One slip shouldn't kill your entire diet

My cute, little sister, Natalie, went to the gym this past week and heard an incredible story about a woman who lost 50 pounds pretty fast on one of those popular low-carb diets.

But losing that much weight wasn't the incredible part.

This same woman, the story goes, gained 20 pounds back just like that — LOOK OUT FOR FLYING BUTTONS! — when she cracked one day and ate a Snickers bar.

(Must resist making smart-aleck remark about tall tales and fat fibs that circulate at women's-only gyms. OK, I resisted. Curious, does that count as resistance exercise?)

The most incredible part of this based-on-a-true-life exaggeration has to be the size of the candy bar. Here's guessing it wasn't one of the fun size ones we might all be trying not to eat from the pantry after perhaps foolishly buying on-sale Halloween candy too early yet again.

Here's guessing again that she didn't really pack on 20 pounds from a piece of candy, regardless of its size. Maybe she gained 18 or 19 pounds — heck, I've done that just driving by Krispy Kremes, it seems — but definitely not 20.

But back to the far-fetched story. Fast. Before I turn Homer Simpson on us all.

During my lifelong struggle with overweight issues and dieting, I've noticed that people (pardon the following pun) eat these types of stories up, including me sometimes.

I'm not a nutritionist, a scientist nor did I sleep at Holiday Inn last night, but I know it's not possible to gain large amounts of weight from one small slip-up. And by one small slip-up I mean downing one candy bar or one ice cream cone, not one three-hour feasting at a scrumptious smorgasbord.

In fact, I don't even consider eating one candy bar or one ice cream cone a small slip-up. Denying ourselves treats is a dieter's mentality, and my diets only last as long as my willpower does. That's why I'm trying hard to change my mindset. For me, this is a lifestyle change, not a diet.

I do cut back on calories and fat intake because — despite now losing 159 pounds after dropping 2 more pounds the past couple of weeks — there are still 50 or so stubborn pounds hanging onto my midsection like mooching in-laws.

But I am avoiding the all-or-nothing attitude. Diets are doomed to fail from the Monday we finally start them (again). If we truly want to change who we are and what we look like when it comes to weight, we have to change how we deal with food in our lives.