January 27, 2009

The No-Diet Diet

I've been debating whether or not to re-join Weight Watchers. As I've mentioned about 1,000 times, I lost 20 lbs on Weight Watchers last year, but have slowly gained a good 10 lbs of it back. Weight Watchers is inundating me with emails & special offers to re-join. Now that the wedding & holidays are over, I'm trying to get back into an exercise routine & to stop eating out so much. I'm definitely getting back on track. I'm not really losing any weight yet, but I feel better at least. I always feel like a big, fat slug after Christmas. Anyway, I digress.....

So I was reading Real Simple tonight & had an epiphany of sorts. There's an awesome article in the current issue called "The No-Diet Diet". It spoke to me. I have a good friend (who shall remain nameless) who did Weight Watchers with me & also eventually gained some of the weight back. Unlike myself, she lost the re-gained weight plus some & looks fan-freaking-tastic now. Her secret? She eats less. Not less like what an Olsen twin would eat, but less than she used to eat. She & I are both speed eaters & tend to overeat because of it. She significantly cut her carb intake & pays more attention to how fast she eats & how much she eats. She walks when she has time, but she's not a big exerciser. It's definitely working for her.

This Real Simple article basically says diets don't work, eat what you want, just in moderation & try to be healthy. If I hadn't watched my close friend actually succeed at this first-hand, I probably would have dismissed the article. Now I'm wondering if all these years I could have saved myself so much heartache & fat pants if I had just learned moderation. God, what a depressing thought. I spent an entire year of my twenties not eating carbs. And I was already thin! So much wasted energy. Ugh....

I think I'm going to try what the article suggests & see how it goes. I would love nothing more than to live just 1 day without worrying about calories consumed, calories burned & whether I'm a size 12 or 14.

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/package/0,21861,1841021-1158736,00.html

Thoughts?

1 comment:

Panda Parables said...

i joined a 'biggest loser' group at work that's going on til june. right now i've just been doing the daily plate (entering calories and whatnot...it's free) and going to the Y at least 3 times a week. i've lost about 4 lbs over 3 weeks. if i know i'm going out to dinner, i try to just eat fruit and veggies that morning & afternoon.
the daily plate is good because i'm a sneaky snacker (like...if there's oreos on the coffee table, every time i walk by i'll eat one). entering everything i eat on that website makes me accountable.

better than south beach. i can't count the # of times i've lost several lbs on phase 1, then gain it all back PLUS more.

longest comment ever.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...