Foreword
When we use the word ‘diet’ we often use it as a verb as in “I’m going on a diet”. Most of us generally think of a diet as a special regime of eating to which a person restricts (sometimes severely) their food intake in order to lose weight. We may think of some of the fashionable ‘fad’ diets that are around. These diets often promote fast weight loss without any sound scientific evidence to support its claims. A diet should take into consideration factors like a person’s height, age, sex, current level of activity, and should have a realistic timescale.
A lot of popular diets include plans where you eat a very restrictive diet with few foods or an unusual combination of foods. They may only allow you to eat certain foods at certain times (this is probably a whole topic on its’ own, so although I’m tempted I won’t digress).
Of course, there are other reasons for ‘dieting’ than just losing weight – for example a person may have restricted eating due to a health issue, or a suspected health issue. Some people may have a specific goal in mind for a sport or competition and there are others who need or want to gain weight.
‘Diet’ also refers to the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats ie a vegetarian diet, or a kosher diet. Or there are special diets for medical reasons.
My story
If you know me, you’ll know that I don’t need a weight loss diet. Nonetheless I found myself, at the end of last year, needing to lose body fat (that’s probably also a whole subject on its’ own). So I spoke to my Personal Trainer – yes I do have a PT although I’m a PT - and she gave me a Meal Plan for 3 months, each month slightly different to the previous month.
The ‘diet’ was restrictive in terms of calories and types of food but it was worked out scientifically and based on how active I was during the day. I also ate 5 to 6 times per day which was more or less every 3 hours. Luckily I quite like food without sauces and I liked all the food on the list of options. I’m not going into all the details of the meal plan here today, that is not the purpose of this blog. I just wanted to share with you some of the things I learned.
As background I am a Nutrition Coach and studied with Precision Nutrition who have a very healthy philosophy around eating and making nutrition balanced but not wholly restrictive. With PN there are no ‘bad’ foods, just ‘better’ foods, there is no negative language. Each meal should contain protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats and vegetables and there are calculations to be done to ascertain portion sizes daily caloric intake for each individual. It's about how you eat as well as what you eat. I like this way of eating and the approach to food.
Why I Chose to Diet
At the beginning of the year I embarked on a different regime in order to lose my body fat whilst maintaining muscle mass. Having never been on a ‘diet’ before it was a bit daunting and I was quite ambivalent about it, if I’m honest.
The key points I learned about myself
1. Once I got used to it, the meal plan was fairly easy to follow. It took a while to get into a routine. Making a shopping list was imperative, planning ahead was important in terms of what I was eating and planning my meal times was absolutely crucial.
2. I generally like a variety of foods in my diet so I get a range of vegetables and fruit and different proteins, and I do not like to eat the same meal twice. However, I soon settled in to eating similar foods every day. I ate a lot of chicken, eggs and egg whites, tuna. Breakfast was the same each day (eggs and/or porridge). I still got my veggies and fruit but maybe not quite as many as I was used to. Carbs were brown rice or sweet potato, so I was perfectly happy with that. My protein intake was much higher than I’m used to.
3. At first eating 5 meals a day was hard, and I was so still so full when it came time for the next meal and it was almost that I needed to force the food down. Surprisingly for me, after a couple of weeks I did start getting hungry before each meal.
4. Eating 5 times a day kept my metabolism up and I found I had lots of energy, and I was sleeping better. It also kept at bay my fear of being hungry and worrying about where the next meal came from.
5. I liked having someone I was accountable to. I know what to do. Of course I do, I’m a Nutrition Coach, for Pete’s Sake! How many times have you heard someone say, “I know what to do, I just can’t seem to do it”? You can only imagine the high expectations of myself, given my line of work. So, I discovered that having somebody to be accountable to and to support me worked really well. Someone to pick me up and dust me off if I came off the rails.
6. Being on a fairly restrictive diet worked well for me also as there was very little time required to cook elaborate meals. That was a win I have to say.
7. It was easy to eat out, especially here in Cyprus as at any taverna you can get chicken or fish kebabs with salad and/or grilled vegetables.
8. I did lose weight but more importantly I lost body fat and I maintained my muscle mass. If weight loss isn’t done steadily and slowly whilst eating nutritiously then most of the weight loss will come from water in your muscles and you don’t lose the fat. More importantly you don’t lose the body fat. There is such a thing as being Skinny Fat. Basically looking slim/thin/skinny with no muscle tone and high body fat percentage.
9. Four months down the line, I have learned that going back to three meals a day doesn’t work for me. Prior to this year I used to find myself picking at food around 4.00 pm to 5.00 because I was hungry and couldn’t wait until dinner time. Now I include a meal at around this time so I ensure it is something nutritious that helps me towards my goal. It’s usually a protein shake with some kefir, fruit and seeds in, or a Greek yoghurt with fruit and a protein powder.
10. The interesting downside is that having eaten a different way with certain types of food for three months, now I am eating normally again, I find myself thinking I shouldn’t have certain foods because they are ‘naughty’ (remember the no-negative language I mentioned earlier? I find myself doing that). I have to consider whether I should have potato for instance, whereas I know that potatoes are a very healthful food, or the occasional slice of bread and butter. I don’t have a gluten intolerance so there is nothing wrong with me having bread or butter occasionally.
Conclusion:
My take-away is that the regime worked for me very well and it got me to where I wanted to be. The food I ate helped me towards my specific goals and it was a balanced and nutritious diet that had no processed or ultra-processed foods. It was not stressful on me or my body. I was never hungry and after the first couple of weeks I never felt ‘stuffed’.
I now understand why people are drawn to certain diets that tell them what to eat so they don’t have to think about the how’s, why’s, what’s and where’s. It makes life easy. I guess it’s like going to an exercise class where you just follow the instructor and don’t have to think about the next move. However, choosing the right ‘diet’ is key, it needs to be balanced and cover the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) of all the food groups, ie proteins, carbohydrates, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals. It needs to contain mostly wholefoods and it needs to be aimed at your specific goals. Ideally it should teach you how to eat in a way that is sustainable for you.
I see how easy it can be to fall into the trap of negative self-talk and consider some foods ‘sin’ foods. I have had to tell myself that those certain foods are not bad they were just not what I should be eating AT THAT TIME. I rarely eat processed foods, I’m not sure I ever eat wholly-processed foods anyway so that made it easier for me. I am partial to Mini Magnum Ice creams and Cadbury’s Dairy Milk though and now I’m not on the Meal Plan it can be easy to cave into my favourite treats.
We packed our toaster away in January and it’s been out twice since then (it’s now end of September). We buy bread and butter rarely. This is mainly because I like bread with my butter rather than the other way round so it’s best to be the occasional treat. We used to always have cheddar cheese in the house and this was my go-to snack when I got the munchies at 4 pm.
I’ve learned a lot about what works for me and why people try other diets where they don’t have to think, but I know the dangers in those and now realise how easy it is to fall into that trap. I mean how could a potato which is grown in the ground and doesn’t have any processing done to it be a ‘bad’ food. It’s how you eat it that makes it less nutritious – butter on your baked potato, butter or cream in your mashed potato, chips/fries cooked in vegetable oils. It’s not the poor potato’s fault its got a bad rap!
When most people lose weight it’s not because of what they are eating, it’s often because of what they are not eating – the foods they’ve cut out – chocolates, cakes, crisps, highly processed burgers or chicken nuggets, alcohol, sugary drinks etc. If you actually just cut those things out then you might lose weight without having to restrict your food intake. There is a cost to getting lean and success is dependent on how much you really want the results and how much you are prepared to do (or give up) to get there.
So that’s my experience with dieting. If you’ve got any questions regarding diets and healthy eating please do not hesitate to contact me.
Ciao for now.
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