The Real Diet Story

This is true and sad as well.

I think it should be renamed to the crash diet time line.

That's depressingly accurate.

The only reason it's accurate is because people diet and don't exercise. Plain and simple. I went from 210 to 165 and less than 10% body fat. I've stayed there. Why? I exercise. Lifting weights three times a week, high intensity interval training three days a week, and counting calories every single day. Most people are weak on many levels and are simply not willing to do what it takes to lose weight and stay lean.

What would be interesting is if you could see a cartoon of her lean mass which was almost certainly eaten away by her crappy diet (which is 95% of most diets). Lose lean mass, kill your metabolism.

Also there's nothing inherently wrong with a "crash diet". See Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook for more information.

true.

I have to agree with Barry -- the semantic differences between "diet" and "lifestyle change" are a marketing ploy created by Weight Watchers. A proper diet should (1) include exercise and (2) allow the dieter to implement lifelong habit changes. A diet is not necessarily eating grapefruit and cabbage soup before going back to scarfing down whole pizzas. I lost weight and kept it off...by becoming more active and permanently changing my habits.

Diets fail because they are diets, a temporary solution, something that always has an endpoint. Weakness has nothing to do with it.

Dieters have some of the most amazing willpower and they frequently succeed on their diet. Then they reach their goal and their diet ends and they revert to old habits.

That's not weakness. That's a misunderstanding about how diets work.

Until a person is ready to make permanent lifestyle changes, they'll ride the diet merry-go-round. That's not weakness. It's a way of getting to know yourself in relation to food and figuring out what you can live with and what you can't.

Eventually, people figure it out. It's not weakness. It's the process of success that must be journeyed through. Some figure it out quicker than others. Taking 20 years to figure it out vs. 5 years, that's not weakness. That's just being thorough. :)

Bottom line, people figure it out in their own time frame in their own way. What would be great is if those who figure it out earlier would reach out to help (when appropriate) instead of sitting astride their high-horse and looking down their nose at those still working through the process.

A sad but very true story!

It isn't rocket science guys, diets don't work! Never have, never will! At least not in the long run.

Learn how to eat proper foods that will actually give you life long results!

I get frustrated by the use of the term "lifestyle change" actually. To me, a lifestyle change is much harder to implement than a temporary diet. I did the lifestyle change for about a year and a half, and it took so much energy and effort, every single day, to behave in this new way. It wasn't natural for me. I crave high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar things and I am not a high energy person. After a year, I had lost weight, was physically stronger, had lower cholesterol, but the daily struggle was too uncomfortable and I gave up. Sad but true.

That's what happen when people want the easy solution like miracle diets, pills, surgery.
Those kind of methods never fix the real problem which is bad habits.
After you lose weight if you don't workout and eat a balanced diet you will go back at the same stage or worst that you were before.

The only time the "after-after" pic is true is when your "after-after diet" phase involves going back to how you used to eat/exercise. If you go on a diet that's maintainable for your whole life, you won't GO back to being fat again. Geez, I've stayed an "after" for 7 years and haven't gone back yet. Reason? I still work out every day and continue to watch my diet. Not really rocket science, I guess.

This is an unfortunately true commentary on weight-loss. It's never easy to lose weight, but when we do, it's easy to think that we can take it easy now that we've reached our goal. This leads to losing the progress and possibly adding more pounds.

I will tell you both from experience and through my profession, that diets do not work. It is a very very sad truth. I am a Personal fitness coach/trainer. I was morbidly obese at one point in my life weighing in at 240Ibls on a 5'1" frame. I lost over 125Ibls and have kept it off for more than 7 years. The fact is, the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to change your lifestyle. You must have a combination of Cardio and resistence training, as well as a solid nutritional guideline.

In order to do that, an individual must understand that we are carb sensitive beings. In order to remove weight and maintain it off, you must understand what a good carb is, and what a bad carb is. The Atkins diet didn't work because it removed all carbs, which is very dangerous, as our body needs a certain amount of carbs to function. In saying that an individual must also understand what are good fats and bad fats. Our bodies need fat to survive, but it needs certain types of fat. Some fats even assist in losing weight.

What I am getting at, is I educate all my clients to understand what healthy eating is. Knowledge is power, and if you understand how our bodies function, it makes healthy eating very simple. This with a customized workout regimen is the key to successful weight loss. More importantly it is the key to maintaining your ideal weight. I put out a free monthly newsletter to all my clients and anyone who wants some helpful tips, it also has some great recipe ideas. Feel free to go to my site and opt-in to receive it. It is under the fitness newsletter tab. I am very passionate about weight loss, as I remember all too clearly my struggles, and how badly I felt about myself. I don't wish that feeling on anyone!!!!

Very often, this is very true.

Looks funny but makes me sad

lol. Awesome drawing.