I hate to be a naysayer, but I’m going to be one anyway. Guess I don’t hate it all that much.
I read several weight loss blogs and come across many who have successfully lost a lot of pounds on a diet and they think they have found the answer.
I commend them on their hard work and effort.
But, I have been where you are. I thought I had the answer too. I was sure of it. I lost a lot of weight--twice. I made lifestyle changes. I exercised. I ate healthfully. I kept a journal of what I ate. I was disciplined, dedicated and determined. But I regained the weight.
Why? That’s the million dollar question. The obvious answer is that I consumed more calories than my body needed to maintain its weight.
But I was going to bed hungry every night. I wasn’t eating very much food.
I surmise that my metabolism adjusted down as my calorie intake decreased. And my body learned how to survive on very little fuel. That is called efficiency. But in the diet world it is failure. And the diet that is supposed to be the answer becomes the problem.
Unless you have lost weight and kept it off for years---and I do mean years---not one, or two or even five years---there is no certainty that you have succeeded other than temporarily. The majority of people regain their weight.
Why? Again---that’s the million dollar question. And that is the question I am trying to answer for myself. My quest for the answer to that question began January 2007 and it has led me to the book Intuitive Eating and the method it prescribes. For the first time I believe I am getting some real insight to the dilemma.
It remains to be determined whether I will succeed at true weight loss. Only time will reveal that.
The point of this post? Be careful. Take heed. You’re standing now, but you too may fall. I hope not. But the odds of standing are against you. While you do the external part, that is diet, examine some of the internal stuff that may be leading you to the behavior that got you overweight in the first place.
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I imagine this post may anger some people. That is not my purpose. I only wish years ago I’d been pointed in a different direction. Clearly, diets do not work long term. (Anything that limits or restricts food or food groups is a diet.)
When I did Weight Watchers in 2002 and got my lifetime membership I really thought I’d finally figured out what it took to lose weight and keep it off. I promoted WW to everyone I could. I couldn’t understand all the disillusioned people--and there were many. I discounted those people, believing they were the problem and not the diet. I stand corrected.
Not long after I’d lost most of my weight and many people were noticing, a “friend” announced I’d gain it back. It hurt and offended me. It made me mad. I thought she was mean spirited and petty. But she was right.
And here I am 6 years later working toward losing what I regained. But I’ve given up the dieting mentality to do so. I’ve lost 15 pounds and its taken almost a year .
I’m relearning how to eat and developing a new relationship with food. I’m escaping the bondage of food. This path I believe will take me where I need to go because it deals with the “why”. Why do I overeat? Why is there a compulsion to binge? When I “fix” that, everything else hopefully should take care of itself.