Finding your diet style

A friend of mine suggested the name for this blog - Diet Another Day. Let's call her Mrs McAvoy – because she loves James McAvoy and she's getting married. Not to James McAvoy, but to her lovely boyfriend MC Pedro. Mrs Mac also makes the best Mars Bar slice ever, you'd sell your grandmother for its crunchy choc goodness… but enough of the food porn.

I have portion control envy when it comes to Mrs McAvoy. I've eaten with her many times (often during the aforementioned Gilmore Girls marathons) and she eats slowly and carefully and always leaves food her plate. I suffer from the food equivalent of Bangkok Eyes, where I eat everything in sight of my plate whether I want it or not. But just like some us can rock high waisted pants, while others (like me) cannot, there is a Daily Diet style for everyone – because it's calories in versus calories out and it don't matter when you eat 'em.

1 The Square (Era of origin: 1980s)
Unlike fingerless gloves and stonewash denim, it's OK to keep this fashion from the 1980s. It's about three square meals a day, plus the odd snack here and there. Squarey wakes up hungry, has a solid lunch that keeps her full to dinner, at which time she's happy to chow down on a big bowl of pasta because she knows the 'no carbs after 6pm' rule is bollocks. Our Square friend saves calories because her appetite-busting lunch means she isn't beating down the vending machine at 3.09pm (the most common time arvo snack cravings hit, according to research). Plus Ms Square's evening couch time doesn't equal munch time.

2 The Grazer (Era of origin: 1990s)
Breakfast? Maybe if she feels like it. Dinner happens if she's out with friends but she'll eat half and still have room for some choc hobnobs during So You Think You Can Dance. When supermodels came out in the 90s saying they ate six small meals and drank 34 litres of water a day, it was OK for all of us to do it (we conveniently ignored they probably kept trim because of a white powder diet). But the real-life Grazey Daisy gets full easily and this is why it works - she's never tempted to overindulge on anything, good or bad. She's the smart friend who doesn't inhale the chips and dips, only to be too full for mains. She also has generally has a balanced diet because she'll graze on a variety of foods.

3 The Schemer (Era of origin: 2000s)
My sister, the bride-to-be (BTB) eats like a Queen. Her husband-to-be (HTB) happens to cook like Neil Perry and Jamie Oliver combined, and does so most nights of the week. Rather than feel guilty about it/deny herself/get fat, BTB chooses to hit the gym (remember when the only exercise we did was a Jane Fonda video) four mornings a week to burn it all away. BTB is also a chocolate addict. So, the second part of her scheme is she stocks up on the good gear because typically you eat less of a 70%+ chocolate. And with more antioxidants (which we discovered recently are good for pretty much everything) the good quality stuff is better for you. (Down the Lindt with a glass of red for added benefit.)

The lesson? If high waisted pants don't look good on you, don't wear them. If you're not going to exercise, eat less. If you have portion-control issues, don't snack between meals.