Everyone seems to be shitting on "diet culture" lately.
And listen, I totally get it.
I wrote an Instagram post about how heavy restricting caused a horrible pattern of binge eating at age 12.
So you bet when people started bashing diet culture I was right there with them.
Which was surprising to most.
Why was I bashing diet culture? Because the diet culture everyone seems to be crusading against is a completely different culture than it is now and what I advocate.
This diet culture was before flexible dieting and reverse dieting were even a thing.
Back when we thought we had to heavily restrict our calories basically starving ourselves, eat clean, and do more cardio to get leaner. Very archaic way of doing things (which unfortunately most coaches coach upon)
And do that indefinitely. Teach ourselves to restrict... FOREVER.
I don't know about you but that seems like a pretty miserable existence to me.
Ya, you'll look lean (probably emaciated because you've lost all your muscle from years of restriction), but this style of dieting not sustainable... nor doable.
So everyone failed.
It was like everyone got caught in a "Get Rich Quick" scheme and only 0.00001% of people profited off of it.
I hate THAT diet culture.
And so should you.
And the outrage is completely understandable. In fact, there should be more.
But that same diet culture is not the culture as of late.
It's like being upset at a country club that didn't allow women in the club 50 years ago, but since then has undergone new ownership and a completely new culture. But you still hate it because what the club stood for back then. Which I can also understand. I still don't like Augusta National Country Club in Georgia because it wasn't until the 2000s where they started allowing women into their club.
I digress. But, I think we can all agree that it feels better to have less body fat than more. Not just in terms of aesthetics, but in terms of activities of everyday living: being able to tie your shoes with ease, walking up stairs without gasping for air, not sweating thru your clothes doing nothing, having energy to play with your kids, your thighs not chafing, etc.
And there's a way to achieve ultimate levels of leanness WITHOUT:
❌ Heavily restricting calories
😢 Having to stick to a diet the rest of your life
🍗 Eating only chicken, rice, and broccoli
🥵 Having to do exercise you hate
🍷 Giving up alcohol
And that is the new way of doing things.
The new way is the flexible, doable, and sustainable way that you should love.
Because you can actually see results and not hate life.
And that's what I advocate: enjoying life while getting lean AF.
-DC