-term goals – events that you want to look good for. Yes, you may start a lifestyle because you want to lose weight.
But unlike a diet, you aren’t going to go back to your old eating habits once you’ve reached your goal.
Yes, you are going to cheat. Heck cheating will probably even be a part of your lifestyle. BUT you will cheat on your terms and always return back to your healthy lifestyle.
Making a “diet” into a “lifestyle” means that you don’t just give up your healthy eating habits at the first sign of adversity.
It means sometimes not cheating while everyone else is indulging.
A prime example of this is Ryan’s dad who started a version of the Man Bicep diet a little over two months ago.
Ryan’s dad started the diet so he would be healthy and active when his first grandchild is born in August (Congrats Jamie!!!). He has lost over 20lbs and has increased his energy level.
While he would still like to lose more, Ryan’s dad has basically accomplished what he set out to do – he feels better than he has felt in YEARS.
And because this is more than a DIET, because this is a LIFESTYLE, Ryan’s dad has stayed committed even though he could be tempted to eat badly every day!
His co-workers invite him to eat out almost every day. And when he goes out, he could cheat. It would be easier. But he doesn’t. He sticks to his healthy eating habits.
He could cheat every time he has to make food for parties for his children and their friends. He could have cheated the entire time Ryan and I were out in California.
But he didn’t.
He doesn’t cheat at every opportunity because his healthy eating is about MORE than losing weight – it is about being HEALTHIER and FEELING BETTER.
And I’m so proud of Ryan’s dad. Not because he didn’t cheat, but because he truly has created a new, healthy lifestyle for himself.
So now take another look at your eating. Are you eating well with an end date in mind or will you forever stay committed to your healthy lifestyle because it has improved your quality of life?
If your eating hasn’t improved your quality of life, is it really worth continuing or should you start experimenting with other diets?
Is your eating program merely a diet or is it a lifestyle?
P.S. If you’ve emailed me and I haven’t responded, I’M SORRY! I will get to emails this weekend!
Posted on May 10, 2012, in Diet, Man Biceps and tagged energy level, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, healthy-living, weight loss. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Man Bicep 
I consider myself a celebrity in this manbicep posting! Cori, thanks for the positive comments about my choices. After weighing in at 250 one day on a doctors visit, I was simply embarrassed. I decided to lose some weight, start becoming more committed to working out and mainly to just wanted to feel better. Some things I’d like to point out:
1) My sons and Cori had been doing the Primal diet and they told me it was a great way to lose some weight AND feel better. I looked up what you could eat and what you couldn’t and decided that it is a pretty easy plan to follow. And it is. One of my initial goals was to get to 235 pounds. When I started eating the primal diet, which is basically no sugar, no pasta, no rice and no potatoes to simplify it, I lost 10 pounds in the first week. That no doubt provided a curiosity about losing more weight. It seemed that the weight just melted off. To be honest, I couldnt believe it. After 4 weeks I had lost about 18 pounds. It is now 11 weeks later and I’ve lost 25 pounds and currently weigh between 224-226 on a consistent basis. Now that I’m at 225 pounds I feel lighter (duh) and have more energy and sleep better. Is cutting things out of a diet difficult? Yes, it is. And, no, it isn’t. I really think for some people it’s more difficult than others. My advice….don’t quit. Come on, it’s only 21 days of your life to see results and it does become easier if you lose alot in the first week like I did. It won’t kill you to miss out on a few potatoes or rice or candy. One thing I did was put $2 in a jar when I craved something “bad” and would’nt eat it. I then took the money and bought lunch for somebody at my office. They got a blue cheese burger with fries and a diet coke….I ate cobb salad with balsamic dressing and water…. and it was great!
2) I’m a firm believer that IF you really want to lose weight, 80% of it is related to what you eat. The other 20% would be the workout stuff. I’m not really a big workout guy. But the interval training that I started doing, cured that. I really enjoy going to the club just 3 times a week, for 25 minutes at a time. I do the interval training for several reasons. The main one is its easy. I don’t have to run for hours on the treadmill. No biking for endless days. My program works FOR ME. The FOR ME is for me. Not anybody else. What I’ve done is start slow. I can honestly say by going at my pace, not my sons or my wifes, but mine on a consistent basis, I now go to the gym faithfully 3 times a week. My next goal coming up is to increase it to 4 times per week. And that’s because I now enjoy it. Take your workouts slow at the beginning. It is not the biggest factor in losing weight if that’s your goal. Remember, I think that IF you want to lose weight, 80% of it is what you eat.
3) Talks about diets and fads of losing weight bore me to death. I feel the same way about politics. Anyways, IF you want to lose weight, it can be easy. AND it can be hard. I work with several women who are always on diets. My advice to them is to follow the Primal diet and you will LOSE weight. Yes, I did miss pasta, rice and potatoes, pizza, but I really learned to LOVE veggies and especially fruit. And the fruits! Especially Valencia oranges. I never knew they were so sweet. Me and my daughter went to the farmers market every Saturday and bought a ten pound bag. We usually ran out by Thursday of the next week. Expand your horizons. Find a fruit you like and eat as much of it as you want. Same with veggies. The primal diet is not restrictive. Breakfast and Dinner are the easiest for me and lunch is only difficult because we go out quite a bit at the office. But lots of places we go offer something of a good choice that’s primal.
This has gotten quite lengthy. Thanks Cori for the props! Get healthy and STAY healthy!!