The Diet Guy

Today's Newspapers

I went down to Tesco today to get my weekly shop and stood reading the front's of the national newspapers while waiting for my friend who was in the toilet. While waiting I noticed that every newspaper expect one was talking diets on the front page, it was everything from the new pro points weightwatchers diet, to the 'eat like your ancestors' diet and loads of celebrity endorsements of the latest fad and miracle to get you slim.

They all say they are different from each other and this is the big 2011 diet and the one that REALLY works.

I then went and did my shopping, the thing I noticed though is that while I was buying mostly healthy food (loads of vegetables, fruit, lean meat, low calorie drinks, yoghurts, bread etc) the majority of people were buying pizza's, frozen meals, chocolate and crisps, but the reality is that is the real secret !

We all know which is the healthy stuff and which isn't, we all know when we are eating too much or too little, I don't need or get inspired by some celebrity looking for a quick buck on a DVD or somebody telling me I need to eat 9 meals a day at 200 calories a meal, to be slim long term you need to just moderate a bit !

For me I never wanted to diet again and that passion and will to never have to buy bigger clothes and feel those terrible feelings again mean I am more than happy to share a pudding, have a skinny latte or avoid the second jaffa cake.

It comes down to what you want more, do you want more calories now than you need or do you want to be slim long term ? I promise you it is as simple as that.

It's your choice...you are the one with the power to change your life...nobody else...it's all about YOU !

Have a great week

Mike

Bacon Butty For Breakfast

I woke up this morning and checked the news to see what the world had been doing while I was asleep!

The first thing I saw on the BBC website was an article that said Catherine Zeta Jones has admitted her diet included having a bacon butty for her breakfast !

When I then checked there had been 400 articles written around the world in the past 24 hours about it (make that 401 now!)

An example one being Zeta Likes A Bacon Butty

Now the bit that made me smile is that somehow this is supposed to be shocking that somebody eats bread and meat and is still slim ! As if when you get to goal weight or are slim that you can only have special K for breakfast and nothing else or you will suddenly puts loads of weight on.

Now it's 10am here on a Sunday morning and I am just about to sit down to a fry up, now it has eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, black pudding, beans and a couple of rounds of toast! But shock horror! I am still slim !

The secret to this phenomenon? It's called moderation! I won't have a fry up tomorrow and will probably just grab a bowl of cereal or some fruit for my breakfast.

I am off to the cinema this afternoon to see Toy Story so will just have some popcorn for my lunch and then probably just a stir fry or something for me tea.

So there you go ! SHOCK HORROR! Slim guy eats sausages!

When I first got to goal I used to worry so much about what I could and couldn't eat but you can lose weight if you eat just one mars bar a day and nothing else, you can gain weight if you eat 40 rice cakes a day...because ultimately it is pure calories ! If you put in too much fuel you will hold it and if you don't you will burn it. There is no secret! The reason I lose so much weight so very quickly was that I was a huge guy eating 400 calories a day, therefore it was no miracle I reduced weight, it was pure maths!

So well done for Catherine Zeta Jones having a bacon butty! I hope she enjoyed it but ultimately I question whether it is really news or just somebody living their life in moderation.

Women Last An Average Of 19 Days On A Diet

A study came out today showing the average female dieter spends around 25 thousand pounds in their life dieting and the average time to break a diet is just 19 days.

A couple of the press articles at

Women Do Not Last More Than 19 Days On A Diet

And

British Women Spend 25k On Diets 

We all know it is true! I used to try and ignore the fact that I had dieted for 20 years and yet was bigger than when I started. The key to all this dieting malarky is to get your mindset right and then your body will follow with whichever diet you fancy to pick.

Don't be fooled by any claims from wonder drugs or wonder diets, the reality is all the magic is in you and you are the magic that can make real change happen.

Depression Linked To Obesity

There was an study released yesterday that has linked depression to obesity.

"We found that in a sample of young adults during a 15-year period, those who started out reporting high levels of depression gained weight at a faster rate than others in the study, but starting out overweight did not lead to changes in depression," said assistant Professor of Sociology Belinda Needham, from University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

"Our study is important because if you are interested in controlling obesity, and ultimately eliminating the risk of obesity-related diseases, then it makes sense to treat people's depression.

"It's another reason to take depression seriously and not to think about it just in terms of mental health, but to also think about the physical consequences of mental health problems," Needham added.

The full news article can be found at Study confirms depression, abdominal obesity link

Now the reason I agree with this study so much and why it interested me is that many overweight who are depressed think the reason they are depressed is that they are overweight.

When I was at my very biggest I can remember standing crying in my bedroom saying to my wife that if only I could lose weight I would be happy and that everything was perfect in my life and it was just the weight that was making me so sad.

But it's not true! If the only thing that depressed you was your weight and therefore you eat more then you would never have got big in the first place.

I believe that everyone eats for more than nutrition, everyone eats for the emotional benefit food gives them, now that might be to celebrate, commiserate, comfort, boredom and loads of other reasons but they will all be about making you happy.

Therefore if you can sort out the 'being happy' thing then everything else will fall into place.

I still get people say that they just like food too much or that they just have a lifestyle where they eat and drink a lot and therefore it isn't about emotion.

But ultimately we all know that being overweight is not good for your physical or mental health and therefore why would you choose to make yourself overweight ?

The diet and health industry needs to lifts it's head and start working with people holistically if you really want to create the long term results we all crave and I am glad this study agrees with that.

Obesity Ills Are A 'Myth'

The obesity crisis was in the national news yesterday with a front page on the Daily Express saying that many of the claims made about the risks of being obese were actually false and misleading.

The article can be read on the Daily Express at Obesity Ills Are A 'Myth'

I was sitting, while on a weekend away, reading the article and just trying to work out the benefit of telling the world that the claims are true or untrue. I guarantee within a week or two there will be another article saying that the risks of being overweight are huge and that the obesity timebomb is going to cost the country billions of pounds in taxpayers money to look after everybody who falls ill.

But by confusing everyone with what is, and isn't, healthy really does nobody any good. I listened to the so-called experts for years and yet was more confused on whether I should eat eggs, low carb, no carb, peanuts or prawns, so now I make my own decisions and I am my own expert.

Now, for me, being slim is really important, not because it means I am healthy and not getting diabetes or some other disease, but being slim is important because it allows me to do things like play active sports, run, row and enjoy my hobbies.

I didn't lose weight based on what a health risk it might or might not be, so my advice for this week is listen to yourself and not everyone else, make your own choices, your own decisions and create your own plan and path and walk down it yourself.

We are constantly bombarded by everyone telling us what is best for us but I question how they know more about me than I know about myself.

You are the expert of you, you have lived with yourself for years and therefore you know what is best, now if you decide to trim down then great but if you are happy to stay bigger then great! But make sure you base the decision on your own opinion and not that of the latest 'expert' who will be discredited within a few years anyway.

Dieting Can Leave You Flat (And We're Talking Boring Not Slim)

  

 

There was an article in the Daily Mail today which really got me thinking.

Daily Mail Article On Dieting Can Change Your Mood

When I first got to goal weight I really struggled with my moods and my weight.

When I was big I didn't particularly monitor my weight (I maybe weighed once a month) and I was also not that bothered about what I ate as long as I ate something!

But once I got to goal weight and got slim all that changed, I started weighing myself 5 times a day, I was scared to eat anything and when I did I felt guilty and thought I was going to regain all my weight straight away.

It's Impossible To Keep The Weight Off

I was sitting watching the TV last night when on BBC One they were talking about gastric banding and whether to start 'banding' children under the age of 18 more as a solution to the obesity crisis.

There was a guy on there who had reduced his weight by loads after a band and was being interviewed and they were talking with his doctor and other experts about the problem.

The guy himself and one of the presenters said that it is impossible to reduce weight and stay slim long term and therefore banding and surgery is the only answer. Now impossible means it cannot be done! by anyone! If you therefore believe that something is impossible you will sure fire prove that to be true and put the weight back on.

It's Ok To Eat A Hamburger !

I was reading the news this morning about a diet company in New Zealand joining forces with a fast food company.

McDonald's teams up with Weight Watchers 

The interesting thing I found though was a UK based diet company is on the Internet saying how bad this is and how terrible a diet company is promoting junk food. One diet company which virtually everyone regains their weight on is attacking another company with the same failure rate!

Now my take on this is that firstly eating a hamburger is absolutely fine! If you want a burger and chips and it is part of a balanced diet then have it.