I don’t do diets…

I was at dance class yesterday afternoon. It’s interesting trying to have a conversation during the class. The women move from man to man and you have 30 seconds top if you want to catch up whilst dancing (rather than before or after class!). And with some folk that’s when I do catch up with them.

I was chatting with one of the guys who has been coming along for a couple of years now. The first pass by, he mentioned he’d started a diet and I expressed surprise as he seems fairly trim, however he doesn’t have much muscle tone (I know this as dancing does involve touching the other persons arm or waist, depending on the dance move).

I asked him why and he said he needed to lose 8kgs. I then moved on to the next dance partner. However, my curiosity was piqued, so on the next turn with my friend I asked him what his motivation was to lose weight. He said that he started walking 5kms a day and had gone on a diet (I didn’t ask which one as diets are not my thing).

I said walking 5kms a day was a good thing to do for his health and fitness as it will improve his cardiovascular health. He said he was determined to stick with his diet and walking “this time”. He also said he’d taken up doing push-ups each day and has one of those vibrators  (sorry, but I snorted with laughter at this point), then realized he meant one of those vibrating plates that you jump on that jiggles you about. I’m not sure how effective those things are as I’ve never tried, but kudos to my friend for giving it a go.

His comment that he’d stick with it “this time” implies that he has tried dieting and getting fitter and has somehow “failed” previously. I am not keen on “failure” as a word when it comes to health and fitness goals. Sometimes I am super healthy and fit, sometimes I lose focus and eat crap or wake up and can’t be bothered going for a run. I never see that as “failure”, it’s just that it’s impossible to be perfect all the time and we are, after all, human with all that entails.

Back to my friend and the next ‘go round’. I said that rather than focus on  being on a “diet”, he could reframe his thoughts and see his new exercise regimen and eating plan as his now and forever lifestyle. I said that the problem with going on a diet is that at some point it ends, then people tend to go back to their old eating habits and the weight creeps back on. He hadn’t thought of it in that way and it was like a light had switched on in his eyes.

Back round again and he said that thinking of it as a lifestyle made him feel more optimistic about succeeding. I did want to talk about the concept of failure, but didn’t have the time in that lesson to continue the conversation. However, I did suggest that he not focus too much on the numbers on the scale, but to focus on improving his cardiovascular fitness with his walking and to keep up the strength training and healthy eating. He smiled. I felt good about sharing knowledge with someone starting (or re-starting) their health journey. Oh, by the way, he’s 74 – so it’s never too late to start improving your health & fitness (but check in with your health care practitioner first!).