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.
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