Originally posted by bounceswoosh

Me, I'm suspicious of just about anything with the word "diet" in it, especially when you're living an active lifestyle. But there is one thing that every medical professional endorses: exercise. If you're not working out, you're not going to be healthy.

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Are you sure that your weight gains are fat, not muscle?
For what it's worth I concur with bounceswoosh - I am also suspicious of the word 'diet' especially when it is associated with lifestyle. Four years ago my husband and I came to the decision that we were not happy with our decision to have a sedentary lifestyle that included a lot of unhealthy choices in our diet. Over a period of time we made a lot of changes which included the way I shopped for and prepared meals, my husband is making better menu choices when he is out of town on business ... and we both have added exercise as a way of life. When we go out to eat (socially) we're often asked if we are 'on a diet' - our answer is no, we are not dieting but making a lifestyle choice.

I also saw the story on last night's evening (national) news about low-fat vs. no-carb diet ... bounceswoosh is right that the current research shows that after six months of being on an Adkins type diet you will begin to gain weight as your body will react to being 'starved' of carbs which are essential to your health. In this particular trail, at the end of one year the two diet groups (low fat and Adkins) had lost almost the same amount of weight.

At my annual physical this spring I questioned both my ob/gyn and my 'G.P.' re: Adkins/South Beach diets and got the same answer ... they are good for a short term way to lose weight but as a lifestyle it is not (in their opinion) advisable. They both said they are suspicious when you remove an entire 'food group' from your daily diet. One of my doctors suggested the book 'Eat, Drink, and be Healthy: the Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating' by Walter P. Willett. I checked it out of the library and learned a lot about what we should and should not be eating (example: my beloved Wheat Thin crackers were a major cause of my elevated tri-glycerides due to the fact that, while they have 'wheat' and would appear healthy ... they are loaded with trans-fats. Just by cutting crackers out of my diet and adding even more olive oil to our diet ... my 'bad cholesterol' was lowered and I raised my 'good cholesterol'). Both doctors also credit my committment to exercise with my chol. numbers.

Bounceswoosh is also right on target with the fact that if you are exercising on a daily basis you cannot use the numbers on a scale as a guideline. Muscle weighs more than fat. One of the things I have had to overcome on my life journey has been to NOT judge myself by how much I weight or what size my clothes are. When my boys were younger I wore a size 6 .. but then I smoked and if I put on 5# I could take it off in a few days. 30 years later I am not a size 6 the only time I get on the scale is when I am at the dr's office. I weight more now than I did when I was pregnant with my boys. For someone who prided herself at being 'small' that could be depressing if I let it but .. I just celebrated 11 years of quitting cigarettes, my cholesteral numbers are excellent (heart disease runs in my family), blood pressure is great, I bike at least 15 miles a day so there are lots of other things for me to focus on than how much I weight.

So now that I've given my lecture on diet for the day I'll climb down off my soap box