For Weight Loss Success Don't Diet

This has been my motto...and the secret to my weight loss success--I refuse to diet. Hence the name of this blog. I have "not dieted" my way to a healthy body, dropping 125 lbs. I feel great!

It seems that I am on to something...even "experts" are supporting the no diet philosophy. Well, doctors may know a lot, but the real experts are the people who have actually been there--people like me and you!

I know first hand the appeal of dropping weight quickly. I also know first hand that it doesn't work. Not for the long haul.

As much as I didn't want it to take months or years to achieve a healthy body, once I came to terms with the notion of 'what if it was okay that it takes a long time to reach this goal?' then I started to drop weight.

Was it a miraculous drop 50 pounds overnight result? Nope. But here I am able to maintain my healthy weight AND enjoy foods I love. I no longer feel tortured by food. I feel free of the constant cravings. Food doesn't seem to leap straight from the shelf to my hips. I feel like I finally have a "normal" relationship with food...and that was what I really wanted.

Does it involve changes? Of course it does. But the biggest change starts with your mind. With positive thinking and a shift in your mindset you can lose weight and have the same healthy relationship with food that I do. Starting with this change, the other stuff falls into place...pretty much automatically.

Changing how you feel about your body and your ability to lose weight is important, simple...and not necessarily easy. Come on, how many times have you tried to lose weight and not succeeded? Or you lost weight only to regain it, and more? I've done it so many times I couldn't keep track. So I started to believe that I could not have a healthy body weight. I believed that I would never be slender. I believed that I was destined to be fat.

I believed these things and so they were true. I gave myself permission to be fat...but then I beat myself up over it! I was in a perpetual cycle of loathing myself and not believing in the possibility.

University of Colorado Center for Human Nutrition's director Dr. James O. Hill recognizes this and says "when people try and repeatedly fail, they begin to feel defeated [to lose weight] and will eventually give up."

I finally decided that maybe I could lose SOME weight...I didn't really believe at first that I could drop 100 pounds, but I could at least get down maybe 20 pounds. No deadline. No pressure. Just drop some excess fat to become healthier.

I started focusing on believing that losing 20 pounds was possible. I repeated to myself that I deserved that improved health and that I could achieve it. I wrote notes to myself to help me remember to stop and think before I just grabbed food. I gave myself permission to eat anything I really wanted--as long as it was a conscious choice.

That made the difference!

Don't starve yourself. Don't restrict yourself. That only leads to feeling deprived. That feels like punishment. And you will rebel at some point. Instead--refuse to diet...choose food consciously and enjoy it. You deserve to enjoy food AND have a healthy body.

You CAN have both!