My mom recently told a story about me when I was a little girl. One evening our family went to Arctic Circle for ice cream. Everybody ordered ice cream except my mom. She was on a “diet.” Her treat of lite ice cream was waiting for her at home.
Everyone finished eating the ice cream, and as we were walking out of the restaurant, I announced, “Now I’m starting my diet…it’s time to go home and have lite ice cream!” That pretty well sums up my dieting attempts as a child!
I know there are people who have lost a lot of weight by going on vigorously restrictive diets, but I am not a big fan of those. It’s so much healthier to make a reasonable long term change, even if it means letting the weight fall off gradually. The success rate is better too because it’s easier to stick to it.
On the other hand, it’s difficult to set a goal that might take months or even years to reach. It’s like going for a college degree or getting a new car loan—the end of the road seems so far, almost indefinite. But life goes on indefinitely until I die, and eating healthy is a journey I need to take for the rest of my life if I’m going to feel good. The things I do today will determine what I will be and how I will feel in the future.
I want to feel good five years from now. Twenty years from now. So I invest my daily intake of calories and nutrients to gain a healthy reward in my future.
I agree, I loss weight the best when I do not limit myself to "diet" foods, but eat normally and within range. It's a lifestyle change, that is the key to remember. After having five kiddos, I am finally able to start losing weight for me, not for the pressure to be a "thin" mom, but to be healthy for me and for my family.
ReplyDeleteHeidi S.
I have decided that I will eat "lite" foods when I really like them. But I would rather not have certain things (like Starbucks lattes) if I have to have the skim varieties. I'd rather have them less often and enjoy the full treat than have them more often as the "watered down" version. Goes for ice cream too (except I used to love Select grasshopper pie lite!)
ReplyDelete