I had someone ask me what kind of diet I was on. I replied honestly, by saying I just eat what I always eat, but less of it to create an energy deficit. The follow up question was, so like a low carb diet? No, not at all. Just eating less.
People probably struggle with maintaining the weight they want, or more accurately the level of body fat they want, because they think of a “diet” as a thing they have to do for some period of time to lose the fat. I get it; I thought that too. The reality is that if you think that way, you will always struggle with fat gain and fat loss. More likely than not, you will gain weight because the human body is remarkably good at storing excess energy we consume. Then one day, you’ll decide you need to go on a “diet,” and you start looking for a named diet to use for a while to lose fat.
The way to getting and keeping a lean, healthy physique is to stop thinking about dieting as a specific thing to do, and think of your diet as just what you eat. The origin of the word diet is literally a way of life. Consider your diet as how to eat to optimize your health. Consistently eat that way all the time. To lose stored body fat you will have to create an energy deficit, but it’s much easier to do that if you already eat a good, healthy diet. You can just scale back your portions to eat a little less. If your body weight starts going down, you’re on the right track.
There’s no need to suffer through hunger and deprivation. If you’re doing that, you won’t stick with it long enough to actually lose the fat you want to lose. It takes time, because your body can only liberate fat from the stored cells at a certain rate. I’ve actually been eating in an energy deficit for 6 months or so, which is a long time, except at no point have I actually felt like I’m “dieting.” Most people would probably be very happy at the level of body fat I currently have and I am as well, but I know I can get leaner so I might as well do that. If I was good here, I could end my deficit and add more calories and maintain this level of body composition indefinitely. Would I change anything in what I actually eat? Not at all; I’d just eat more of what I’m already eating.
It’s not sexy, it won’t sell any books or anything, but it’s really all you need to do. Your diet should have lots of vegetables in it, some fruit, meats and dairy and anything you enjoy eating. The only food that’s actually harmful to your health is food you’re allergic to, or processed red meats like bacon, jerky, sausage or cooking red meat at high temperatures like grilling or barbecuing over an open flame.
I like to think of healthy food choices in tiers:
Top Tier:
- seafood
- non-starchy vegetables
- berries
- kefir, yogurts and quark
- avocado
- olives
- chicken liver and kidney
- herbs & spices, gelatin, decaff coffee, decaff tea, herbal tea, vinegar
Second Tier:
- whole fruits
- poultry
- unprocessed red organ meats
- eggs
- non-fermented dairy and cheeses
- traditionally prepared whole grains
- soaked and dry roasted nuts/seeds
- potatoes
- 80+% pure chocolate
- home-made bone broth
Third Tier:
- non-traditionally prepared nuts and seeds
- non-traditionally prepared whole grains (incl. legumes) other than wheat
- unprocessed red meat
- coconut products
- white/parboiled rice
- non-wheat flour
- milk chocolate
- artificial sweeteners (all kinds)
- zero calorie sodas
There’s a lot of choices there, and you can mix and match anyway you like. I rarely ever make it to the third tier having plenty of choices in my top two. If you’re trying to get leaner, I recommend weighing yourself every morning and averaging your weekly weight. If you’re losing .5%-1% of your body weight each week, you’re good. Don’t expect it to come down in a nice, linear reduction week to week. There will be some weeks where nothing happens, then you’ll lose quite a bit the following week. Don’t mess with anything if that’s happening. If you go two weeks without any decline in weight, or if you’ve gained weight, you need to cut back some.
If you’ve ever read anything I’ve written, you’ll know I track my food every day. I like tracking stuff so it’s fun for me. I don’t expect everyone to do it, but it works really well. Some people can eat instinctively but in my experience, most cannot. Especially if you eat out a lot. Restaurant foods are high in calories usually because portion sizes are large, and also because they use a lot of butter and oils when cooking. If you don’t want to track, you’ll have to use your judgement on portion size based on whether you’re losing weight or not.
Eat healthy, don’t drink alcohol (it’s about 100 calories per shot of booze) and get enough protein. You’ll feel good right away, and look better soon enough.
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