Marguerite, Re: Going back to Dieting

[Guest guest]

In my earlier post I forgot to address this comment you

made: " Nevertheless, I am feeling frustrated, I know I've gained

weight, and I've been contemplating a return to dieting. "

Don't do it! Remember that saying, " If you keep on doing

what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you

always got. " Everyone in this group can tell you they've

always done dieting, yet here we are, no better off for

the diets and some of us much WORSE off for the dieting

attempts. What I love about IE, although I don't even

pretend to have fully embraced/learned/incorporated every

bit of it YET, is the importance of changing how you

think about food and even weight.

I was sitting in a

meeting of our diet/fitness group at work last week where

everyone was talking about the can's/cant's - should/

shouldn'ts of dieting. I was struck by the INSANITY of

all this!! My grandparents and yours would sit in a room

like that and laugh their BUTTS off - PLEASE!!! When

did we quit enjoying food for what it is and demonize

it all? I almost laughed out loud when someone piped up

with, " Well you know, raisins are really bad for you. "

RAISINS?!?! Geeze, we've all gone off the deep end.

You might gain weight doing IE, initially - I have. You

might just maintain your weight - I have. You might

lose weight - lots in here have. But you also might

learn to ENJOY, really, really enjoy food again. And

learn to quit thinking about it every minute of the day.

So don't give up on IE and don't think of it as just

another diet that you tried and discarded. This isn't

about dieting, it's about a " do-over " in your relationship

with food. You can't take decades of screwed up

thinking about food and change it in a week, or months or

maybe even years. It's like the weight itself - we

didn't pack it on in 6 months, we sure aren't going to

get rid of it OR the thinking that brought it about in

6 months either.

Hang in there. What would be worse - getting a year

down the road having gone through ANOTHER couple of diets

that failed or getting a year down the road and having

actually CHANGED how you think and feel about food and

about what your body needs?