Why I Don’t Diet or Help Others Diet!

Don’t get me wrong, I used to diet.

Probably most of my life I was on a diet. When I lost 50 pounds in 2006, I was dieting. I was miserable, afraid to eat anything that wasn’t on ‘the plan’ and mainly concerned about repeating history and gaining it all back.

I wish I could pinpoint my exact moment when I had my ‘aha’ moment.

I still had another 20 pounds to lose and to be honest, I was tired and frustrated. I read something about ‘not dieting’ and took that advice and started to eat real food (from ALL the food groups) and not just what I thought would help me to lose weight. I didn’t follow a ‘plan’ 100%, but made it more about what fit with my lifestyle.

I stopped being on a diet. Period.

When you diet, you start something and it usually ends when you go ‘off’ of it. Have you ever eaten one cookie and suddenly half the bag is gone and you feel like poo poo! Did you ever utter the words “I cheated” and felt guilty about it? When you don’t diet, there’s no wagon to fall off of. When does the ‘diet’ stop? Or it doesn’t? And that’s what I had a problem with. I didn’t want to be on a diet the rest of my life!

By not dieting I lost another 22 pounds. It’s been almost 16 years and and I’d be lying if I said that my eating habits haven’t changed. Of course they did because I eat better now. My body feels better. I have more energy and am physically able to do more. I have a huge sweet tooth and I indulge now and then. I love ice cream and real ooey gooey chocolate cake. More importantly, not if, but when I indulge, not a little but way too much, I don’t feel like I’ve blown it. There’s no skipping meals the next day, no exercising like a fiend, I just have my breakfast of steel cut oats or toast with peanut butter go about my day.

Do you think it comes easy for me? No! It takes work and I make conscious efforts in my choices. But, I found a way to make it work with my lifestyle and am comfortable with it. And it works for me.

It’s been 16 years and 72 pounds gone – they are not lost because I don’t want to find them again!

I’ve been helping people with their weight loss goals for over 16 years. Not by dieting, but by helping them figure out strategies and ways to achieve them that works for their lifestyle. Nothing crazy – just making it about real food!