There's No Going Back

When you want to lose weight and keep it off, there is really no such thing as a diet--only a commitment to lifetime changes in eating habits.


One reason why we gain weight as we age, is because as we age the fewer calories we can consume to maintain the same weight. As I wrote here: http://losingweightafter45isabitch.blogspot.com/2009/04/you-probably-can-consume-far-fewer.html, for a 48 year old female to maintain her weight at 130 pounds, she has to limit her overall calories (calories consumed minus calories burned) to 1,787 a day. However, a typical 130 pound 25 year old female can have an overall caloric intake of 1895 daily to maintain her weight at 130 pounds--108 calories more.


So, as we get older, we have to constantly cut back on the calories we eat, or increase calories burned, just to maintain our current weight.


If you managed to put on 18 pounds over three years (6 pounds a year) eating bagels for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and fast food for dinner, then even if you diet and lose 18 pounds, you will gain them back the minute you return to your old eating habits.

The reason you put on weight and had to diet was because of what you were eating. If you only make temporary changes to your eating habits your weight loss will only be temporary.


So never diet. Instead, make permanent changes to your diet. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, replace that mid-afternoon bag of chips with a piece of fruit and the sandwich for lunch with a salad consisting of only raw ingredients.