The only thing wackier than the content in many women’s magazines are the advertisements.  While on the treadclimber at the gym this morning, I came across a doozy.  At first it seems rather innocuous.  It’s not telling you to DIET, I mean, we all know that’s a load of malarkey at this point, right?  It’s a plan.  A plan of yucky, processed, sweetened “food,” if I do say so myself, but it never, ever claims to be a diet.  It just promises “a healthier you” by helping you lose up to 6 pounds in 2 weeks.  So, in Being Victorious and Taking the Special K Challenge, what does it promise you?

What it promises:  Triumphing over my sweet tooth

What it implies: If you embark on their challenge, you will no longer want food that is sweet.  You will no longer enjoy a cupcake and chocolate will be a thing of the past.  Once you have conquered that bad, bad sugar demon, your weight loss issues will be a thing of the past.

What I say: Did you know that we are born liking two tastes?  Salty and sweet. Think about it, mother’s milk is, well, milk.  And milk has sugar.  The other thing is that our bodies use the flavor “sweet” to tell us something is safe to eat.  (Red berries, sweet? Safe.  Red berries, bitter?  Unsafe.)  Your preference for sweet tasting food will never go away.  You may develop an affinity for berries, oranges and peaches as you choose more fruit to incorporate into your diet.  You may even prefer those flavors.  But you’ll never lose your sweet tooth.

What else I say: You will overcome your “sweet tooth” by, wait, no, it can’t be, BY EATING THEIR SWEET FOOD.  Fine, next…

What else it promises:  Banishing my sweatpants

What it implies: That you shouldn’t own comfortable clothing that is both attractive and well fitting.  And also that only “fat” people wear sweatpants.

What I say: Don’t wait to be your “perfect” weight to own clothes that are attractive and fit you.  You’ll be miserable, uncomfortable and you’ll look like you’re stuck in a sausage casing.  (An unattractive look if you’re a size 6 or a size 18.)  You don’t need to buy a whole new wardrobe, but invest in a couple of nice outfits that, even if you don’t feel pretty or “hot,” you still feel comfortable at a business meeting, going out to dinner or going to church.

What else I say: It’s OK to own sweatpants.  I find them much more comfortable to walk four miles in than say, four inch heels and a pencil skirt.  I know, now I just sound ludicrous.

What else they promise:  Celebrating me

What it implies:  You’re not worth celebrating if you’re not a size 2 like the model named Zoe from Austin.  Yes, she is a size two.  And she’s also 16 years old, is really named Svetlana and is from Ukraine, has had no children, has been made up, posed, airbrushed and told to “Hold it riiiiiight there, suck in just a tad, lean over to make your waist look smaller, ok, now SMILE!”

What I say:  Your weight is not who you are.  It is one small part of how you look.  You may have a disproportionate fat to lean ratio, but you also have pretty blue eyes, wonderful hair, legs that carry you, a belly that carried your children, fantastic hands, sexy calves, a spectacular sense of humor and kindness that warms everyone around you.

You’re still worthy of everything this world has to offer even if you’re not your ideal weight.

This company, and many others like it, makes money by making you feel bad (you must be bad if you like sweet food and wear sweatpants) and then selling you something to fix that badness in you.  It breaks my heart and makes me angry.  You must also understand that these companies survive because they have repeat customers.  That means that their products don’t work.  I understand that it may be a bad business model, but I want my clients to be successful!

You will find your path to successful weight loss, but it won’t be because of the Special K Challenge.  You’ll find it as you achieve goals, make peace with yourself and find ways to make healthy eating and physical activity a regular part of your life.

May you be happy, healthy and able to see through the baloney,

Regan

So, if you are a chronic dieter, let’s talk about rejecting the diet mentality.

First, you have to hit “diet rock bottom.”  You’ve realized it’s not working and that there is not one single diet that’s going to “fix” you.  You stop believing that there’s a magic cure just around the corner.  You don’t go to the crazy acai berry sales pitch at a friend’s house.  You reject the idea that some magic powder that you sprinkle on your food will save you.  You are done with injections, potions and pills.  Maybe your spiritual side says, “God made this body, He must’ve known what He was doing.  I must have the power inside of me to nourish my body the way it needs to be nourished.”  Maybe your logical side says, “I was born knowing how to eat what my body needs and how to recognize and honor my hunger.  I can uncover or relearn what I knew when I was a toddler.”

So what are some things that might interfere with Rejecting the Diet Mentality?

The Diet Void

Many people diet as a way to control life.  Will your life feel chaotic without a diet?  Do you think that “this will be the one that will change my life forever!”?  Dieting can give you that rush, that belief that your life will be transformed because of the diet.  Do you “diet bond” with friends or family or co-workers?  You may need to recognize that giving up dieting might leave a hole in your life that you may need to fill with other things.

The One-Last-Diet Trap

This is it, this is the one, I will NEVER, EVER, EVER gain the weight back with this one.  This time the changes will be permanent.  “Just let me lose the weight this time and I’ll figure out how to keep it off later.”  You know that diets don’t work, don’t get sucked in. This one kind of makes me think of Valerie Bertinelli on that one prepackaged meal plan.  They sell it as if you’ll lose the weight and then LEARN how to keep it off.  You don’t learn how to eat from tasteless, portion controlled, prepackaged foods.  Realize that it happens the other way around.  You figure it out first.  (I’m going to be a nurse and then I’ll go to school to figure out how to do it.  Wait, what?)

Pseudo-Dieting

Ah yes, this is one of my favorites!  This is when people aren’t “on a diet” but still count carbohydrates or eat only “safe” foods or eat only before 6:00 pm or restrict whole groups of food or become a vegetarian just to lose weight.  Maybe you’ve decided that a “cleanse” isn’t a diet.  It’s all about losing weight and temporarily restricting calories, but it’s not a diet.  MmmHmmm.  Let me put it this way, unless you plan to live the rest of your life this way, it’s a diet.

The Dieter’s Dilemma

You probably understand this, but you may not have decided to reject it yet.  Two psychologists, John P. Foreyt and G. Ken Goodrick created the “Dieter’s Dilemma Model.”  It’s a cycle of Desiring to be Thin, Dieting, Cravings, Loss of Control, Regaining Lost Weight, Desiring to be Thin, Dieting, Cravings, Overeating, Regaining Lost Weight…  You get the picture.

What do you do?  You decide to give up dieting.

But HOW?

1. Recognize the biological damage dieting causes.  It slows our metabolism, we store more fat, it increases binges and cravings, it increases the risk of premature death and heart disease (Pardon me?  Yup, independent of all other factors, participants in the Framingham Heart Study who were chronic dieters and regardless of initial weight had “higher overall death rate and twice the normal risk of dying from heart disease [than nondieters].”)  (pg. 49)  Dieting also causes satiety cues to atrophy (In English, please…Dieting makes it so we don’t notice that we’re not hungry anymore.)  And drum roll please, dieting causes us to regain weight in our midsection, you know, the bad place to carry extra weight.
2. Recognize the psychological and emotional damage dieting does.  Eating disorders, stress, lowered self-esteem, erosion of self-trust and confidence.
3. Be aware of “diet mentality.”  Intuitive eating doesn’t require willpower, dieting does.  Talking about or thinking about willpower means you’re in “diet mentality.”
4. Forget about “being obedient.”  You may want to have the grilled chicken instead of the ribeye, but if your wife tells you to, you’re going to want to rebel.  With Intuitive Eating, you are in charge.
5. Get rid of the dieter’s tools.  Do you use the scale to weigh your self-worth?  Does that number have hold on you for good or bad?  Get rid of it.  (I know, I had this as one of my myths, but I also said that the scale does more damage than good when dealing with disordered eating and body image.  This is one of those times.  Chronic dieting is disordered eating.)  Get rid of your food journal if it’s tying you down to “diet thinking.”  (pgs. 46-58)

I get that rejecting the diet mentality is incredibly difficult.  We live in a society that almost assumes that “we’re on a diet.”  Well, actually, society’s gotten more clever and has agreed to call “dieting” a bad thing.  So we live in a society that assumes we’re being restrictive and exerting enormous willpower to achieve “good health” that will be best demonstrated in new jeans and fabulous bikini.  As my 7th grade self says, “Same dif.”

Next time I’ll talk about Honoring Your Hunger.  Yep, I’m going to tell you to eat when you’re hungry.

May you be happy and healthy,

Regan