I think it's not so much the word itself which bothers me as that we push weight loss as an extreme, short-term endeavour which we do to become "healthy" and then stop. So when people think they need to lose weight they tend to go for extreme calorie reductions, meal replacement shakes, and a complete but short-term change in their eating. What people generally should be doing is making much smaller but permanent changes to their diet and lifestyle.

Which is probably when talking about myself I talk about "The Diet" somewhat tongue-in-cheek, because I am not really "dieting" in that regard, its really just a small part of a change towards a permanently healthier diet and lifestyle.