Transcription:
Making Up My Mind: The Difference Between a Diet and a Lifestyle Change

Joey Wahler(Host): Well, many people have gone on a diet, often on multiple diets, whether to lose weight, eat healthier, or whatever the reason. But while diets work for some, they can have short-term benefits as opposed to a longer term plan. So we're discussing the difference between a diet and a lifestyle change.

This is WakeMed Voices, brought to you by WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina. Thanks for listening. I am Joey Wahler. Our guest, Dr. Jennifer Selensky, clinical health psychologist at WakeMed Dr. Selensky, thanks for joining us.

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: I'm happy to be here.

Joey Wahler(Host): Happy to have you. First, what are the basic differences simply put between a diet and more of a lifestyle change?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: So the main difference between a diet and a lifestyle change is our mindset about it. So a diet is when we're making changes for a distinct period of time. And it's often challenging to maintain those changes and therefore maintain the weight loss that we achieved by making those changes versus a lifestyle change is more of a mindset of having balance and making changes that you can sustain over a lifetime as opposed to just making changes for a few weeks or a few months.

Joey Wahler(Host): Gotcha. So diets typically include setting goals, of course. How does that differ in a lifestyle change?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: So when it comes to goal setting, it's important to consider how realistic the goals are. It's possible for us to make any change when it's a distinct period of time. So whether it's for a day, a week or a certain number of months, if we know it's going to end, we're able to make some extreme changes to our diet. But when it comes to setting goals for a lifestyle change, we really want to make those goals very specific and make sure that they're reasonable and can fit into our lifestyle. For example, it's unrealistic to say, I'm going to cut out an entire food group for the rest of my life. They could say, you know, "I'm going to do that for the next month or two." But it's really hard to sustain those changes. And oftentimes when we then go back to what is truly our lifestyle, we've regained that weight.

Joey Wahler(Host): So to make a lifestyle change, we're really talking about significant alterations over a longer period of time. So before we get into some specifics, generally speaking, what's the most effective way of doing that?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: The most effective way would be to take a small changes approach. So I like the acronym, QQF, quality, quantity, and frequency. If we're able to just make small changes that we can sustain over time, that tends to be the most effective. So for example, if let's say you're eating fried chicken every night for dinner every night of the week, a way to change the quality would be to switch to grilled chicken. A way to change the quantity would be instead of your usual portion, cutting it in half. And way a to change the frequency would be instead of every night, every other night. And by choosing kind of one of those, the quality, quantity, or frequency, and applying it to some aspect of your diet, that's a more realistic way to take small steps towards bigger goals.

Joey Wahler(Host): Gotcha. And in doing so, you're not cutting it out cold turkey, so you don't have an unrealistic goal to try to meet, right?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: Right. And you know, there might be some foods that you might not have any trouble cutting out if it's not your favorite food, but we all have those foods that are non-negotiables that we enjoy and we know it's not realistic to cut it out for good. So if we're able to make these small changes and it helps us to have things in moderation and make these changes in a measurable way though, by focusing on either the quality, quantity, or frequency of those foods.

Joey Wahler(Host): I like that term, non-negotiable. Next time my wife encourages me not to eat something that's not so healthy, I'm going to say, "Yeah. Sorry, honey. That's non-negotiable I'm afraid." So there's a term called thinking traps, which are psychological distortions, if I'm not mistaken, that are associated with managing food. So what are some of the most common thinking traps?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: So when comes to, you know, dieting and weight loss, the most common one is all or nothing thinking. We think, "Okay, I can absolutely have this food or can't have this food" and we can often label foods as good or bad. The problem with that is, again, it's not realistic to say, "I can never eat dessert again," because then whenever you do eat dessert, you're going to feel really bad about it. And it often leads people to give up on the program, so if you can work more towards a balance, of something in the middle of all or nothing. Again, going back to the moderation and the QQF approach, it helps us to maintain things over time.

Other common thinking traps are catastrophic thinking like, "Okay, I had this brownie, and that means now I'm going to gain five pounds," and really associating a lot of meaning to those decisions. And when we're able to kind of step back and just accept whatever choice we made and learn from it, usually it works out much better in the long run, because otherwise we're left feeling bad. And what do we do when we feel bad? It makes us want to eat more and give up

Joey Wahler(Host): And speaking of which, I was going to ask you about that next, you mentioned giving up, you mentioned having a brownie, I guess one problem too is that if someone slips in meeting their goals, whatever they may be, sometimes their first thought thinking negatively is, "Oh, well, I had a brownie, let me just have two or three brownies. What's the difference, right?" Instead of saying, "Wait a minute. Starting from this moment on, I can go back to having what I'm supposed to have. It doesn't mean it's the end of the world."

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: Right. And have a great analogy for this actually, because it all comes back to our long-term success, right? Because weight loss is not a straight line down on a graph. There's often plateaus and peaks. But over time, the trajectory can be going down. So when we do have a setback, the most important skill anyone can learn when trying to lose weight or making any sort of change is just how to rebound from that setback.

An analogy that I really like is, you know, a lot of us have smartphones these days with really delicate screens and most of us have had the experience of dropping our phone and maybe the glass cracking, or maybe it doesn't, but what do we do after that? We're not like, "Oh, well, it's already got a little crack, I might as well stomp on it and make it worse," you know, instead then we tend to be a little extra careful with our phone and be like, "Okay, maybe I won't text and walk, so I don't drop my phone on the pavement again." And so we need to apply that type of thinking to our health goals as well. Just because you made one mistake or you indulged, it doesn't mean you have to respond by going completely off the program, going back to that all or nothing and catastrophic thinking.

Joey Wahler(Host): So we're talking here in part about positive thinking, trying not to be overwhelmed by negative thoughts, especially if they're unrealistic ones. How about a tip from you how people not so used to doing it can try to keep those negative emotions from pushing them off their lifestyle track?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: The most helpful thing is really being aware of it. We have thousands of thoughts that cross our mind a day and only a few of them stick. And sometimes some of this might feel automatic, right? Like you have the one brownie and then you just feel like automatically you go to have more, and not pausing to realize, "Oh, I'm feeling bad about having that one brownie and having the thought, "Well, I had one, so why don't I just have more? What's the difference?" And so it really is about slowing down and being more mindful and conscious of the thoughts that we're having, the feelings that we're having and the decisions and choices that we're making as a result. So by slowing down and pausing, it gives us space and opportunity to make a different choice.

Joey Wahler(Host): And you being a psychologist, you're the perfect one to ask this, but really while we're talking about a physical act or physical acts of changing your lifestyle, largely where food is concerned, so much of this really is mind over matter, right? It's not so much that your body needs that food. It's that you've somehow talked yourself into -- I mean, I'm simplifying it, of course, right? But the fact that you think you need that food.

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: Right. Well, I mean, we all have some sort of emotional -- or most of us, I should say -- have some sort of emotional relationship with food. It does something for us, especially those highly palatable foods. So sometimes it is not a physical hunger that we're looking to satisfy, but more of maybe we're bored and it's something to do or we had a really stressful day at work, so having a treat at night, that's going to make me feel better because sugar and simple carbs does light up a pleasure center in our brain and it gives us that instant sense of pleasure, even though it doesn't last.

Joey Wahler(Host): Yeah. I wonder how many people would be able to largely meet their weight loss goals, for instance, if they simply didn't eat out of boredom and didn't eat out of feeling bad, that would probably solve a lot of people's problems right there. But of course, easier said than done, right?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: Right. Absolutely. I mean, again, it then goes back to the thinking traps and all or nothing. Like it's unrealistic to think that we're only ever going to eat because we're physically hungry. There's always going to be a boredom component or even positive emotion. Food is part of our socializing. And when we're celebrating, we have a piece of cake or whatever it is. So I think it's going back to just having balance and realizing that it's more how you respond to a "setback" or respond to something that's going off of the plan that's most important, like what you do next after that. So let's say you do go and you have a few brownies one day, it's what do you do the next day and realizing you're in control and you have that choice to continue down one path or the other.

Joey Wahler(Host): Boy, doc we're really giving brownies a bad name here, aren't we?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: I know, I know.

Joey Wahler(Host): Couple of other things. So changing lifestyle means adjusting not just in food intake, but other factors that go along with it, right? Like exercise other activities and overall mental health. So it's not just about what we eat, but other things that accompany that when we're talking about lifestyle change, right?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: Absolutely. There's so many factors that contribute to one's weight. So definitely like increasing physical activity. Finding forms of movement that you enjoy is usually the most sustainable or ways to make it more enjoyable by finding music or podcasts that you like to listen to while working out. And also sleep is a big one. Sleep affects our hormones that tell us when we're hungry and tell us when we're full. So getting a good night's sleep is also really important as well. And then just going back to the emotional eating for a second, in some people, those fullness and hunger cues are off. You know, sometimes there is a biological or genetic component to someone's weight where sometimes other medical interventions are effective and helpful. It's not always just about the emotional eating or making up your mind, there can be other biological factors as well.

Joey Wahler(Host): Sure. So in summation, for those looking to make that lifestyle change, what's the best first step? Where do you start?

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: Start with what feels the most attainable to you. So starting with a small goal, whether that's using the quality, quantity, frequency strategy for making a change to your diet or starting to take a five-minute walk on your lunch break. Start at somewhere that makes it easy for you to achieve that goal, because then we build up momentum and we feel good about accomplishing that. It's a big misconception that shame or making ourselves feel bad about something will promote change, that's really not true. But really when we feel good about what we're doing and we feel confident in the changes we're making, that we want to continue going in that direction.

Joey Wahler(Host): Well, folks, we hope you now better understand the differences between a diet and a lifestyle change. Dr. Jennifer Selensky, thanks so much again.

Dr. Jennifer Selensky: You're so welcome. I was happy to be here.

Joey Wahler(Host): Happy to have you. And to learn more about how WakeMed can help you lose weight and start that lifestyle change, please visit wakemed.org. If you found this podcast helpful, we hope you'll share it on your social media. And thanks again for listening to WakeMed Voices brought to you by WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hoping your health is good health, I'm Joey Wahler.