I’m not dieting in 2014. There I said it, and let me tell you, again it’s freeing.* (big hairy disclaimer at the bottom of the post)
A few months ago I weighed what I did back when I was in my senior year in college. After three kids, believe me, this was a huge accomplishment.
You know how I did it? I cut back the sugar and started eating less processed foods. That was pretty much it.
Then something happened. I got greedy. I wanted to weigh what I did my Freshman year of college. So—you guessed it—I started a diet. Forget just eating healthy and exercising, I was going to diet so that I could be skinny and happy.
I followed the diet as closely as I could given my food restrictions. And do you know what happened?
I was grumpy, tired, and I gained 7 pounds.
Seriously, I followed a very popular diet to become a trim and healthy mother, I was miserable and I gained weight.
So I’m done with putting pressure on myself to lose weight. And in 2014 I’m not going to diet.
Would I like to lose 10 pounds? Yes, but I also understand it’s vanity weight I’m trying to lose and not a pressing health concern (that discussion is a completely different ball of wax). Also, losing 10 or 15 pounds isn’t going to automatically make me have a higher self-esteem when I’ve been calling myself fat for 2 decades.
Despite my commitment to not diet, I have a hunch by 2015 if I concentrate on whole foods and walking more, I might just be able to lose those last few pounds.
So should you give up dieting in 2014? Let’s answer a question with a question.
Has what you’re been doing working for you so far?
My guess is if you’ve been on a perpetual diet train, the answer is no. So the question is: what should you do instead?
My answer: I honestly don’t know what you should do. I don’t know what has worked for you in the past and what hasn’t worked for you. Dieting does work for some people, maybe you’re one of them. What I do know is what has and hasn’t worked for me.
What has worked for me:
- Cutting portions of what I normally eat, by about a ¼. That’s it. Not in half. Not 75%. Just a ¼.
- Cutting back on sugars and processed foods.
- Rarely eating foods that are cooked in oil (nachos and salsa are my downfall and I could consume an entire container of salsa in one sitting if dared to)
- Exercising moderately (stair stepper, brisk cycling, or rebounding) 20 minutes a day most days or walking for an hour.
What hasn’t worked for me:
- Restricting calories and cutting carbs. It makes me cranky—I mean really, really cranky. I don’t like who I am on a diet, and I would rather lose weight slower than be short-tempered with my family. Also when I restrict calories and/or carbs the weight I lose, if I lose any, is always short-lived too.
- Getting depressed about my body. Intellectually I know fat is not a feeling. Fat is a derogatory term used to describe someone’s body shape. It doesn’t even have to do with whether or not someone is healthy because there are plenty of thin people who often feel fat. I know when I feel fat I am under motivated to exercise or eat less. And let’s not forget when we feel fat we tend to verbalize our disgust, and that is absolutely not healthy for our children to be hearing.
So what am I going to do in 2014?
I’m not going to diet because it’s never worked for me. I am however going to make the healthy choices that have worked for me in the past, especially daily exercise.
The most important change I making though is to work on feeling good about the healthy choices I’ve implemented, and not mentally calling myself fat—ever. This change will probably be harder than the healthy habits.
So let me know in the comments. Do you think my plan will work for you? What are your plans for 2014. Will they include a diet?
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