Since the bad mood has filtered its way into day 3, there’s something I just have to get off my chest…
“It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change!”
I am so sick to death of this phrase that if I hear it one more time, I’m going to go Britney and shave my head in a total freak out. Who was the marketing moron who came up with this? Eating healthier and working out, are just that – eating healthier and working out. I don’t think I need to overhaul my WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE just to be a little bit healthier, do I? No.
A lifestyle change for me would be if I suddenly became a vegetarian lesbian. THAT’S a lifestyle change, but eating a few more salads and walking a few times a week – not so much. (And if you are a vegetarian lesbian, great, more power to you! You go be the best veggie lesbian you can be and I’ll continue to be the best hetero carnivore I can be.)
My lifestyle is dictated by factors other than what I eat and how often (or not) I work out. Let’s say I do lose 50 pounds in a year. Will my lifestyle really be that different than it is now? I’ll still have the same husband, the same kids, and the same house. I’ll still have tons of laundry to do, my bathroom will still be slightly disgusting, and my car will most likely still be the same POS it is now. I will still get up and come to work everyday and I will have to cook dinner most every night. My lifestyle will be the same, my ass will just be smaller, that’s all.
Yes, yes I know that with weight loss come a certain amount of self esteem and self confidence that can lead a person to do things s/he would not normally have done previously – run a marathon, take a trip, etc. But does it REQUIRE a change in lifestyle in order to happen? NO!
Telling overweight people that they have to overhaul their whole entire lives in order to be healthy is not the way to get someone off the couch and into a gym. However, if “they” were to tell people, “yes you can do this, you just have to find a way to make it fit into your daily life”, I could get on board with that, but if you tell me I have to change my lifestyle? Forget it; I like my lifestyle, which is why I choose to live it everyday.
Diet has become a four letter word these days, and no one wants to admit they are on a “diet” anymore, but the term “lifestyle change” is just a euphemism for diet, so what’s the difference? Can we please just go back to using the word “diet”? It takes fewer syllables to say and it’s a term we all understand.
I’ll go first – my DIET consists of mostly healthy foods with a few junky items thrown in for good measure. I work out a little, not as much as I would like, but I get it in when I can. I am losing weight, albeit slowly, but I’m finding ways to work these things in to my already jam-packed days.
And doing it this way fits my lifestyle just fine, thank you very much.
The Sassy Pear 
I had to go back to my list of healthy living changes to make sure it didn’t say “lifestyle changes” because being the dumbass that I am, I have probably used that phrase over the course of the 11 years of yo-yo dieting.
And it does sound ridiculous.
But most frustrating of all to learn after I reach my goal weight is I won’t get that handsome, younger thang for a new husband!? Waaaaaaa.
Seriously, I enjoyed your post.
P.S. – You totally described my mother – ironing the jeans (inside out – no less) and only wearing 3/4 sleeve shirts. Last summer (and I weighed 10 pounds less then) she about had a heart-attack when she saw me in my tank top!
I bet the WW ads drive you nuts. Is that where this is coming from? Their claim that it’s not a diet is just stupid. I think most people–except ad execs, obviously–get that.
Even when you’re cranky, you’re funny. =)
What did you think of Idol? Slam dunk for David A? That’s my guess. Not my vote, but my guess. I did get 2 votes in for David C., but every number was busy almost every time I tried. My cell phone finally died and I didn’t want to go get the other phone in the bedroom where Hubby was sleeping, so I just got in 2 votes. Not like it’s going to make a difference. Pooh.
Ha! I think I tried to call at least that many times for DC, too. You know how they say “you could sing the phone book and we’d love it” to DA? Well, I say he could sing the phone book and it would sound exactly the same as all his other stuff. B/c it all sounds the same. He is going to peak at age 18 and then be an Idol statistic, is my guess. DC, however, will become a rock legend.
You and I need to move to the same town so we can have coffee and chat on a regular basis. =)
Point well taken.
Amen sista!!!
Sorry…..the vegetarian lesbian comment literally made me LOL!
😛
I pondered your posting for quite a while.
Does “it’s about the food, until it’s not about the food” bother you too???
The word “diet” sets me off like “lifestyle change” bothers you. And I wondered about everyone else here in blog land – does everyone else start out this way and change – or am I the only one – ?
Hi Jill, Boy I am still working the kinks out of this whole blogging thing. But anyways, this was a great post. You still make me LOL (vegetarian lesbian) and you made me think. You made me think so much that I wrote a post on my blog this morning about it! I actually agree with you, but also, I agree with Vickie about the word “diet” just because to most people “diet” has a beginning and an end, and that is why most people regain all the weight they’ve lost.
Wow, I laughed out loud on that first bit too. Hilarious 🙂 I didn’t really think of “it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle” or whatever. WWers had some quotes like that before this latest ad campaign. I can’t remember.
Thank you for the laugh. Thumbs up!