Hmmm. Makes me wonder; did the fad diets come before the (possible) health issues, or the other way around?
I'm one of the lucky ones, born with a hyper metabolism that's nearly impossible for me to become overweight. When I left high school at 17, I was 5' 10", middle build, and 165lbs... all these years later entering middle age I'm 6ft even and 175lbs. The secret is to replace the bad foods that your brain is addicted to, with nutritional foods that still satisfy the same addiction. For example... we all like cakes and brownies, ditch those for something like Vitatops! And have soup more often! Soup forces you to eat slower and it's filling. My grandmother was Ukrainian... cabbage soup is like a national treasure for those folks.
I workout irregularly. That is usually with one of those bungie straps with handles... while watching tv.
Hahaha. Very candid. It was, you know, my first thought when I read your post! Then I went off and read a chapter of The Wind in the Willows. So not all bad.
The only reason for this is that the idiots at the AMA adopted the BMI, a measurement system for corpses, that has nothing to do with the living or health.
I play a different game, but it's still a game played with the same deck of cards, so to speak. I've been a gym-rat most of my adult life, constantly pushing to add 10 more pounds to my bench press and squat as much weight as I can on the smith machine without crapping myself at the bottom of the squat. I am a little dude by nature. If I do nothing, I weight 150 lbs. It's like saying I have brown eyes. It's a constant. I weigh almost 180 lbs. now, but that's with much attention to dietary intake, and making sure it's the right kind of intake, because 30 extra lbs. can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what one takes in. So far, it's a good thing, but I'm in my mid-40's so it's a thing that needs constant attention and adjustment.
I have been convinced that diets are futile. I say "diets" in the sense of (1) a temporary change in one's eating habits, intended to (2) produce a relatively rapid weight loss, after which (3) you go back to more normal eating habits. I recall a New York Times article within the last year or so that agreed that dieting is simply not a workable strategy. The article didn't commit to whether making permanent changes can cause weight loss, but it did seem to commit to the idea that they can make you healthier and reduce (drastically; near-elimination) the odds of health problems from being overweight, even if you don't lose weight. So that's my strategy--change one food or exercise habit at a time, with the intention of making the changes permanent. And not focus on weight, but instead on (for example) how tired I get after walking around for a day, or how breathless I get when hurrying up a flight of stairs, or how often I get those nasty little headaches.
I eat very healthily, so.... TMW $100.00 worth of groceries can be carried out to the car... by hand... without need of a cart.
The point of the NYT article is that that cycle will worsen, and that the dieting will make you gain more weight in the long run. I'm not saying that they're right, or that you're obligated to agree with me. But just in case you hadn't heard the fairly well-documented idea that dieting actually causes you to gain more weight in the long run--that you're worse off than you would have been if you hadn't dieted--I wanted to make it clear that that is an idea out there.
Ambling back: The result of what I've been saying is that I need to find eating changes that I'm willing to engage in FOREVER. I need to chip away my bad habits, habit by habit, motivation by motivation, feeling by feeling. For example, I don't like water. I just don't. I do like iced tea, preferably sweetened. But I also like (homemade, high quality) unsweetened iced tea--that's one calorie free drink that I actually like. But it suffers from the fact that I like sweetened iced tea better, so when I'm having unsweetened iced tea, I'm always comparing it with the sweetened version. I feel cheated. So I'm trying to start drinking my iced tea unsweetened, always, and when I want a sweetened drink, drink something else. I want unsweetened iced tea to taste normal, rather than tasting like I'm being cheated. That way I'd have a calorie-free default drink, and it would always be in the fridge, because we already have a habit of always having iced tea around. When I'm just thirsty, rather than craving sugar, I pour a glass of iced tea and I don't say "eew," the way I would with water. That doesn't help one bit when I am craving sugar; if I don't put sugar in my tea, a sugar craving will aim me straight at a Coke. That's a separate issue to solve, and it needs to be solved, because removing sugar from my iced tea and drinking more Coke adds up to more sugar, not less. Part of the solution seems to involve turkey, because I've learned that when I'm craving sugar, much of the time I'm actually craving the post-sugar tranquilized state. Turkey gives me that same feeling. And so on, and so on.
Cabbage soup diet sounds like a quick weight loss plan, but you'll probably gain it all back after you stop. Basically, you lose weight in the kitchen, not at the gym. Eat a lot of greens, full grain, and protein (not in the form of chicken nuggets). Cut down on sugars rather than fat. Eat and exercise regularly, but the exercise doesn't have to be The Biggest Loser kind of torture. Walking the dog, biking to the grocery store, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and so on can already help. Hitting the gym and lifting weights can be a better option than jogging. And by gym, I mean it can be a home gym. I can throw a killer work-out at home with just a few things: a 12kg kettle bell, my own body, a skipping rope, and an elastic exercise band. These are just some basic things I've picked up over the years, although you've probably heard them all. I'm kind of addicted to sugar, especially chocolate, but I compensate by burning insane amounts of calories per day so it doesn't show on my waist, butt or thighs. Being slim doesn't mean you have to give up all the foods you love. You just have to consume them in moderation. A cabbage soup diet sounds like torture, so I think I'll pass... But if you find enjoyment in it, go for it.
I make vegetable soup twice a week, a big pot to last for two day intervals. This idea was originally to help my brother out - I'll eat this way, if you eat this way sort of thing to encourage him with his weight loss and it's working. Teaming up really helps. He doesn't feel like such an outcast. Or have to hear about what every one else is eating. I dump in every vegetable I can think of - cauliflower, leeks, carrots, celery, potatoes, peppers, cabbage. And I like it spicy - hot sauce & spices and low fat Asian noodles. I've been doing this since June. When it gets tedious I just hold out for the weekend when I can have a hamburger or some eggs.
Cut salt where you can, as well as sugars (fruits are ok though). Snack a bit through out the day as needed. Basically eat one large meal at night with plenty of protein and other body fuels. Exercise: Walking at least 2 miles a day, doing basic workout for the body on cold days, or get a drum kit and double pedal(lets you run in doors, and helps with coordination and rhythm of the body working all your limbs). Also the world needs more cowbell.
My doctor also wanted fruits to be limited. And it should be made clear that even if unlimited fruit is dandy, that doesn't apply to fruit JUICE, which eliminates many of the good aspects of fruit while containing far more sugar per volume.
@ChickenFreak I avoid juices. Favor 2-3 cuties for the vitamin C and the natural sugars. Also helps stave off the dreaded scurvy that pirates tend to get.
