Is dieting taking over your life?

Do you spend a lot of time thinking about the weight loss diet you are on or thinking about going on?  Is this taking over your life? If so you aren’t alone. 

How many conversations have you been in where diet or weight has come up?  Lunches discussing the latest diets or who’s lost or gained weight or perhaps who shouldn’t be eating what. It is difficult going through the day without it coming up in conversation somewhere ‘I shouldn’t be eating this’ I’m starting my diet on Monday’ ‘I really need to lose weight’ to name but a few of the comments you might say or hear. It may be about the latest diet craze that perhaps some famous person has lost loads of weight on. It could be discussing how to lose weight before a big event or summer holidays or Christmas which covers most of the year it might even be about how much weight you have gained over the event or holiday period and the diet talk starts again.

How important has losing weight become to you and how many things are you putting off until you lose weight?

 I can’t go swimming because I am too heavy or don’t look good in a swimsuit.
 I will buy new underwear when I’ve lost weight.
 I will buy new clothes when I’ve lost weight.
I will go out to a club when I’ve lost weight. 
I don’t like getting intimate with my partner because I don’t look good I’m too heavy.
These are just a few things that might get put off but I’m sure that you can think of other things that you are putting off because of your weight.

How much of your day is spent thinking about food and dieting?

 I’m starving what will I eat for my lunch?
What will I have for dinner?
Even dreaming about eating chocolate cake or some other food craving
It might be this diet isn’t working I’m never going to lose weight
I am disgusted with myself I will not eat anything today
I can’t eat any less and I haven’t lost any weight this week
 I am terrible I ate some chocolate biscuits
I have no willpower
I will have to try harder
 It’s all my fault other people seem to be able to lose weight. 

When dieting or thinking about dieting starts to take over your life and things aren’t going well for you might even lose the pleasure of eating.  This might sound strange but often when people are  dieting and breaking their  diets the food that they are eating comes to mean that its bad and they end up not really enjoying it even though it’s what they craved.  The guilt and shame often take the pleasure out of the food.

If any of this rings any bells with you then perhaps it’s time to start thinking of a new approach and a non-diet approach is one which might help.  You might be thinking that the non-diet approach doesn’t guarantee any weight loss which is true some people  lose, some don’t but even though weight loss programmes often tell you how much weight you can lose has this worked for you?.  I know that many reading this will say yes I have lost 1 or even 2 stone or more in the past. However the question to ask yourself is how long did the weight stay off and how did I feel when it went back on again.  If the answer is it didn’t stay of off and I felt disgusted with myself or other negative feelings such as it’s my fault I don’t have any will power I need to do better then perhaps you could consider the non-diet approach. While the non-diet approach doesn’t guarantee weight loss it does help you start thinking about things in a different way. It can take away the shame and reduces binge eating.  It helps people to make peace with food and their bodies and increases self-esteem. It can also free up time for other things in your life. Time you would have spent thinking about diets or dieting.
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If this approach interests you may like to consider either the Well Now course which is starting in September in Banbridge and Newry or perhaps you would like to be seen by yourself. I offer individual appointments in the Newry Clinic for further details on group sessions or individual appointments please check out the Services page on my website for details.