No More Diets

Today is the day when America starts its diet. Well, some will start today. The majority are probably thinking, "Screw it, today is Thursday, I'll start on Monday."

I just want to take a moment and ask you NOT to start a diet. I couldn't give better advice than that on a day like today. Diets just don't work. Slimming drinks, diet pills, Jenny Craig, celebrity diets, even some doctor's diets like Medifast—they just don't work. These will cause you to lose weight, so long as you stay on them. But they won't allow you to maintain that loss, not to mention that they often have some pretty disturbing side-effects.

If you want to get healthy, start eating clean. Plan your meals, stick to clean eating, stay away from junk. Consume fewer calories than you burn. Do something that you know that you are going to be able to live with FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. If you can't keep drinking those shakes for the rest of your life, if you can't buy that Jenny food for the rest of your life, then don't even start it. Save yourself grief, save yourself money and just eat healthy. Spend your time planning and your money on clean foods and quality supplements instead. You may be someone who needs a program, and I get that. But when you're choosing one, make sure it doesn't ask you to buy their food, they don't ask you to stop eating a specific type of food like carbs, and that they are a "for the rest of your life" program. Weight Watchers is a good example. I know a lot of people who have done great with them.

Look, it's not easy. If it were I'd be thin and I probably wouldn't be writing this blog. It's hard. It's damned hard. I just know that lots of people have tried to help me over the years. I've tried more "diets" that I can count. But the only thing that works is eating clean. Eating clean and consuming fewer calories than I burn = weight loss. Eat junk and/or more calories than I burn = weight gain. There's no gray area. I have learned and continue to learn this lesson the hard way.