Sick to Death of Diets
I’ve been at this exercise-eat-right-lose weight-gain-it-back game for 37 years. I’ve followed lots of diets and “eating plans” trying to find the one that will finally transform me into a supermodel!!! Not really. What I REALLY want is for this not to be such a struggle! When someone comes up with the latest and greatest diet, I don’t want my ears to perk up and my heart race as I think this might be THE ONE that makes it all better! I want to sit calmly and think, I don’t need it. I’ve got this handled.
Most diets measure success by how much weight you lose. They entice you with, “Lose 10 lbs a Week Without Exercise!” This thinking has become cemented in your consciousness. It’s as simple as this…Air is for breathing. Diets are for losing weight. Both are true, and, done repeatedly, both will produce results. Breathe air and you continue to live. Diet to lose weight and you continue to diet.
What??
Why is that? Why have most people tried several different diets to lose weight? Why do people lose weight and then gain it back?
Answer: Diets aren’t designed for long-term success because they focus on the wrong end.
Toes vs. Ears
Diets focus on the number between your toes instead of the brain between your ears. The key, the secret, to success is between your ears. And just as no one has a brain or a body exactly like yours, no one but you can decide what health practices are best for you. No one besides you can design an eating plan that fits your unique needs.
I just thought of another reason we like diets so much. Someone else did the thinking for us. All we have to do is follow their plan, and we’ll be slim and gorgeous forever, just like they said. How’s that working for you? I followed the Weight Watchers points plan for six years and lost over 100 lbs. Now, nine years after I stopped counting points, I have gained and lost the same 20-30 lbs ten times over. Grrrr! You’d think I’d have had this thing figured out!
Over the course of time, I have figured out some things. You have too. Through the perfection of perseverance, testing ideas, failing, and succeeding, we all know some of the things that work for us and some of the things that don’t. You have it in you to succeed if you will trust yourself. As a community of friends, we can discover together how to help each other on the road to freedom from dieting! Please share you thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.
Stay tuned! Here’s what’s coming up next!
An N of One
STOP * BREATHE * THINK * PRAY * APPLAUD!!!
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I love the part about between our ears rather than between our toes! What I’m wondering about is what’s wrong with having gained the 20-30 lbs? If we are eating well and healthy, the size of our body shouldn’t matter.
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GREAT question,Rene’! You’re right, the size of your body shouldn’t matter. In fact measuring ourselves based on number of pounds is flawed in so many ways. Eating healthy foods in the amounts our bodies need is much more important. But we can’t ignore the reality that there is a point when your size, small or large, does matter. I’ll have a post about that soon. Thanks for sticking by me my friend! <3
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I’ve been thinking these things as well!! It often seems so simple, and yet I too am tired of gaining and losing the same pounds!!! Sometimes I feel it is a fine line between putting ones body into starvation/fat multiplication mode and fat cell expansion mode. I have to remind myself that that line probably isn’t that thin. But where is the perfect balance? What is my perfect weight and how do I find it and maintain it after so many years of being up and down on the scale? I have a number in mind that seems reasonable to me, but getting there and staying there … I do believe it can be done. You are proof that one can take off and keep off 100 lbs!! That is most encouraging!!!
Another question I’ve had over the years: How to protect my children from the same struggle?
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My next post will help with the number on the scale question. I’ll tell you why my current 214 is just fine. This post will also include a discussion about the importance of health habits that’ll help you forget about what that number on the scale!
Your last question is a good topic for a future post. For now I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, you can’t protect them entirely. The negative messages about acceptable body size and body image are deeply ingrained in our culture and our thought patterns. You’d have to be their shadow everywhere they go to combat all of those messages. The good news is, you can share with them the things you learn along the way and continue to love and accept them as they are and for who they are with no strings attached. You can also be aware when issues related to body size and body image come up and talk with your kids about it. Example: A guy looks at a pretty girl and says she’s hot. Or a girl looks at a good looking guy and refers to him as a stud muffin. They’re usually only half serious, and we don’t need to make it into a big issue. But is it really a compliment? What is the focus? This may be a discussion worth having.
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