I have a friend who lost over 150 pounds. She had lost her weight by following a high protein extremely low carbohydrate diet. I ran into her yesterday and saw that she had gained a significant amount of her weight back. I intimately know the pain and frustration of weight loss and weight gain. The mental pain and torture is bad enough, but the body takes a beating as well. The skin is only so resilient, the heart can handle only so much stress, and the joints are only so forgiving.
Why do you repeatedly set yourself up for deprivation, disappointment, and despair by going on a diet? Diets give you an initial weight loss, then you hit a plateau and you get discouraged and bored. You force yourself to continue the deprivation and negative self-judgment, and then you weaken and your old habits return. Why do you put yourself through that torture repeatedly? You are thinking that this time will be different; you will be better, stronger, and more determined to stay the course until you get to where you want to be. Perhaps, but are you willing to continue the deprivation to maintain your weight loss?
The decisive test of a diet that can last a lifetime is to ask---if I lose the weight I want, will I love eating this way for the rest of my life? Do not ask yourself if you are willing to eat that way for the rest of your life because after you have lost weight you believe you are willing and able to do anything. Instead, be certain to ask yourself if you will love to eat this way for the rest of your life. If the answer is no, then rest assured you will eventually gain your weight back.
Eating is a pleasure and it should not be a source of worry and concern about getting it all right. Eat a wide variety of fresh, colorful foods in reasonable amounts every day. Eat real foods. They are the ones that do not come with a label; keep foods with labels to a bare minimum. Keep fats and salt in your diet to enhance flavor and satisfaction. Do not deny yourself any foods that give you pleasure. All foods including desserts, candy, salty snacks and the ones commonly referred to as “junk foods” are meant to be eaten and enjoyed in reasonable amounts. Denying yourself the pleasure of these foods only leads to craving and binging. You can eat real food with real flavor the rest of your life.
Cooking is easier than you think and you are worth the time and effort it takes.
Simple cooking idea: Your family will help with clean up if you included them in the fun part of creating the meal first. No one likes to do only the dirty work.
Copyright ©2010 by Gigi Centaro. All Rights Reserved.
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