I don't like dieting. I'm not good at it. I, on the average will actually stick to a regimented diet, 3 days to a week and then I blow it. I may try again for a couple weeks but then I give up.
You see, I like food, all kinds of food fixed in lots of wonderful ways. I like to enjoy what I am eating and not sit there wondering with every mouthful just how many calories or grams it contains and what the scale is going to read in the morning because of what I am eating tonight. That's crap and it is one of the reasons diets seldom work. I gave up on fad diets years ago. In the first place, most of them don't work. Oh they work for a little while but then you start putting the pounds back on, sometimes a whole lot more than you lost in the first place. Why? Probably because our systems change daily, monthly, yearly. As we age our body changes and so does our lifestyle. We have to adjust to the change and most of us don't. The other, more obvious reason is diets get boring and they interfere with today's life styles. Most diets end up leaving us with cravings because our bodies aren't getting what they need and then we binge, feel guilty and quit.
Today's modern lifestyle does little to nothing in promoting good health habits. We are encouraged to eat junk, eat fast food, eat on the run, zap and eat, take out, whatever is quick and easy. It is not a healthy way to feed our bodies no matter what the ad tells you. Most of the foods we buy are loaded with salt, sugar and chemical preservatives, dyes, all things that aren't good for our health and will in the long run cause us serious health problems. TV and magazine commercials have left us obsessed with the idea that thin is beautiful, muscular, perfectly shaped bodies make for happier lives and make us socially more acceptable, our sex lives improve and love becomes golden and eternal. You'll have a better, higher paying job if you look good. All those beautiful, glamorous people convince you it is so and you buy it. They sell you on fad diets, health drinks, quick fix pills, oils creams and potions and you believe it. They actually work for a little while, a very little while and they can also harm you. Remember the stories of “the snake oil salesman”? Here you go. Same thing, just modernized.
I'm inclined to be overweight, (I usually gain 10 to 12 pounds during the winter months because I'm not as active and I don't change my eating habit to fit my lifestyle) at least according to the doctor's scales I'm fat (not obese) and according to what the health standards conclude is the proper weight for my age, height and body frame. None the less, at my well over the hill age I still look pretty good, for an old gal and I can still keep up with folks half my age. Why? Am I really overweight? Am I not healthy? All things considered, considering that bodies naturally start to break down with age, they do that whether we like it or not, I'm in pretty good health but I admit I could lose a few pounds and be better off. My sugar levels are fine. My cholesterol is leaning toward the high side but still within a safe range. My blood pressure, slightly high but it varies slightly from day to day depending mostly on my stress levels and what I've eaten, how much I have or have not exercised. I need to keep an eye on that. All my other vital signs are normal. However, I can pinch more than an inch right now. I've gained some pounds since last fall. I really need to tone up and lose a few pounds, 10 to 20 would be good and keep it off but how to do that is the next question. Diet, diet and exercise, eating the right foods at the right time in the right quantities and getting enough fresh air and rest sleep. Did you know you can lose pounds while you sleep well at least a few ounces. No kidding. You really do, if you have done what you should all day long.
Here is the truth of the matter you are your own worse enemy when it comes to dieting and keeping your weight down. You have been brainwashed into thinking thin is in, it is sexy, you'll have more friends, get a better job, keep your husband, wife or partner happy, it'll make you famous. If you can't keep up with those TV ads, fashion magazines, health nuts, you get discouraged and give up; you think something is wrong with you. You get depressed and you eat to sooth those unhappy feelings. Before you can give yourself a makeover, you need to start liking and respecting that body you are so worried about. You need to know what makes YOUR body work best and no two of us are exactly alike. You need to adjust your attitude first and then your lifestyle. That will work. Fad diets and pills will not, at least not for a lifetime, not for long, maybe a few weeks, a few months, but that is about it. Once that stops working, you try a new one because you still aren't that sleek, slender, beautiful, sexy size 3. Stop it. You are killing yourself.
