Something I have never really understood is dieting. I get the “omg I ate so much unhealthy food over the holidays I need to detox for a week” type of diet, but the purpose of mystery pills and magic teas constantly eludes me.
I will say this: I am 5’9″ and have never weighed over 140lbs, so I have never had to deal with the battle of obesity. I have; however, experienced the pressures of weight loss, dieting and a negative body image.
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I constantly hear friends and family punish themselves for what they eat and declare for the 56th time that they are going on a diet. There are a couple of things wrong with this:
1) Most of the time the blame is placed on outside forces rather than their own lack of self control.
“It’s too expensive to eat healthy”
“I have to cook what my kids want”
“I have a fat gene”
Everyone has obstacles- if you want it bad enough, you’ll work around them.
2) “Diet” is a temporary fix. It implies a time limit.
People say they want to lose X amount of weight so they go on a crazy strict diet plan to reach their goal. Once it is reached, they stop. Guess what- you’re body won’t stay like that forever.
3) This cycle, when used repetitively, make people feel exponentially worse about themselves.
Think about it: you want to lose 10lbs so you limit your diet to spinach and egg whites and do some intense cardio until your goal is reached. Proud of your accomplishment, you then start going back to your old habits. The weight comes back. Naturally, you will feel even worse then you did before as all your hard work has been flushed down the toilet and your back to where you started.
“But, Rummy, I’ve been taking diet pills and haven’t changed my eating habits and the weight still came back!”
Biology 101: Our bodies naturally adapt. Nobody came out of the womb needing 10 cups of coffee, 2 packs of cigarettes a day, or 4 aspirins instead of the regular 2. Just like bacteria adjusts its molecular structure to fight antibiotics, our bodies adjust to the effects of diet pills.
Moral of the story: Being healthy is a lifestyle, not a trend. We are in control of our decisions and actions. In 2012, I made the choice to live a healthy lifestyle. Today, the results are unparalleled to those of any “diet”.
People ask me if I feel like I’m missing out and to them I say, “On what?”
-Rummy
red_rumson 