Dieting

As I stated in an earlier post, in order to maintain weight loss, the diet actually has to be the preparation for the permanent maintenance stage. Otherwise, the dieter will probably gain the weight back. The word "diet" has become unpopular, and it's more popular to talk about lifestyle change. But it is important to grasp the ramifications of that word. Real permanent lifestyle change that enables one to maintain weight loss requires major and constant effort. It will require considering many aspects of one's life.

As I said in my first post, weight maintenance typically requires 60-90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity physical activity while not exceeding calories expended. When a person begins a diet, he or she may not be capable of being physically active at that intensity even 60 minutes per day. In addition, the person may have to rearrange her lifestyle and manage time much differently to plan for that level of physical activity. All of this needs to be started as part of the "diet," which may give you a clue as to why lots of people like to call it "lifestyle change."

A person has to do quite a bit of reflecting to figure out how to become so much more physically active. For example, the person may be working a certain number of hours at a sedentary job but able to pay someone to mow the lawn, trim bushes, and do landscaping. During the diet, the person may be faced with terminating those agreements, arranging to work less, and arranging to do his own mowing and landscaping. A dieter may have used the income from a good job to buy a very nice TV and even maybe put in a family room to make a nice space to watch the TV. She will now have to face the fact that the fancy TV is part of her problem. Can the room be rearranged to accommodate exercise equipment?

A person may have formed a routine involving the internet. He may have formed relationships and enjoyable pasttimes on the internet. This may have to be seriously curtailed to spend the time at the gym instead.

Small changes can be reflected on and made, such as parking farther from the office and walking, taking stairs instead of elevators, staying away from vending machines. These small changes are helpful but they probably will not be enough to maintain permanent weight loss. More likely, the dieter will have to make major changes which will cause disruption and some emotional turmoil. All of this needs to be started and worked on during the diet.