Is dieting such a part of your life that you assume you will have to be "on a diet" or "off a diet" for the rest of your life? Can you envision a diet-free existence?It strikes me sometimes that people don't want to lose weight as much as they want to talk about how hard they are trying to lose weight. Or how little they eat. Or how they know exactly how to "do" the program they are "doing".
People like to be right. Or, more importantly, they hate to be wrong about themselves.
I HATE to be wrong about myself -- and it doesn't even have to be about something earth shattering. It took me, literally, 3 years...36 months...to come to grips with the fact that I wanted to get rid of my beloved, fabulous, absolutely perfect, cute-girl-truck and buy an SUV. Not because anyone was making me but because my tastes had changed and I was ready to have a more functional (read boring) vehicle. 3 years of grappling with an image of myself as a truck-driving-girl --- seem silly???
People identify with being on a diet. Hearing people talk about dieting is sometimes like hearing people talk about their Harley Davidson -- it's a club. People connect around diets. If you've had the experience of losing a great deal of weight and people ask you about your experience, do you get that same feeling of acceptance and connection from that conversation?
Sometimes, I think we are afraid to let go of the idea that you don't need to diet because you might lose that feeling of dieting (notice I didn't say weight loss) support that striking up a "dieting conversation" brings.
So the question becomes -- are you willing to reevaluate whether dieting has become part of your self-concept? Is it something you do so you fit in to your world? and most importantly -- are you willing to change? You've got time to answer the questions -- no rush -- 36 months is a long time :)
