What the hell is the WIAT diet?- you’re probably asking
Well, let me introduce you to the concept:
The term Instagram Diet first appeared a good couple of months ago from different sources. It’s based on the premise that people often eat subconsciously, grabbing snacks throughout the day and then being in denial. (Or not even actually realising how much we do nibble through the day!) A quick bite here or there , doesn’t seem to matter, but it can actually add up to a substantial number of excess calories!
Couple of weeks ago, I re-embarked on a journey, after many failed journeys of weight loss, (some even chronicled on here). Spending Christmas and our ski holiday out of action because of a busted knee, that’ll probably need replacement surgery was really getting me down. Deep down I know I’m the only one to blame: I’ve let my comfort eating get the better of me, jeopardizing my health and complicating joint problems.
Walking with a friend on a chilly, but beautifully sunny morning, we talked about diets and eating habits. We both did advanced biology, physiology, and in my case nutrition, in our university studies, my friend also has a PhD. How the body works is something we know a little about.
Couple of points that we debated:
- Refined sugars are a real threat to getting fat and getting type 2 diabetes.
- We don’t actually realise how much sugar (and unnecessary salt) is added to any processed food, till we read, and understand, the labels. *
- Fat has unnecessarily be victimised. The low fat fad is actually unhealthy, as fat consumed is a nature appetite suppressant.
- Hormones are increasingly entering the food chain and they mess with our bodies’ delicate hormonal balance, even our metabolic rate.
- The less muscle you have the lower your metabolic rate, though genetics factor play not so small part.
- Till only a couple of generations ago those humans beings with a very efficient food utilising ability had a genetic advantage…now we get fatter easier.
It was fun talking over these big issues… but it doesn’t really help me NOW.
So we devised a plan:
- First, I need to establish my baseline: What am I eating? How much? When?
We agreed that I need to keep a food diary… and because writing it all down is tedious, my friend suggested taking a picture of everything, I ate and drank (aside from water, plain tea or plain coffee). - My friend was going to hold me task, as I am to send my food diary to her every evening.
I started doing this.
And then missed a couple of days, because I forgot to take a picture of a couple of things, or because I had a real haphazardous day of eating utter crap that I was actually ashamed of sharing.
My friend gently prompted me to send them whatever. No judgement. (And she has been great at not judging, in fact quelling my own judgement too.)
I’ve now been doing it consistently and creating a daily collage of what I’m eating.
To my utter surprise, I have lost 2kg (4lb).
I’m not hungrier. I eat anything I want, as often as I want.
I give to you the WIAT diet, the What I ate today diet
That’s the story so far. No fads. No special diets. No special meals. No expensive substitutes- artificial chocolate, sugar-free sweets stuffed full of who knows what, fat-free rice puddings, whizzy powders, astronaut food…you name it!
Just plain and simple conscious eating!
However, the WIAT diet has a subconscious second level that a dieter progresses to pretty quickly:
It turns out WIAT diet level 2, is CIBB aka Can I Be Bothered? This twist has meant I will look into the fridge looking for a snack, grab something and then think:
” I need to take a picture! Is it worth the hassle? Am I really that hungry?”
It’s the same with taking a second serving.
“Can I be bothered to try to squeeze in another half a plateful of food into my collage of the day? Am I still hungry or is it just for the taste?”
Most of the time the answer is- “No!
I often end up putting the quick bite back into the fridge or the cupboard, foregoing a second serving (which was probably my downfall in the past. Kids would drag out eating and I’d be sitting staring at the yummy food still waiting there to be eaten.)
The second serving I leave in the pot often ends up being my or OH’s lunch the following day.
I’ve now started sharing my daily collage on WIAT Diet. (Don’t expect any stylised, beautiful images that have taken ages to stage! It’s just our everyday plates with my meal on it, or my hand with some irresistible treat.)
Going forward, I have no target weight to reach. I just want to lighten the load on my body and do as much as I can t0 help me dance at my childrens’ weddings (the youngest is 4 and half now.) In a few years I wouldn’t mind doing some epic hikes and wild camping with the kids either, carrying any weight I loose as a rucksack.
Come and follow my journey and tag your daily food diaries with #WIAT and #WIATdiet. 😀
* A friend recently looked at all the salamis at 2 or 3 large food retailers in Sweden, a health-conscious country mostly, and only found one specific salami didn’t have any sugar added to it!
Leave a Reply