The truth about diets

Ok, so you can tell me that I am not a professional, but in all honesty, being an athlete back in the day and actually having a TON of nutritional background with classes, I feel like I can give my hoenst opinion.

I think diet's are the biggest joke in the world. Today's society has embedded into our heads that the only way to lose weight is to diet, do all these extreme, completely unhealthy, eating habits, that make you sick, taste nasty, and its not healthy to even be on them! What are you guys thinking??!?!?!? Why would you want to do that to yourself? Starving yourself for 10 days, eating god-awful things, pretending like you are enjoying the pain you are going through? You are SICK! There is no pleasure to go through a diet. Some people may think that its all about self-discipline, and it partially is, but there are SO many other ways to lose weight.

My husband and I were looking at doing a "Master Cleanse" diet this past week. Yeah, how long do you think that lasted? You guessed it, ONE DAY! It was the biggest joke ever! Josh and I were completely miserable, very crabby, and had constant headache! Yeah- that sounds fun doesn't it.

After failing the diet after day 1, we talked about how we need to change our life style. There really isnt' much to it besides, drinking more water, eating healthier, eating less out, and exercising. That sounds way more enjoyable than starving yourself, doesnt' it?

Diets are a joke. There isn't one health text book out there that tells you that the "jenny craig diet" is healthy, or the "south beach diet" is a good idea. Its all about moderation and healthy choices. If you want to lose weight, watch what you eat, eat 5-6 mini-meals a day, exercise 4-5 days a week, and drink lots of water (that will fill you up and you won't be so hungry all the time). Its basic science people. And it works. Diets are funny, people the less you eat, the skinnier you will get, when in all honesty the less you eat, the slower your metabolism is, and the slower your food digests, so really, you arent' really losing weight, you are just eating away at muscle mass. Take that diet-lovers! If your metabolism slows down, you are only eating away at your muscle, hmmmm....funny concept I'm sure you hadn' thought about if you arent' a health nut!

 I think its really awesome that health clubs do all these pro-mo's with losing weight and getting fit at the new year! ok, stop promoting that stuff! If getting in shape and eating healthier are someone's New Year's Resolution, they are going to fail, b/c everyone fails those things. Set more realistic goals than that! Set mini, more reasonable, goals, such as losing 10 lbs in three months. You have to run 50 miles in order to lose 1 TRUE lb of weight. If you are losing more than 2 lbs a week, you are losing water weight, and that isn't true FAT! So please people, lets get real- just change your bad habits. Its not that hard. Dont' get suckered into all these fad diets that are out there, they are horrible, and never work.

Please do something about this NOW, dont' wait until you are 50 years old regreting how overweight and unhealthy you are. The youth of America are so overweight its unreal. Its embarrassing to see how parents shove McDonald's in their kids' faces just to shut them up, or buy them video games if they get a gold star at school! When I was a kid, we didnt' WANT to come inside from playing when it was time to go to bed. Now days, Josh and I can't even find a kid playing outside when its beautiful out! Its so sad, and its the parents fault! Dont' make your kids have a miserable life when they find out that its not cool to eat McDonald's every day!

I'm Stephanie Deer. I have a BS in Kinesiology, and a Master's in Athletic Training, and I'm on my way to Nursing school. So if you think I am rediculous, I think you are rediculous!