10 September 2022

I’m a strong believer – in my case –  that removing the word DIET from my vocabulary in the last 2 years is what helped me lose weight, maintain it off and get into the new habits.  Diet to me is restrictive.  Very restrictive.  You can’t eat this, you can’t eat that!  You need to count the calories on everything.   

I’ve done that before.  Tried to not eat things, counted the calories, joined to the gym, followed expensive meal plans.   It helped. I did lose weight.  But not as much, and started gaining it back faster. I was never really ‘happy’ for want of better word with my eating habits, always miserable that I’d have to go on a diet again.   

By removing the word diet from my vocabulary, I’ve been able to eat everything I wanted – and I do mean everything.  You’ve been here for a while, you know I’m not lying. I will end my day with a cup of tea, biscuit and a piece of chocolate.   

Rather than dieting, I’ve been working on resetting my relationship with food.  It’s not been easy, I’m not making huge strides in the weight loss recently, as evidenced by my entries, at yet, from the food/weight perspective I’ve been the most comfortable and at ease in the my life.  I now know what’s possible and how to do it, without stressing about it. Now it is about getting back into the rhythm of things, rather than figuring out how to. 

Thus as opposed to ‘dieting’, I’ve been questioning whether I’m really hungry, and not just thirsty; realising that just because society tells you cereal is breakfast food and roast is Sunday lunch food, I don’t have to stick with that rhetoric. Looking lightly at the calorie content of food I buy, but if not happy with taste, still going for full fat versions.  Using smaller plates or ‘snack’ rhetoric when eating, because I find that even if I have to snack plates, that still ends up being less food than had I put everything on the big plate.  Which often means if I do cook, I have ‘snack’ left for later.   

So, I look at the last 2.25 years not as dieting at all, simply changing how (and when), I think about food.   

Right, need to go shop and buy some chocolate biscuits.