You can’t spell diet without die, as in “I’d rather”…

Perhaps that sums up most of my life experience with the idea of strictly adhering to a regimented and meted out consumption of healthy food.

But the reality is that prior to going on a so-called “diet”, I was already (for the most part) eating healthy.

Nutrition and exercise have been part of my life for better than 20 years now.  During this time I’ve learned a lot about nutrition in general, but specifically things that seem to resonate for me.

Still, I didn’t want to go on a damn diet!  Sorry, I shouldn’t use the d word, but this will be hard to write without using the word diet repeatedly-

Needless to say, I finally did bite the bullet and committed to go on a diet.

Context:  I was about 9 weeks from going on a cruise with a group of other singles.

Objective:  Lose about 8-10 lbs and try to maintain muscle mass, about 1 pound per week (which I felt was realistic).

Rational:  I’ve worked out for a long time, but those efforts would be more visible if I was less flabby.

Theory:  Women are superficial and like abs.

Haha, before you judge me too harshly, I’m sorry, but women are superficial, and THAT’S ok-

I’m not saying that it ranks number one on what they want, or that they are as superficial as men, but let’s be honest, aesthetics do matter to some degree, and in that sense most of us are at least a little superficial.

Results:  I lost about 8-10 pounds and women ARE superficial.

But in reality, what we call superficial may be something else.  We are attracted to health.  That seems like a perfectly plausible evolutionary rational for our superficiality, right?!?

Back to the diet.  Why did I hold off for so long on doing this?  I hit my goal, lost some excess flab and felt better about my body.  I didn’t change my exercise routine, just my food consumption.

You may ask what my diet was, and granted 10 pounds is not earth-shattering to anyone, but for those interested, I mostly swapped carbs for healthy fats.  I didn’t go full “Keto”, but my diet was probably about 50% fat/25% protein/25% carbs (by calories) and the carbs had a high percentage of dietary fiber.  I did reduce my caloric intake too, but not by a huge amount, probably about 500 fewer calories per day (my thought being that over 7 days this would be 3,500 calories which is equal to 1 pound of fat).

I ball-parked things, mostly doing the math in my head and organizing food day to day.  I even had cheat meals here and there, but for the most part was quite strict.

This was where I realized why I had avoided dieting for so long.  The discipline component.  I always liked having some wiggle room, and stricter diets don’t allow much for that.  Also, this diet ran from about mid Nov to mid Jan, the dreaded food binging  “holidaze”.

I saw countless goodies and reward foods brought in to work, co-workers bringing back delicious take-out meals, and slowly began to learn the joy of deprivation.

Yes, the joy of deprivation.  I’m going to sound like a masochist now.  But there was something oddly rewarding about not participating, and eating a bag of carrots or some boiled eggs.  Perhaps I just enjoyed the ephemeral sense of moral-superiority my boring health foods gave me over my colleagues, haha!

The last few weeks I changed one of my diet protocols, and to be honest I feel that this last change was the most important, and the one that has made me –GASP– want to continue on my diet once it was over:

Time-restricted eating.  My goal with time-restricted eating was to eat all the food within an 8 to maximum 12 hour period, with my goal to mostly be in the 8-9 hour range.

If I’m eating all of my food within say 9 hours, then this means that I will fast from food for the other 15 hours.  I would only drink water during the other 15 hours.

As a member of the LDS faith (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) we are encouraged to do a 24 hour fast (of both food and water) the first Sunday of each month.

For the most part, I had actually been pretty good to adhere to this in recent years, and admittedly it was after learning all the health benefits that fasting offers (I wish it was more due to my spiritual yearnings, but hey, I’ll use the selfish health motivation if that’s what it takes) and I also enjoyed the sense of control I had by managing my hunger and thirst.

So, I figured 15 hours won’t be bad, but I did worry about repeating the process day after day.

After just a few days though, I found that it wasn’t particularly hard.  My body quickly got used to just not eating during the time I wasn’t planning on it.  Surprisingly, I wasn’t overly hungry, and didn’t feel the need to gorge during my 9 hour window of eating.

I haven’t lost muscle-mass either, which (as someone who enjoys powerlifting and bodybuilding exercises) I was worried about by restricting my diet.  Fortunately, muscle loss has not materialized, and my lifts are close to or at my all time highs, despite losing overall body mass.

Everybody is different though.  I’m not going to tell you to follow my diet.  Your body may thrive on something entirely different.

I do however think time-restricted eating is applicable to most individuals.  I think our bodies simply function better that way.  Also, I do think it is always a good idea to eat whole and minimally processed foods.  You will simply get more nutrition that way.

Ultimately, I learned that a diet is not a bad thing.  In fact, diet is just a bad word.  It’s more about taking control of what you eat and when you eat it.

I’ll repeat that, don’t diet.  Just understand that you are in control of what you eat and when you eat it.  Nobody else.

Now I am in control.  I am happier.  Deprivation can feel good.  Good food after being deprived is even better.

I eat a hearty mix of good, healthy foods, I’m not actually deprived at all.  Now I feel satisfied, normal, even when it’s been nearly 15 hours since I ate.  My body is able to use fat for energy.  I’m not always on the glycogen (sugar/carb) rollercoaster.

Do I have a good cheat meal when I go out on the weekend?  Yes!  Do I feel like dessert after?  Not really.  Do I need to chug a Pepsi to wash down what I ate?  Not really.

Occasionally I will, but I’ve earned it-

And it feels good to earn it.

So don’t be like me, don’t fear taking control of what you eat and when you eat it (diet).

Simply do it.  Don’t sue me Nike, that’s not trademarked.

This is your life.  The longer I’m on this beautiful blue marble flying through space the more I realize that I am in control.

I am to act.  Not to be acted upon.

Where I am, who I become, how I live, what I believe, is up to me.  Of course I have externalities that influence and mold me, but ultimately I am the one empowered to take the rudder and navigate the ship of my life through the forces of nature that act upon it.

Maybe I’ll have wind to wrestle against, maybe heavy waves, perhaps violent storms, maybe a hole or two to plug.

These are the externalities, some will be positive, others negative, but I’m the one with my hand on the rudder.

Until the day I die(t)!!!