Diets… For any self respecting Fitness Professional, “diet” is a dirty word. We like to promote a “healthy” lifestyle. There are two different trains of thought as to what this means and how to achieve it. Basically there are those who prescribe to the portion control method, this includes food delivery programs like Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem. These type programs control the amount of calories you take in during the day, while letting you eat all your ” guilty pleasure” foods, most are based around 1200 cals a day, depending on your height and weight. The opposing way is to teach about healthier foods and the choices you can make, this includes weight watchers. Weight watchers does teach portion control, but to a lesser extent and is more focused on healthy choices. I have seen nutritionists and dietitians who prescribe to either method. I have seen people succeed with both. So which is better?
When you look at portion control systems like “Jenny”, they send you prepackaged meals that are portioned out and follow the guidelines of the most recent food pyramid. They let you supplement with things like fruits and veggies when you need a snack. The idea is that although you only get to eat a little of each thing, you get to eat what you want. You don’t have to sacrifice your “fav” foods, you just control how much of them you eat. The program is designed to eventually wean you off the prepackaged meals and get you to do it on your own. One of the issues with this method, is knowing how to continue that portion control once you are no longer eating their prepackaged and precisely measured food. Another issue is while they want you to eventually come off of the prepackaged meals, you are on them for awhile, and they are for the most part very high in salt and contain a lot of preservatives, like all frozen foods do. This is not a great way to eat, and I feel the chances of relapsing into poor large portion eating habits are high. Portion control is a great start to losing weight, but weight loss is not the only factor of a healthy lifestyle. So while plans like this will help you start, you still need to learn to eat “better”.
On the other hand, with a program like Weight Watchers, you will see off the bat a big difference is they want you to eat “better”. This is a much harder way to get yourself to a ‘healthy lifestyle” because you must cut back on a lot of your “guilty pleasures”. While you don’t need to cuts fats, salts and sugars (The good stuff) completely out of your life you need to really control them and balance them with foods that are high in nutritional value. This method, if done right will teach you how to make better choices with your meals, and if you can stick to it, can become a new way of life as opposed to a quick fix of portion control. While this method is much harder to stick to in the beginning in the long run you will see a lower rate a relapse with participants. This method will also help people with other health concerns besides weight loss. Issues like lowering cholesterol, blood pressure control, and decrease risk for diabetes just to name a few.
There are unfortunately no quick fixes when it comes to a “healthy lifestyle”. While there are a lot of ways to cut weight, few are permanent and fewer still are healthy. If some “diet’ has you popping pills, cutting out a major food groups, or eating only cookies!! ( Yes, there is such a diet, named aptly “The Cookie Diet”) It will most likely fail and be detrimental to you and your body in the long run. I know it is hard, but make the right, albeit, harder choice to become a healthy person, you will thank yourself later.
Tim Clifford
Personal Training Director
How-Fit Personal Training
—–Original Message—–
From: Adriana
To: pt200123@aol.com
Sent: Tue, 17 Mar 2009 4:21 pm
Subject: blog
Diets… For any self respecting Fitness Professional, “diet” is a dirty word. We like to promote a “healthy” lifestyle. There are two different trains of thought as to what this means and how to achieve it. Basically there are those who prescribe to the portion control method, this includes food delivery programs like Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem. These type programs control the amount of calories you take in during the day, while letting you eat all your ” guilty pleasure” foods, most are based around 1200 cals a day, depending on your height and weight. The opposing way is to teach about healthier foods and the choices you can make, this includes weight watchers. I have seen nutritionists and dietitians who prescribe to either method. I have seen people succeed with both. So which is better?
When you look at portion control with systems like “Jenny”, they send you prepackaged meals that are portioned out and follow the guidelines of the most recent food pyramid. They let you supplement with things like fruits and veggies when you need a snack. The idea is that although you only get to eat a little of each thing, you get to eat what you want. You don’t have to sacrifice your “fav” foods, you just control how much of them you eat. The program is designed to eventually wean you off the prepackaged meals and get you to do it on your own. One of the issues with this method, is knowing how to continue that portion control once you are no longer eating their prepackaged and precisely measured food. Another issue is while they want you to eventually come off of the prepackaged meals, you are on them for awhile, and they are for the most part very high in salt and contain a lot of preservatives, like all frozen foods do. This is not a great way to eat, and I feel the chances of relapsing into poor large portion eating habits are high. Portion control is a great start to losing weight, but weight loss is not the only factor of a healthy lifestyle. So while plans like this will help you start, you still need to learn to eat “better”.
On the other hand, with a program like Weight Watchers, you will see off the bat a big difference is they want you to eat “better”. This is a much harder way to get yourself to a ‘healthy lifestyle” because you must cut back on a lot of your “guilty pleasures”. While you don’t need to cuts fats, salts and sugars (The good stuff) completely out of your life you need to really control them and balance them with foods that are high in nutritional value. This method, if done right will teach you how to make better choices with your meals, and if you can stick to it, can become a new way of life as opposed to a quick fix of portion control. While this method is much harder to stick to in the beginning in the long run you will see a lower rate a relapse with participants. This method will also help people with other health concerns besides weight loss. Lower cholesterol, blood pressure control, and decrease risk for diabetes just to name a few.
There are unfortunately no quick fixes when it comes to a “healthy lifestyle”. While there are a lot of ways to cut weight, few are permanent and fewer still are healthy. If some “diet’ has you popping pills, cutting out a major food groups, or eating only cookies!! It will most likely fail and be detrimental to you and your body in the long run. I know it is hard, but make the right, albeit, harder choice to become a healthy person, you will thank yourself later
Yours in Health
Tim Clifford
Personal Training Director
How-Fit Personal Training
