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Never Compromise Health for Weight

Written on June 01, 2008

This past week I was watching a popular morning show and they were discussing diets and weight loss. Of course, I watched closely as they talked about different diets, the success with some and failures with others.

Earlier in the week I caught a segment (it's a weeklong series) featuring a woman who decided to take a detour from the dieting road and opt for eating more healthful foods, cutting back on all junk food and processed foods and add exercise.

In 3 months she's lost 14 pounds, not her goal of losing 25 pounds in three months. When she was asked if she was disappointed at not losing the weight she hoped for she responded saying, "Look for the first time in my life I feel like I'M in control. When I've done diets in the past, sure the weight came off quickly but I was never really in control, the diet was. Once I had enough of limited calories and lousy food choices, I quit because it' wasn't MY way of learning how to eat, it's someone else's with no clue about who I am and what makes sense for me."

She continued, "Taking care of my body and working to achieve a "healthy" weight means I'm in charge and it's made a dramatic difference. I said I wanted to lose 25 pounds in 3 months because all the diets in the past told me I should do that, of course only to gain it back and more in 6 months. So does it bother me that I've lost 14 pounds? Not at all, I feel more successful that I ever felt before on any diet. I feel in control and every day provides me with a new way to choose healthy be it food or activity. It's MY life and I'm in control!"

I thought that was brilliantly put because at the end of the day you do have to be in charge, you ultimately have to make the final call about what works for you. You have to choose what goes in to your body and how you're going to treat your body. Will you be active?

When you choose a program designed by someone else, perhaps it can be used as an outline, but the fact is that diets are not YOUR choice, they tell you what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. Once folks go "off" the diet, it's back to old habits because nothing has been learned. Therefore, just as the woman interviewed said, "Be in control by choosing what works for you."

You know that the truth is reaching and maintaining a healthy weight translates to eating less unhealthy foods, more healthy foods and exercising every day. Of course you won't start off perfect, and it will never be perfect, that's not life. However, if you give yourself the time to gradually make changes, ultimately you will find what makes sense for you. That is the ONLY way to long term success.

Here's to your health AND your success