You’re wrong.
And you’re right!
The magic diet? It simple. It’s the diet called “Sticking to it.”
Seriously, that’s what the findings were from the New England Journal of Medicine. The short of it was that, generally speaking, any diet will work so long as you stick with it (which is the harder part). Despite lacking any type of nutrition background, from personal study even I would debate with the study author the importance of whole grains, a low glycemic index, lean meats, organically grown if possible, and the like.
But I think the results here are telling–which is that while all of that might be important, when trying to achieve weight loss what matters most is simply sticking with it.
Which is why I have never mocked anyone for spending–even wasting perhaps–a lot of money on exercise equipment or DVD’s or meal plans or whatever-it-is that people try to chase to find out what’s best for them. Think about the amount of money we waste on sheer junk that goes into our lives, whether that be games or trinkets or food.
And to spend some dough on something that might end up making an impact on your life is a pretty good bet. What I’ve learned is that a part of the secret to weight loss and healthful living (for ME) is to find something I love to do–and that’s taken some trial and error.
The more important piece is, of course, to finally settle on something and do it consistently.
So I’ve worked first on my consistency, but I’ve played around with finding the things that I enjoy most. For example, the last six weeks I’ve consistently done both weights and cardio 3-4 times per week, almost always using the elliptical for my cardio. But I got a little bored and wanted to mix it up a bit.
So this week I tried a few spin classes which I have absolutely loved. It’s an hour of instructor led encouragement with self-pacing, an aggressive heart rate, adrenaline pumping music, and sweat. Lots, and lots, and lots of sweat.
So much sweat, in fact, that it leads me to a blog confession here to my colleague… Rachel, you know that golf shirt you lent me tonight before I left the office? Well, I did use it, as I explained I would, to hold my spot on one of the spinning bikes while I changed.
But in those spinning classes you get really really sweaty. Dripping. Like out of the shower kind of dripping. And, there was nothing else near me that was dry, apart from this lone, white, Univera golf shirt. I waited as long as I could…but I ended up using your shirt as a towel. So I owe you a shirt. Yet, just realize, you have contributed in a very unique way to my wellness, and this blog entry. Thank you. π
So here’s the magic article, and it’s a really simple finding. Ironically, I wrote a blog entry a few days ago, as it relates to vocation, and my suggestion was simple.
Find something you love to do. And then just keep doing it.
And, it seems, a study published in the NEJM suggests the same principle applies as it relates to weight loss.
It’s Not What You Eat, It’s How Much
Dieters everywhere — yo-yo dieters, crash dieters, fad dieters, dejected and jaded dieters — may take heart.
A new study offers a flexible take on what it means to diet while underscoring fundamental rules about weight loss.
Researchers compared a low-fat, average protein diet, a low-fat, high-protein diet, a high-fat, average-protein diet, and a high-fat, high-protein diet in 811 middle-aged obese people over two years. Each group lost an average of 13 pounds after one year, though slowly started to gain it back in the second year, bringing the average lost after two years to nine pounds.
Click here to read the entire story.
