Every time I go on a diet, I lose at least twenty pounds. This is true no matter whether it's the Atkins, Vegetarian*, Low sugar, Vegan* or "Calorie Counting". Then something would happen. A crisis in my life would affect my time, my energy and my cash flow. I would go back to my normal diet, the one that is economically and physically sustainable, and I would regain my weight, plus ten pounds more.
I have decided to not restrict my eating in any way anymore, with the exception of not stuffing myself beyond fullness, so I won't get sick or heartburn.
*Update: I appreciate the comments. The ones on portion control and eating until you are eighty percent full are the ones I can put use to right away. Perhaps this year I can focus less on what I eat and more on preventing overeating and eating between meals. I also love asian food of all kinds. However I am going to take it veeeeery slow this year, because I believe I am walking in a metabolic landmine.
I am working class. I have stopped trying to have a rich person's tiny figure, something that only hours of leisure time and the best quality food can buy.
I am in my forties, in college part time and working full time. This is certainly better than what some people are going through. I am also about forty to sixty pounds overweight, depending on whose opinion you follow.
Yes I could get back to the body I had in my mid twenties. With hours of exercise and spending top-dollar at the store. I have done it before, temporarily, and have seen the results. Yet even at my best, I never had muscular abs or well sculpted arms. However in the long term it just messes up my body again and leaves me fatter than I ever been before.
The human body was a glorious thing back in it's prime, before the sedentary lifestyle of repetitive labor ushered in the Industrial Revolution. Perhaps one day in the future, we will all look like a star-studded cast in an action movie. Yet that is unrealistic now, and I have to accept that this is what it is. I will never look good in a bikini, but that won't make a difference in the grander scheme of things, or the issues often discussed on this blog.
Sure I may not live as long as someone with a 25 inch waist. So what? Are we life-span-shaming people now?
Right now I don't want to do anymore damage to my body that I have done already, because I just don't know what I am doing, and until I can afford a nutritionist and can afford to take their advise everyday, while still being able to hang out with my friends without making them and myself uncomfortable, then I'm basically just self-medicating with these diets. I still have a shape, because much of my weight has accumulated in the right places for a woman, but if I continue down this path of self-destruction, I will assume the round shape of many of my relatives.
When you are in a hole, stop digging.
*These two diets did drastically lower my cholesterol, I just can't go on them for long periods of time, and I gained much more weight back when I got off them.