[roc]

> "The best thing about this diet (and I hesitate to call it that, I'm never going to stop)"

A minor nit pick: that's exactly what a diet is. Your diet is what you eat every day. What pop culture refers to as 'dieting' is more like a selective fast: a temporary change or reduction in diet.

And that's why 'dieting' doesn't produce lasting results for most people. Most of those diets do work. But people fail because they stop doing them. They don't recognize paleo or south beach or atkins as a lifelong change. They try them, get results, get comfortable then fall back into old habits and thus their old shape.

That's why it's key to approach changes in diet and exercise on the basis of what you will maintain. And ultimately why talking about relative benefits of various diets and exercises is silly.

The 'best' diet and exercise is the one that keeps you healthy and that you maintain.

[omgsean]

This is true. I hesitate to call it a diet simply because then people ask what I think is going to happen when I stop, and because saying that you're on a diet has certain connotations that I don't identify with and don't feel like explaining.

Plus then I don't feel like I've "blown my diet" when I eat pizza or drink beer.