Do you feel like you are always on a diet? Do you have a fear of gaining weight? Do you continually deny yourself of many of the foods that you enjoy? Do you deny yourself of your favorite foods? Do you feel guilty after eating your favorite foods? Do you feel guilty and frustrated if you overeat? The purpose of this article is to help you realize the hold that "dieting" has on your life and the negativity associated with it.
I have found that the answers to these questions go hand in hand with the negativity of dieting and the hold that dieting has on many lives today.
Diets have many strict guidelines that one must follow in order to lose weight - low carbohydrates, counting calories, low fat, high protein, counting points, eating prepared foods, and many more.
These diets are created with basic worldly principles and rules which are based on human commands and teachings.
Although these diets may appear to be based on wisdom, the food restrictions are very rigid and often harsh to the body.
These diets do not have any value in restraining our desires for many of our favorite foods.
Therefore, diets often result in creating a desire or an intense craving for the forbidden foods which results in frustration and an unsuccessful attempt to lose the excess weight.
It is the nature of most diets to deny ourselves the foods that we truly enjoy.
One can only abide by such drastic measures for a reasonably short amount of time without becoming totally frustrated and without hope.
These drastic measures, if followed as prescribed, generally will result in weight loss but eventually, you will become frustrated and give up or you may reach your desired weight but fail to have a plan to maintain your weight loss.
With the ninety-five percent failure rate of diets, the odds are definitely not in your favor.
Often after achieving one's desired weight, the diet ends and there is no plan to help you maintain your desired weight.
If you allow yourself to return to your prior eating habits, you will gradually begin to regain the weight that you have lost.
Dieting is a very frustrating cycle.
There are many of us who have struggled with our weight most of our lives.
It seems like a constant battle.
Even when I am not dieting, I subconsciously continue to deny myself of many of my favorite foods.
I attribute this behavior to the fact that I have a subconscious fear of gaining weight.
Therefore, it seems that I am always on a diet even though I am not.
At other times, I find that when I indulge and eat some of my favorite foods, I am filled with guilt and self-condemnation.
It is a rather vicious cycle that is difficult to break.