Why diet any longer than you have to?

Over the past several years I've advised nearly 700 people in the area of exercise and nutrition. In that time my beliefs and philosophies have grown in many ways regarding these two subjects. Constantly I'm in search of the magic program that will allow every client to succeed beyond their expectations and with as little effort as possible.

We've had some great successes but one prominent thing has really come to my attention, I've heard people mention my methods as sometimes difficult and "hardcore." I believe in taking control of as many variables as possible for a simple reason: dieting sucks, why diet any longer than you have to? Let me try to explain…

Diet is a terrible word, four letters often implying starvation, suffering, torture, or deprivation for many.

Why do people turn to diets? What makes you want to utter or engage in the practice that follows that horrible word? For most it's a measure of personal dissatisfaction, too fat, too thin, too heavy, and too small. Which one is it for you?

Most people will turn to the latest craze being marketed to consumers in the multi-billion dollar health industry, eat this grain and live 20 years longer, or did you know that chocolate can increase fat loss? Of course I am being facetious but have you ever bought into one of these? Or one of the popular weight loss programs? If so, what happened?

People seek out information but our lazy nature usually forces us to stumble into that new fad program that conveniently fits our current habits promising big results. What I've discovered is in our fast moving world there are a couple of truths that fit most people, we all work too much usually resulting in poor eating habits where nearly everyone is eating too little. The second, well that is that we are all pretty lazy when it comes to things like exercise caused in part from working too much and eating too little.

Did anyone catch an odd proclamation in that last paragraph? Maybe you should read it again. See it? That little tidbit about poor habits and eating too little, are you willing to eat more to lose weight? Is it a novel but impossible idea? That is the typical response that I receive from most people.

Before you read any further let me tell you what we are going to try to do here. Given my experience with clients over the past years, ranging from housewives to national bodybuilders, we are going to try to offer a game plan to help you reach your goals. (You know the ones that prompted you to read this article and that are so serious they made you think of the word diet.) But before you go any further you have to truly be willing to trust me and accept one idea, and that idea is that if fat loss is your primary goal you will most likely have to eat more to lose weight. As absurd as it may sound if you are not willing to accept that idea and apply it you are wasting your time reading any further.

Now the way this works is we're going to talk about different stages, read it through, decide where you are now and consider the steps and how they may apply to reaching your goal. What's important is hopefully to help you understand the why and make the decision that is a best fit for you and identify just what measure of success you should expect.

Where do you start?

Well, start by looking at what you eat now; keep a food journal for a few days. Write down everything you consume, the amount and the time. In doing this you will have a general idea as to where you fit. Here's what I typically find with people, which one are you?

Person A - They believe they eat healthy
This person may eat anywhere from 2-4 times a day. They typically consume foods that are low in fat or labelled low fat, a lot of vegetables and avoid most bread, grains and starches altogether. Typically this also means they are not consuming a great deal of protein, generally perhaps like meat once or twice per day. An average meal for this person might be a salad of about 3-4 cups or fruit and perhaps either a dairy product or some small serving of meat (2-4oz) for protein. This would amount to about 200-300 calories for a meal. Average daily total 1000-1200 calories.

Person B - They know they eat bad
This person has high calorie, high fat meals often from a drive-thru or eating out. Average meal will vary from probably 500-1000 calories and they usually only eat 1-3 times a day and skip breakfast. Average daily total 800-1600 calories.

Person C - Atkins variant
Not nearly as common as the above but it is increasing. The low carb to no carb dieting craze is in full swing. You see more and more people turning to high protein and no carbs and consuming many of the products engineered to fit this mold. Ironically many of those same products will be the very undoing of the process, these products commonly meet the program requirements based on obscure label claims and fancy ingredients that aren't "supposed" to affect blood sugar etc. However, this person is a little farther along than A or B as they have already decided to try to commit to a system. They too generally still eat too little as they are often in full "diet" mode mentality which somehow translates to I must eat less to lose weight. Average daily total 1000-1200 calories.

Do you find yourself fitting into one of these three categories? If so the question now is what is the next step? How do you go from where you are currently to successfully reaching your fitness goals? Let's take it in stages.

Stage 1 - Eating bad to perceived healthy eating
Now this is the most basic and the most common form of dieting that I see. People that go from being the Type B bad eating person to trying to make better choices; better choices usually being the foods they perceive to be healthy, items labelled lowfat or things like fruits and vegetables. It's often a noble but not too successful effort. The result of these changes, although certainly better, usually means total calories will go down as foods lower in fats are not as calorie dense as the high-fat foods they were eating.

On a positive note, if you find yourself in this category, even though it may not be a very effective method of dieting you have at least taken the initiative to realize that you need to make a change to get the results that you want. It is at this point that you need to save that inspiration and channel your energy into learning what you need to know to make dieting more successful.

Stage 2 - Eat frequently; remove processed foods and common sense fat reduction
This is the next simplest form of dieting, and likely the form of dieting that most people embark on when they choose to make a change in their eating habits. It is growing to be common knowledge that eating stimulates the metabolism; many people are usually willing to eat 4-6 small meals. This does not usually lead to much of an increase in overall calorie consumption but it is definitely a step in the right direction. Especially if you also do your best to eliminate processed foods and avoid things that you know are quite high in fats, particularly saturated fats. Beware of the diet products, usually low fat means increased sugar, artificial sweeteners or new enigmatic ingredients like glycerine and maltitol. All of these can quickly unravel a dieter's progress. Now if this is how you choose to diet what should you expect to happen? Well if this is somewhat of change for you nutritionally you should likely see some gain at first, how much will be greatly dependent on how different this is from your typical eating habits. A select few may achieve greater result than they thought possible just from this little change of habit. Combined with regular exercise your results will increase slightly.

After the first 3 weeks using a dieting method of this sort I would expect the majority will see their results really begin to slow down or stop altogether. At this point people usually make the mistake of eating less to reinitiate progress or just become frustrated and give up. Why does this happen? Well a number of reasons, you may still be eating too little for the metabolism to work efficiently. The nutrition may be out of balance as there is no way to determine what amount of each nutrient you are consuming and if that is indeed right for your body. And the bottom line is from day to day there is still generally a great variation in food consumption that our body is constantly trying to adapt to. If our food intake is always varying in amount of food or nutrients up and down then how can we expect our body weight or body fat to do anything different?

Stage 3 - Recognizing consistency
Weight watchers, Body For Life, and even our Canada Food Guide are all examples of dieting practices which encourage the individual to try to maintain some sort of consistent eating habits.

Particularly Weight Watchers and Body For Life have gained a great deal of public acceptance for the ease of use with basic serving sizes and even ready-made products are available designed to work within the system.
At this point people are often making better choices, consuming less processed foods and have incorporated some measure of consistency, why doesn't everyone reach their goals following these systems?

Well, I believe in part it's too much variety and still not enough planning to ensure success for everyone; after all we are all individuals. As before some will have great results, a number of people will have average results but there will still be a very large group of people disappointed with their results.

By trying to simplify the measuring of food using servings, portions, or blocks there cane become a great variation of the total amount of calories consumed on a daily basis. The ratio of proteins to carbohydrates and fats can also vary a greatly. As much as we are all the same we are also quite different and unfortunately our body is always adapting making this type of dieting still sporadic at best with a number of variables left unchecked. Yet this is the type of dieting that most people feel comfortable with, until they realize that the 30lbs they had hoped to lose in 12 weeks is going to take the better part of a year. And what's worse as their enthusiasm dwindles rebound and weight fluctuations are the norm.

Stage 4 - Calculated and measured dieting
Are you prepared to weigh and measure your food? Are you prepared to eat the same things generally each day? Often people will answer no to these questions, then they look at some of the before and after photos and they say maybe. Let's start there.

By far this can be the biggest most difficult change in nutritional habits for most people, but I say dive right in! It is looked upon as the hardest type of dieting but time and time again we've also shown it to be the most effective for everyone.

How comfortable would you feel if the next time you took your car in for an oil change the service manager told you they would take great care of your car, they would only use the finest parts and replacement fluids but they were just going to guess at what filter it needed and how much oil to add. Would you expect your car to run and last as long as if the proper standards were followed? I would think not.

Yet somehow people feel that when it comes to nutrition following a measured plan where things are carefully calculated and balanced is more work than its worth but they still expect optimal results.

When we set up a plan we look at current eating habits, then based on experience and current habits we determine the total caloric intake needed for each client. At that point we may prescribe meals consisting of mainly whole foods that have proven themselves time and time again in a completely balanced (Balanced meaning a determined ratio of protein, carbohydrates, and fat based on the individual client.) manner.

Now the client is asked to do two things:
1) Weigh and measure all foods for at least 2 weeks
- Nearly all people under eat if they don't measure.
- After 2 weeks most people will have a very good general idea to the point that weighing is not essential for the non-competitive client, though it is still encouraged.

2) Eat the same thing each day with the exception of approved substitutions of like calories and "cheat" meals or days.
- Most of us are so busy that the key to successful dieting is organization and preparation. Eating the same things each day allows for meals to be prepared in advance and in bulk to limit the time needed for dieting and maximize time for family and social activities.
- Consistency is the key! Failing to plan is planning to fail!

We are following the body's service manual to put it in the best position for optimal performance and change. Make your physical goals a short term reality. Doesn't this make the most sense? It's the most successful for the masses because more variables are covered and can be adjusted for the individual rather than a general approach for the masses. As I said before we are all individuals.

Ask yourself, do I really want to diet? If I am going to diet do I want to do it any longer than I have to?

Consider this; if you find yourself in any of the above stages what are you going to do when it doesn't work? That's not to say it won't work at all but due to the body's adaptive nature it will inevitably stop working, what will you do at that point? If you are unsure of why it stopped working then how can you ever hope to adjust it so it will work?

People fail because of frustration, in my mind all of the above situations are a breeding ground for this frustration. By leaving nothing to chance and planning everything frustration is minimized which allows for a greater and longer commitment to the dieting program.

As an added bonus we also find using a planned method of dieting that people have the least amount of rebound when following this type of diet. Because it forces you to learn new habits that after a while only seem natural to apply, you do it without thinking almost. This gained knowledge and new habits make it very easy to manage our body composition in the years to come. It also creates a very efficient body, when people deviate for a few days or couple weeks only mild fluctuations occur. So wouldn't you want to use the approach that may require a greater initial commitment but in the long term provides the longest lasting, best results in the shortest time? To me that just makes sense, after all why diet any longer than you have to?

To all best in health and in life,

Cabel McElderry 2004