Dieting vs. Lifestyle Changes

Yes, there is a distinction and that distinction is based predominately upon longevity and severity? Is “severity” the correct word? Probably not, how about “personal  involvement” or “investment?” A diet implies a temporary adjustment to the amount and/or type of food consumed that ends once some goal is reached, such as losing 15 pounds, or until you simply give up, aka quit.

That’s it. That’s the only life alteration a diet entails. You simply change what and how much you eat for a while. Then, most go back to their old eating habits and eventually put the weight lost during the diet back on, also known as “yo-yoing” which is the process of losing and putting weight back on in a manner similar to a yo-yo going up and down. See: Oprah Winfrey.

Lifestyle changes, on the other hand, while they may include changes to your diet, also involve so much more. In essence, a lifestyle change changes, well, your life and it does so for, well, the rest of your life (for the sake of this post, let’s just assume the lifestyle changes we’re talking about are beneficial and not things like becoming more sedentary, smoking more and incorporating more stress into your life).

Lifestyle changes are undertaken in order to improve your life for its entirety and not just to lose weight over the course of the next six months. Although, weight loss might be a direct result of your lifestyle changes or it might not be.

It might help to think of lifestyle changes as new and positive habits you add to your daily routine and eating healthier in order to lose weight and feel better could be one of those habits. However, if that is the change you’re making in your life, you’ve got to be in it for the long haul, like the rest of your life (with perhaps occasional lapses on special occasions). And no, this isn’t like some New Year’s resolution you decide to declare on December 30^th. Think of this as your evolution rather than a resolution. You’re evolving into a happier, healthier person over time.

However, making lifestyle changes stick ain’t easy. That’s why most experts recommend starting small by making one lifestyle adjustment at a time, such as ensuring you eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Yes, that is a change to your diet, but it’s NOT a diet…get it?

If you can make this healthy habit stick, then you have just made a modest and healthy lifestyle change. Initially, getting those five servings will require some thought and effort on your part. However, as the habit takes hold over time, no thought or effort will be required, and that habit will eventually become a lifestyle change.

Once you are eating your five servings of fruits and veggies without really thinking about it, you might then decide to eliminate red meat from your diet, then reduce your caffeine intake, then begin using 2% milk rather than whole and so on and so forth. Each of the above alterations is part of a larger lifestyle change.

Yes, they all involve changes to the foods you eat which makes them changes to your diet (the kinds of food a person eats on a regular basis), but they, in no way, comprise a diet (a special and temporary course of food designed to improve a person’s physical condition). Notice the difference? Most medical professionals recommend lifestyle changes to your diet rather than going on an endless string of diets year after year.

So, instead of going in a diet beginning January 1^st, start planning now how to make incremental and lasting lifestyle changes to your overall diet beginning in 2022.