Are You Cheating On Your Diet?
A survey by LighterLife, less than a few weeks into 2010, revealed that 36% of women are cheating on their New Year's diet.
The results from 2,000 women, are no particular shock, but they do come as a timely reminder about good (and less good) weight loss habits.
If your diet is slipping already, here are a couple of common problems the surveyed women faced, and how to solve them.
40% of women were tempted by their partners eating something delicious
If your hubby (or best friend) is sitting on the sofa next to you, scoffing a box of chocolates, there's a good chance that you'll dip in too. Either get your nearest-and-dearest on board, and ask them to avoid eating certain foods in front of you, or brush your teeth (or chew gum) to avoid the temptation to snack.
25% were tempted when eating out at a restaurant
However good your intentions, it's very hard to just pick a salad when you're eating out. Try making a restaurant trip an occasional treat, rather than a weekly indulgence - good for your wallet as well as your waistline. Then you can have whatever you like, without worrying that it'll ruin all your efforts.
A History of Failure
The study found that "each woman polled had tried to slim down an average of eight times." This isn't much surprise, many of us attempt diets and don't succeed. But, I wonder whether the anxieties about "cheating" played a role in this.
A healthy diet is not a test. There are plenty of good guidelines about healthy eating, but no absolute rules. To lose weight, all you need to do is consume fewer calories than you expend, over the course of a week, a month or even a whole year.
One meal out at a restaurant, a couple of choccies which you don't admit to, or a slip-up where you eat more than planned, doesn't mean you've failed your diet.
More than half the women surveyed by LighterLife said that they'd lied about what they'd eaten. This probably reinforced feelings of secrecy and guilt. Rather than lying when you're having a bad day, find a friend who you can confide in - someone who'll support and encourage you, and who won't judge you or put you down.
If this diet is going to be the one that succeeds, by all means avoid sources of temptation, but don't label behavior as "cheating". That's the fastest way to give up altogether.
Sources:
Over a third of women are secretly cheating on their New Year diets
"Secret scoffers" revealed as 7m dieters hide naughty food
10 Comments
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Created / Updated: March 30, 2010
It is quite familiar topic for me. I've been in the same boat until I realized that my boat is going to sink if I continue with cheatings on my diet. So, here are my points: stick to the diet which your chose, do not be lazy follow your program daily and shortly it will come your second nature and look more in mirror what you want to see there are but don't be harsh with yourself.
Alexandra
ReplyI'm always confused when I see a comment like the one above, "each woman polled had tried to slim down an average of eight times." What does that mean? When I eat, I either eat something healthy or I eat something less healthy ... it never means that I don't intend to eat healthy again. So either I'm trying to slim down/stay slim just about every time I eat or exercise, or I'm never trying to ...
ReplyI think they are meaning the number of times the women tried to "diet" and failed. So, probably trying a different diet each time, rather than consistently trying to eat well and exercise.
ReplyAny reasonable diet should include regularly scheduled cheat meals.
Cheat meals have some hormonal benefits, as well as psychological benefits.
They also help you from feeling deprived, longing for your favorite foods. Further, you can use cheat meals to allow you to still enjoy a social life. Plan the cheat meal for a Friday night and go out with friends.
Just don't go insane. An entire pizza and a tub of ice cream is not a cheat meal. It's just dumb.
ReplyI would have to say that I am not cheating on my "diet", but that's because I don't consider my way of eating a "diet" and I didn't just start eating healthy in January. If your "diet" is not an eating plan that you can maintain for the rest of your life, then it's pretty worthless.
My mom is always going on/off various diets and she cheats on every single one. The reason she cheats is mostly that she gets cocky about things and stops following the rules of whatever diet she's on and still loses a little weight, so she keeps pushing things until the weight loss stops. When the weight loss stops, she figures "screw it" and goes off the plan entirely and gains all the lost weight back. You can't live your life being deprived all the time, so figure out a way to eat the stuff you like sometimes and eat healthy stuff the rest of the time.
ReplyDieting for me is equivalent to a sentence which is why I not longer do it and why, over at my ditch diets website I'm such a strong advocate for not dieting. It's unnatural, it takes willpower, it's restricting of living, it's not fun and so it doesn't surprise me that we land up cheating. I did that to myself for years - diet...cheat...diet...cheat ad naseum. But I threw out my scale years ago, haven't dieted in about 8 years and I no longer yo yo up and down. My weight has slowly come off on it's own, I'm not fussed about what I eat and yet despite this (or maybe BECAUSE of this) my eating habits are waaaaaaay healthier now than when I was dieting. I also stopped and started exercise programs over and over.... but no more. Now living an active lifestyle is something I love and I don't live with the baggage of 'having to go to the gym'. I no longer make new year's health resolutions because I live a healthy life each day and I'm free from all that dieting nonsense. Hallelujah!
ReplyI have 1 cheat day per week. One piece of advice is to follow a simple diet at first, without too many restrictions. And go from there.
ReplyHI Emily.
I agree with ya. Moderation is the key to success in weight loss. Don't be too restrictive in your diet but also don't let yourself go wild and gobble up everything you can lay your hands on. :)
ReplyThis article is interesting. I always wanted to do diet. But when I saw my friends to eat, I was so tempted, and I forget the diet
ReplyFad diets and extreme diets just dont work, (at least, not for any extended period of time). The sad part is, people are fooled because initially they begin to lose weight (we all lose weight when we starve ourselves), but once the novelty wears off and the body realizes that it is being deprived, your metabolism slows down and it becomes increasingly more difficult to lose weight. Gradual weight loss with moderate life long changes will help to keep the weight off. Eliminating just a single 12oz soda from your daily consumption will reduce your daily caloric intake by 150 calories. That's 1050 calorie loss per week.
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