The naughty four letter word no one should ever say…

Today I’m going to talk about why I think “diet” is a bad word. The word diet implies temporary change and that’s not what I’m aiming for or what I think others are aiming for either! Who wants temporary weight loss! Not me! The term I prefer is that I am living a more healthy lifestyle than before. I don’t count calories (although I do keep a food journal) because I’m too Type A to work with “rounded” numbers but if I DID count calories I think it would be WAY too easy to have a 90 calorie pretzel/fudge pack for a snack everyday. Yes, I realize there are worse things out there to eat but if I were only counting calories I think snacks like this would easily find their way into my diet – as in what I eat everyday.

So what am I doing? I’m eating whole foods and NATURAL foods. I’ve also come to realize over the past few months that those “organic” Annie’s gold fish are not MUCH better than the actual Gold Fish! I’m not perfect and I’m not claiming to be – but what has worked for me is adding in natural foods like raw fruits and vegetables and limiting everything else to the healthy alternatives (whole grain, etc).

Back to why “diet” is a word you shouldn’t say. When someone says “I’m on a diet” – I cringe a little because a) that doesn’t sound fun AT ALL and b) I feel bad. After typing B, it took me a long time to realize WHY I felt bad when someone else said they were on a diet. Minutes later I realized that I feel bad because I feel like the aforementioned person is punishing themselves. Naughty!

Also, as someone who doesn’t have a WHOLE lot left to lose (I’m 5’0 and currently 117), I always felt like I was getting judged when I’d spit out the “d” word in conversation. People would say, “Oh you’re so tiny!” Really, I wasn’t! Not for my height/weight! But when I say, “Sorry – I’m going to pass on those [insert any type of crap food here]” and someone looks at me funny so I add, “I’m trying lead a more healthy lifestyle.” No one gives me crap or ugly looks.

And, essentially, that is what I’m doing! I’m trying to get healthy and fit for my family and my future. While losing weight is a great side effect of “getting healthy/fit,” at this point in my weight loss journey I’m not as concerned with numbers (sort of like blogging huh!) but more personal mile stones!

Anyway, regardless of where you’re at in your journey – don’t temporarily do anything. Go big or go home! Change one habit, one meal a day and you WILL see progress! But don’t go into this journey saying that you’re going to diet until you get to X pounds – you’ll get there, I have no doubt, but then all of your hard work will unravel shortly thereafter. And that not only sucks but completely defeats the point.