Training & Nutrition - New Diet Fad

My wife and I talk about this a lot. We keep waiting for the next 'New Diet Fad' to be the truth. We all see fad diets come and go. Sure, some people lost weight and kept it off with atkins. Maybe some people even lost weight popping carb-blocker pills.

When will the masses embrace the truth? You know, the part about running a sustainable caloric deficit over a long period of time with regular exercise being part of your life. Will the masses ever understand balance, or moderation?

I'm not a marketing genius, but isn't there someone out there who can package the truth up nicely and present it in a 60second infomercial? I want to see the mass public get as excited about the truth about weight loss and sustaining weight as they got about atkins.

Why can't 'the biggest loser' be america's favorite show? Why isn't it bringing down television awards left, right and center?

To the public:

<Jack Nicholson Voice>YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR THE TRUTH!</Jack Nicholson Voice>

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I too have come to the conclusion that fad diets only excel in shrinking your purse, well actually I figured this out a while ago.

I use what I like to call the F**K IT diet. One day after trying a few different things which work intermitenly, and reading up on a few things that I just plain laughed at I noticed that the only contant things that managed to take off some poundage was exercise and eating properly. Dieting is a joke, sure you might see some results if you starve yourself but it isn't the real path to the body you want. So I just said F**K IT! To hell with diets and all this crap I'm just going to eat what I want when I want and if I'm not hungry I won't eat if I am I will, if I want a piece of cake, or a row of cookies so be it, I'm not going to feel bad about it. I also started saying this about exercise. I'm not going to push for this weight or that distance if I don't feel like it. The human body is amazing in that it knows what is best for it, unfortunatly we just have to let go of all the emotional baggage that our society spews at us to let it do its work.

So you know what, I feel sick now if I drink a can of coke, I used to love coke... actually I still love the taste, but its not worth it when I feel gross afterward, bloated and sickly. Same goes for greasy food, infact meat is something that has kind of worked its way out of my diet, again not so much the taste I dislike, though a greasy burger sure isn't to appitizing, but I feel lethargic and sick if I eat too much meat or other greasy products like french fries. These are just things I find myself doing not things I set out to do. One of my favorite things now is firm tofu pan fried then mixed with spaghetti sauce and vegtables over whole wheat pasta. When I eat something like this I feel full, but not stuffed or bloated, I don't get indigestion or any other unpleasent side effect because I'm giving my body the actual fuel that it needs.

As for exercise I found it most enjoyable to find something you like, for me it was classes at the local gym and more recently biking. I love my commute to and from work now and look forward to it, even when I'm feeling a bit tired I find now more and more if I skip my commute or a class that I have energy to spare, I might have trouble sleeping that night or I might just be bouncing off the walls. If I miss a few days my body definatly lets me know, my food consumption will go to nill, I won't be hungry and I'll feel tired and unmotivated. This is your body telling you what you want, listen to it, give in sometimes have a piece of pie, hell have the whole pie, your body will tell you when its satisfied and when it is oversatified. Eventaully your body will be back in control and you will start feeling better about yourself... and remember time flies when your having fun.

A sensible lifestyle will never make 'fad' status - it requires a (small) sacrifice of luxury items, and a change in behavior. Fad diets become popular because people want to believe in magic. People want results with no effort. People don't want to change, they want to be changed.