You Don’t Need Another Diet
You could go on another diet. OR you could eat a cupcake!!
It’s the New Year – also known as National Diet Month, if you believe all the commercials we’re being bombarded with every five seconds right now. There’s a reason the diet industry ups its game right about now. It plays on the newness of the year, and people’s desire to feel a “fresh start,” especially after hectic end-of-year celebrations that leave some of us feeling drained.
Why not get a whole new you?? “Be better this year!” “Impress everyone with your ability to fit into unrealistic cultural beauty standards this year!” Ah, imagine if we only saw this kind of truth in advertising!
But you don’t need another diet. Another diet in which you may lose some weight – 5, 10, 20 pounds, maybe more – and then gain it all back because that’s what everybody does. Because that’s what our bodies are designed to do. Because being on a diet sucks, and ends up robbing you of the energy to do anything but diet.
On another diet, statistically speaking, you will end up the same weight or even heavier than you started, and you won’t even get your money back. That’s kind of like buying a new TV, watching it for a week and then it suddenly stops, and when you take it back to the store, they blame you for its malfunctioning. Um, no.
And you don’t need a whole new you. Your current you is A-OK. Maybe you’re still struggling with your eating – overeating, underrating, emotional eating – or with accepting your body, but that’s okay. Dieting doesn’t actually cure those problems; it creates more of them.
This year, if you want to do something – anything – for your health, consider a kinder path. Consider honoring your appetite, nurturing your body with acceptance, giving yourself permission to eat what and how much you want. Intuitive eating is a great place to start.
Whatever you do, you don’t need a diet that will only drive a bigger wedge between you and your appetite, between your brain and your body. You don’t need a new you.
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I am at the point now where I can say that I will never go on another diet. I’ve been experiencing some weight gain (maybe residual effects of my last diet, more than 5 years ago now, or maybe just that I’m approaching 40), and have been struggling mentally to accept it. But I’m not going on a diet this month. I’m in a really good place with Intuitive Eating and Eating Competence, and am finding my groove with movement that nourishes rather than depletes me. Instead of that new year diet, I’m going to do a major closet clean-out, keeping only what fits well and makes me feel great, donate or sell the rest, and then go shopping for a few more pieces if I need to fill in any gaps. I’m going to accept, respect, and appreciate the body I have now, and dress it in a way that feels good and serves my lifestyle. No more squeezing into just-a-bit-too-tight jeans, or looking at a closet crammed full of clothes that aren’t quite right. This year, I’m striving toward a smaller wardrobe composed only of clothes I love, that feel good on my body and make me feel good about my body.
Good for you! I have found wearing very comfortable clothing now takes precedent over everything else now (because I am over 40, I’m sure). Yes, the weight gain can be disconcerting, and acceptance doesn’t come easy and without a lot of work. But knowing you are never going on another diet, I have found, is such relief.
Hi, Glenys! This year my resolution is to read books by or about fat women to see which ones are good representations vs those that suggest women must loss weight and/or find love to be successful. I started yesterday with 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl. Come on over to my blog if you are interested ☺
Fantastic! I’ll check it out!