Fri, Feb-21-14, 11:40
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Plan: Muscle Centric
Stats: 238/153/160
BF:
Progress: 109%
Location: UK
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Getting the balance with a default diet
Quote:
Getting the balance with a default diet
Controlling your weight while eating what you like is an age-old problem. I look at the best way of keeping the calories in check and having a bit of what you fancy
Yo-yo dieting actually sounds quite good, a bit like a new fad. The South Beach diet, the Paleo diet, The Yo-yo diet. It conjures up, for me, images of Californians in vaguely 1970s inspired beachwear, working out to the strains of Olivia Newton John learning how to 'walk the dog' using light-up yo-yos. But alas that's not actually the case.
Yo-yo dieters are people who can lose weight – but end up putting it all back on. And often adding even more. So while their weight goes up and down – the trajectory over time is usually upwards.
Losing weight, whilst hard, is a relatively simple process. You cut back on what you eat and increase your activity and, hey presto, over time you get thinner. Lots of people know how to do that.
But maintaining that healthy weight once you've achieved it is, for many, harder.
Remember, people put on weight because they've started over-eating again even though they may only do it occasionally. And let's face it, most of us over-eat occasionally – often at the weekends, at a party or a night out.
So I suggest what we need is a 'default diet'. A fall-back dietary position that allows you to maintain your weight over time whilst also allowing you to occasionally over indulge.
Now bear in mind what that means. If, Monday to Friday, you eat a quantity of food that actually maintains your weight but then you over-indulge at the weekends, you will – over time – gain weight.
If you want to have a few drinks at the weekend and maybe a dinner out or a big brunch, then your default diet must be one where you eat a little below your calorie requirements during the week in order to stay the same weight over time.
In other words, if you want your fry at the weekend you need to have a salad at some point mid-week. It's called balance.
Professor Donal O'Shea's obesity clinic in Loughlinstown hospital did a very interesting study on patients who'd lost weight and kept it off, compared to those who had lost weight but regained it.
The group who'd kept the weight off did two things differently; they weighed themselves every day (I've already championed the virtues of this) and they ate almost the same food every day. They had a default diet.
The beauty of a default diet is, it gives you control. You design it yourself – so you eat stuff you like. And you can maintain it long term. So when you've had a food blip like Christmas or a weekend away, you quickly revert to your default diet and get back on track.
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http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle...t-30010928.html
Some good advice here for maintainers, though I'd lower carbs as opposed to restricting calories! 
I do have a default diet that I revert to from time to time, which consists of cutting out the starchier carbs, such as sweet potatoes, along with fruit and nuts.
Does anyone else do the same? Or do you have a completely different method to keep the balance? |
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