Every Day, People

For two and a half decades, editor and writer Lucy Danziger has had a front-row seat at the well-being revolution, watching trends come and go, and learning what works, what doesn’t, and which “cheats” are actually good for you. Here, the advice she predicts will stand the test of time, and science—i.e., how to change your body without obsessively watching every bite or living at the gym.

- Lazy Danziger

I never heard my active, upbeat mother use the word diet. She seemed to maintain her tall, lean body with zero effort. It took me years to realize that effort was in fact ingrained in every decision she made: Eat what you want, she’d tell me, but in small portions. When you wake up, do deep knee bends, stretch for the sky, and start moving. If your clothes fit tight, just skip dessert. Exercise should be fun—like a raucous, social game of tennis. Going out is a treat to be savored. A sign of being a grown-up is putting yourself to bed on time. When you eat ice cream—as she did, every day of her life—enjoy the ice cream.

But that’s not the kind of advice anyone wants to hear. Over 25 years of covering our culture’s tectonic shift toward well-being and America’s collective obsession with exercise and diet—including 13 years as the editor in chief of health and fitness magazine Self—I’ve fielded questions from literally millions of men and women. Here is what people want to know: How can I have more energy? Achieve Mobama biceps? What really works? On an almost daily basis, I’m asked: 1. Should I do a cleanse? 2. Will spinning make my legs bulky? 3. What single move will tone my arms, flatten my abs, and make my legs look leaner? 4. Will eating Paleo help me lose weight faster? 5. Should I freeze off my fat in a cryogenic chamber? (Answers: 1. No; 2. No; 3. Planks; 4. Yes, as long as you still burn more calories than you consume; 5. You can, or you could just stand half-naked in a meat locker twenty-some times and keep your $1,000.)