I’ve been there. I’ve thought the same thing. If dieting really doesn’t work, what is the point of dieting? Dieting itself isn’t meaningless, the problem is that we associate dieting with a short-term solution. We think of a diet as something we go on – ergo it is also something we will go off.
The changes we need to make are lifelong ones. We need to improve our eating habits. We need to exercise more regularly. We need to make better choices in what we do or don’t do.
If you can’t imagine yourself doing a diet for the rest of your life, you shouldn’t bother with it for just one day. That was always my problem with Atkins. The idea of the Atkins diet is a great one – but it’s a diet that requires a lifelong commitment, not a short-term one.
A life without ever eating potatoes again?
I don’t think so.
The simple fact is that solving our struggles with weight does not come in a magical pill, powder or exercise routine. We have to confront what it is about food that attracts us and repulses us. We have to figure out what our eating triggers are. If we eat when we are stressed, we have to learn to cope with our stress in a different fashion.
If we’re addicted to certain foods (in my case Starbuck’s Mochas), then we need to learn how to control that craving and either eliminate it or manage it. Essentially, we need to learn to be in control of our bodies and not let our bodies be in control of us.
Dieting is a restrictive way to lose weight in the short-term. But just like putting a patch on a tire, that patch will not hold the tire forever. Sooner or later, you either buy a new tire or live with the fact that your tire has a flat.
I wish the solutions were easier. I wish it was only a matter of snapping fingers to make it happen for us. If wishes were horses, after all, then beggars would ride.