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Stop Dieting!

Stop Dieting!

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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14 Comments

  1. Jennifer

    Great post! These are all things I strive to do. I don’t always succeed, but I try! I like to think of my “diet” as the food I put in my mouth every day or a plan I have for eating healthfully. But not as something temporary! As you said, it’s a lifestyle change. Some days are easier than others, but the 90-10 rule works for me, as long as I follow it!

  2. Christie Inge

    Thank you for the shout out though, I do have to say, I don’t believe I fell off the wagon. i don’t believe there is a such a thing as a wagon. Also, as I say in my post, I wasn’t binging, either.

  3. Lisa

    I just had a HUGE epiphany! I have a tendency to eat to *prevent* hunger rather than wait until I’m actually hungry before I eat. I had a sudden picture in my mind related to the idea that food is fuel for my body just like gasoline is fuel for a car. So, if I were to do to my car what I do to my body I would drive my car to the gas station with the tank 7/8 full then pump in 15 gallons of gas. The gas would run all over the ground, damage the environment and the water table, cost me money and be a huge fire hazard. I would NEVER do something so stupid with my car…shouldn’t I be treating my body at least as well as my car, if not much better.

    Wow.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Hey Lisa, yeah I tend to “prevent” hunger too! I love your analogy! Great job!

  4. Becky

    I do not like the word diet at all! It automatically makes me feel like I am suffering somehow.

    But, most importantly, I had to post a comment because HOLY CRAP you look phenomenal in that “after” photo. Seriously. Check out your guns! You look great!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yes! Dieting makes me feel like I’m punishing my body. Same reason I disagree with “binge days” or “cheat days.” That implies I’m denying myself food the other 6 days of the week.

      Thanks! That “After” photo was taken last month.

  5. Jill

    Great post! The first 70 pounds I lost I was on a diet. Over the past 3 years I have been working on my insides. You know the girl that is still fat! Over that time I lost 10 more pounds and shifted to a different kind of thinking. This is a life style. Not a diet. A diet ends. After a diet you go back to what you were doing before. If I did that I would gain back those 80 pounds. Now it is about being healthy. For me that includes calorie counting, exercise and ice cream! When all of those things are in the correct proportion I feel the best. I have recently worked hard at cutting out all processed foods. I have been successful for the most part. The food is better and I am more satisfied when I eat real food. I love that you have a garden and eat most of your meals from it!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Congratulations on losing 70. And I am glad to see your lifestyle includes ice cream! 😀 It’s all part of life. We can’t restrict EVERYTHING all the time and stay sane. 🙂

  6. Beth @ Beth's Journey

    Great post, Lisa! I completely agree – you can’t take drastic measures to lose wieght and then go back to your old way of living and expect it to stay off. That happened to me when I was on Atkins. Sure I lost weight, and fast, but as soon as I started eating a normal diet again including bread, I gained it ALL back. That’s why I love Weight Watchers – it really is a lifestyle change!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yes! WW is the one “program” that I think is good! If I had to do it all over again and needed support, I’d do WW.

  7. cindylu

    I never said I was on a diet when I was actively on WW. Now a year out, it seems much more like a diet. I was restricting calories, buying low fat/non fat foods (even if they were processed), writing every thing I ate down, and staying within my points. I got pretty obsessed with food and eating too. Those are not things I do while maintaining, and I’d be loathe to go back to it unless I felt I needed it… and my pants didn’t close.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      You make a good point. I was technically on a diet because I was eating diet food. But that was because I didn’t know HOW to eat. I didn’t know portions or how to limit my portions. I had to retrain myself and learn all that stuff. The processed “diet” food helped that a lot.

  8. Jane Cartelli

    I really like your statement “Intuitive Eating does not work for me. The reason? Because as a former obese person, intuitively I want to overeat all the time. I have to be very careful about that.”

    That is so true for me, too. My intuitive point is that of a overeater, not of a restrictor. I am not bad or wrong or flawed because it does not work for me. I am honest and willing to do what DOES work for me and admit that intuitive eating is not my answer.

    I appreciate all your sharing and experience.

    Jane~
    Keepingthepoundsoff.com

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I think for formerly obese people, intuitive eating is a dangerous slope. And what works for some people may not work for all!

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