No Diet Diet Final Thoughts

Following the no diet diet didn’t net me the results the authors claimed it would. In fact if my objective was to lose weight (and it was) then this diet not only failed to deliver the desired result but was inimical to it in my case (evidence the weight gain).
In the final chapters the authors offer reasons as to why any particular person might not lose as much weight as the average “non-dieter” though the idea that somebody would not lose any weight or might even gain weight is not addressed. These reasons boil down to the individual not making big enough changes in their life. Though they don’t come right out and say so the implication is clear: Their system works. If it didn’t work for you it’s because you didn’t put enough effort into changing your habits. The “non-dieter” is asked to remember this program is a slow burn and encouraged to repeat phases one through four again (particularly if moving outside your comfort zone is difficult and only minute changes can be made at each step). Needless to say, I won’t be following that advice, especially since I got so little out of my initial run through of the program (which I followed to the letter).
I honestly gave this program my best shot. I took the “do something different” attitude and ran with it. I stepped out of my comfort zone and forced attitudes and behaviours that didn’t come naturally. I can not believe that the reason I gained weight was because I didn’t make big enough changes in my routine.
So why do I think the program didn’t work for me? I think the weight gain may be a result of the changes I made to my usual behaviour. I think that many of the assumptions and presuppositions the authors made about overweight people and their lifestyles simply weren’t true in my case.
Random example, the task for day 4: go for a 15 minute walk. If somebody is a complete couch potato then a 15 minute walk is a great idea. It shows them that exercise needn’t be time consuming or difficult. That it can, if fact, be easy, refreshing and even fun. However, I already walk/jog/run for about half an hour most days. Pushing myself to do more isn’t a bad idea but it is not likely to give the same startling results that can be achieved by the very unfit when they initially embark on an exercise program.
It’s like the dietician who advises a dieter not to eat bread with dinner and save themselves a couple of hundred calories (or whatever). It’s all well and good but of no help if they don’t habitually eat bread with dinner. You can’t give up something you don’t do, just as you can’t commence doing something that is already being done.
For all the program didn’t work for me, I think the authors are on the right track with their idea of breaking habits and doing something different. After all, my current behaviours have led me to gain/maintain unwanted weight. It’s not rocket science: do the same behaviour=get the same results. That’s why I finally accepted the idea of not dieting in the first place.
I have no doubt that unhealthy habits will prevent anyone from losing weight and keeping it off long term and so need to be broken. I just don’t see that this particular method could be successful in long term habit breaking. Breaking habits for a day or a week is a good start. It makes you aware of what your habits are and shows that they can, with a little effort, be broken. But I don’t think it goes far enough.
I think we need to make our habits work for us. It’s not enough to break old habits; we need to replace them with new, healthier, habits. Preferably habits that are incompatible with established unhealthy behaviour. And that’s the one thing I am taking from this experience.
I will now go on to maintain my healthy habits and to identify those that might be keeping me from achieving my health and fitness goals and replacing them with more appropriate behaviours.
No, this doesn’t mean a return to dieting. I am committed to the intuitive eating philosophy and will continue on my quest to understand it, and my body’s hunger signals, more thoroughly.
The no diet diet has been an interesting experiment but it is not the way forward for me.

No Diet Diet Days 27 and 28

The thought-dimension for day 27 was emotional intelligence, defined as the ability to recognise your emotions and those of others. Identifying the particular emotion I was feeling towards people or in a situation allowed me to acknowledge my feelings and express them in an appropriate manner. Here I was encouraged to think rather than to simply act. For the first time since I commenced the no diet diet I was able to see something that might be relevant to my weight situation-gaining control of emotional eating. And while I can see the benefit in consciously controlling my emotions for one day (it shows me that it can be done and that I need not be a slave to habitual emotional response) I think it requires a lot more practice and support if I, or for that manner anyone, is to overcome emotional eating.
The thought-dimension for day 28 was social intelligence, defined as helping society in general, expressing values in a positive and practical way. I am all for supporting Fair Trade and charities, offering assistance where practical and volunteering for causes that mesh with my social values. While I can see how living a more authentic and involved way can be life enhancing I can’t really see how it relates to weight loss.
So here I come to the end of phase four and the structured section of the no diet diet. I have followed the program to the letter, changing my behaviour, challenging myself and ‘doing something different’ at every opportunity. According to the authors my reward should be a weight loss of between 2kg and 4kg. In fact, having maintained my weight of last week, at the end of the no diet diet program I have a net gain of 0.2kg or about half a pound.

No Diet Diet Days 22 through 26

Phase four of the no diet diet is all about targeting key areas of the way I actually think, since the way I think is directly linked to the way I behave. For this week each day I must focus on a specific thought-dimension. I am to behave differently towards a person and react differently to a situation in respect of the thought-dimension of the day. My computer access has been limited so this week instead of documenting my actions every day I offer a summary of my reflections upon each thought dimension and the role it plays in my life specifically in relation to weight loss and improved health.

The thought-dimension for day 22 was self-responsibility.
When it comes to weight it is easy to push responsibility away, be it onto hormones, genetics, environment or whatever. I honestly believe that all of those things play a role in either helping us to gain weight in the first place or in keeping us fat once we’re here. But a large part of the responsibility for my current weight is mine. I’m the one who made less than optimal nutritional choices (including past attempts at dieting) and neglected my exercise regime. I accept that, have learnt from it and am ready to move on.

The thought-dimension for day 23 was awareness.
It is very easy to drift through the days without really noticing what is happening around us. I live very close to the beach, something I take for granted, but occasionally I will actually notice the ocean while I’m sitting at a traffic light, its colour, the height of the waves and the transformation in my perception is surprising. In relation to diet I would agree that quite often I eat without really paying attention to what it is I’m eating-flavour, texture and volume-and that lack of awareness has certainly pushed my weight up over time. I can definitely see how increasing my awareness in general, and in relation to diet in particular, could result in weight loss.

The thought-dimension for day 24 was balance.
When it comes to my fitness goals lack of balance has been a major contributor to my lack of success. And I don’t just mean the all or nothing attitude that is so easy to slip into, especially in the early days of attempting to establish a new lifestyle but the imbalance in effort to desire. How much do I really want to achieve my fitness goals? Does my behaviour reflect that level of desire? If I really want to achieve I must be willing to put in the required effort. And if that effort is more than I thought necessary I must consciously choose to either try harder or lower my expectations. Desire-effort-results must be balanced.

The thought-dimension for day 25 was fearlessness.
I recognise that this is a big one for me in all areas of my life. What if I try my best and still don’t achieve the results I want? At least if I’m not giving it my all I can’t be too upset if I don’t have the success I might like. In relation to fitness perhaps I need to push myself a little more in the area of exercise. So what if my efforts look a little foolish, eventually I’ll succeed to some extent: the c25k taught me that.

The thought-dimension for day 26 was conscience.
The idea here is to listen to my conscience in all contexts regardless of its convenience. I must not compromise my ideals for short-term gain. This is a tricky one to apply to diet and exercise. I’m going to assume in this context it means not to try to fool myself into believing I’m doing more than I am. I know if I’m not exercising at my best or if my diet is less than nutritious and I should question myself as to why I’m doing (or not doing) that and if it’s in line with my greatest good.

No Diet Diet Day 21 and Weigh In

There were two ‘doing’ tasks left to choose from for day 21. I could either stand for half an hour or create something. Standing for half an hour seemed both pointless and tiring so I chose to create something. I achieved this by digging out an old craft project I’d put on indefinite hold and getting back into it. It took a bit of time to get back into the swing but it was worth the effort. I managed more than I thought I’d be able to and am quite keen to keep up the progress.
I weighed in without any great expectations, this ‘diet’ so far has not delivered on its promise to help me shed up to a kilo a week. It was a pleasant surprise to see that I have, in fact, had a loss. I have dropped a phenomenal 0.2kg. Yes, half of what I gained in the first week. So here we are three weeks into the program and I now only weigh 0.2kg more than when I started. Hoorah!

No Diet Diet Day 20

Although I missed a day over the weekend I was tempted to simply jump ahead and start week 4. But I committed to doing this by the book and even though I’ve not seen any positive results yet I’m going to stick with it to the end now.
The ‘doing’ task for day 20 I chose was to learn something new. I decided to research the medicinal uses of melaleuca honey for the treatment of eczema. I am prone to developing postage stamp sized scaly itchy patches of skin and want a more natural way of dealing with the problem. And that’s probably more than anybody needs to know about that.

No Diet Diet Day 19

The ‘doing’ task for day 19 was to go for a 30 minute walk before or after work or during lunchtime. As a regular walker this task posed no problem. In an effort to embrace the do something different philosophy I chose to go out around midday-a different time than usual-and walked for about an hour and a half-at least twice as long as usual-along a different route.

I also did the second additional task for the week-throw away something that I no longer need. I threw away a pair of work shoes. I haven’t been in paid employment for quite some time now and don’t know why I was hanging on to my old work shoes. Well, actually I do know. They were quite an expensive pair of shoes and practically new when I quit work. But I wouldn’t wear them now even if there was an appropriate occasion for blue lace-up leather flats so out they went.