By now you probably know that I feel strongly about respecting individual body types, and not expecting everyone to be the same shape or size. People can be super healthy and be overweight, and people can be super skinny and super unhealthy. However, we cannot ignore the fact that there are many inherent health problems that go along with being overweight and obese. In fact, scientists are now saying that obesity is as much of a risk factor for cancer as tobacco use! That's a pretty sobering statement.
Losing weight and changing eating habits is not easy. All kinds of social traditions are woven throughout our eating habits, and people often use food as a palliative drug to mask emotional issues. It is not simply a physical act of putting food into your mouth.
I am convinced that the reason people "fail" on diets is because they are unrealistically restrictive. You are not going to eat 1200 calories a day for the rest of your life, or through the holidays. You are not going to go to the gym every day for the rest of your life. You are not going to eat only pre-packaged brand name diet foods for the rest of your life (thank goodness!). And once you blow it, you feel like you've failed (again) and go completely off the program.
It's much easier, and more realistic, and healthier to make subtle changes that you can stick with for the long-term. Change your mindset about eating and health and exercise. Don't set yourself up for failure by making unrealistic rules and unattainable goals for yourself.
We have completely bought into the "Lose 20 Pounds in 20 Days" mentality that the multi-billion dollar diet industry is selling us. Their promises are so alluring...it's hard not to get sucked in. Their programs might be successful for the short-term, but as we all know, you can't live that way forever and inevitably you will go off the program and gain back what you lost, plus more in most cases.
Diets also don't teach you anything about the way to be healthy and nourish yourself. They only teach you how to lose weight, and only for a short period of time. Once you don't follow those restrictions and rules anymore, there's nothing to fall back on, because you haven't learned anything or changed your mindset...or dealt with the emotional issues that may have contributed to your overeating in the first place.
If you are overweight or unhappy with your body, chances are you've spent a long time and a lot of energy criticizing and critiquing yourself. You know what it feels like to check the mirror a hundred times a day to make sure you don't look too fat, or to avoid mirrors altogether because you can't stand the way you look. Or to be constantly wondering what people think of you or whether the clothes you are wearing are flattering. Or to hide, or even lie about, your actual weight for fear people will find out how fat you really are. Can you imagine how it would feel to be free from that burden? To feel confident all the time, and not worry about how you look? To a lot of people, especially women, this might sound like a completely foreign concept.
I'm going to tell you a secret: everyone knows what you look like. This might seem obvious, but when I realized this and really thought about it, it was incredibly liberating! Oh, you mean I'm not fooling anyone when I wear baggy sweatshirts or tell people I'm actually 30 pounds lighter than I really am?! Oh, and people still love me and want to be friends with me and think I'm smart?! Now I can just be myself!
Once you start loving and respecting yourself, you will be more beautiful. Confident people glow. And I promise you: 99% of the people you come into contact with on a daily basis could not care less about how much you weigh.
Health comes from, and creates, love. Loving yourself and respecting yourself and being calm and happy with the body in which you were born is step 1 in losing weight and being healthy for the long term. It is impossible to have good health when you are berating yourself or hating yourself. And once you really begin to love yourself and your body, you want to take better care of yourself. It's not difficult or painful to be healthy.
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