Live the Diet

I was visiting one of my diet forums and mulling over the folks who had "fallen off the wagon" (many over the holidays - my vent on overeating over the holidays here) and were back to try to re-lose their weight.  Many of them had done this many times.  Side by side with them are the post along the lines of "I know this isn't a quick fix, but do u think I can loose 30lbs by June?  i want 2 B ready for swimsuit season!"

In addition to the bad grammar, these folks are just a little sad.  They are kidding themselves and won't admit it. They are addicts just as if they smoked or drank.

I've said it before and I'll say it a million times: there is no magic pill. No diet on earth will allow you to lose weight, get in shape, and then go back to eating like you used to.

Some people can't seem to grasp that and hurl themselve fruitlessly into diet after diet (or like these ladies, the same diet over and over).

Read my lips: your diet is a permanent change in lifestyle. Find a way to eat that is healthy and makes you happy, move your body a bit, drink some water, and stick with it. Live the diet. It will become routine and you will be healthy. Aristotle put it better than I ever could:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

 I worry that, with some, it takes a catestrophic event to nudge them into the needed lifestyle change.  My husband, Bodog is an excellent example. A type 1 diabetic, he loved and ate all the high carb death foods: boxed rice sides, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and loads of bread, buns, crackers and heavily breaded meats (when he ate them), almost no fruit and veg, sugary snacks and candy, bunches of frozen crap when I didn't cook.

Basically, the typical SAD (Standard American Diet).
He had a heart attack at age 34 (last year) and they put 2 stents in his heart.

I immediately put him on a version of my diet, slashed his carbs to under 80/day, increased his protein and fats, and today his cholesterol and blood pressure are normal, his heart echo looks great, and he feels 100% better. He also lost 25lbs.

I am NOT taking credit BTW, or even touting my Paleolithic / Low Carb lifestyle (though I do think it's healthier).  All the credit goes to him.  The person who had the wherewithal to start eating healthy and to stick with it. He has a wife and 5 small children who love and irritate him and he apparently would like us to keep doing that for a while.

Is there anyone who would be devestated it YOU had a heart attack right now? I'll bet there are a bunch. Think about that.  Think about them.