The Dieting Epilogue

I began dieting when I was in the fourth grade. That is 9 or 10 years old. This was just a few years after Twiggy had exploded around the world as a super model. My friend, Andrea, and I (probably the two most developed 4th graders) decided we would bring a boiled egg and carrot sticks to school for lunch. This launched years of dieting and feeling dissatisfied with my body. After that there was:

cosmopolitan magazine diet

$13.00 a week for food and 500 -800 calories a day diet in college (then pneumonia and fiance breaks off the wedding, depression diet)

(My hubby married me at this low weight....and has NEVER said anything to me over the years to make me feel bad about my weight...he could have said I tricked him.)

weight watchers

nutrisystem

richard simmons

jenny craig

(My daughter in first grade wrote this about her mom: My Mom loves salads and loves to clean. Yeah, right.)

low carb

low fat

isogenix

herbal life

shape for life

....these are just some of the diets I strictly adhered to for weeks and months at a time. Then lets add exercise:

Hips,thighs and butts

Aerobics hit the scene!

My first Gym membership

Walking

Speed Walking

How to flatten your stomach

More Aerobic classes!

Walking every morning at 666 am, oops! a typo...that was suppose to be 6 am.

My second Gym membership (oh, maybe if I go twice a day)

Water aerobics.....man, why do we keep getting strep?

various excercise classes

Always walking

Health Glider

treadmill

stationary bicycle

I do not believe that 3500 calories equals a pound. Gained or lost. Just look around at people. Genetics DOES play a part! Metabolisms are not equal! I come from sturdy pioneer genes that survived the trek West! I gave birth to 8 pound babies and would only have lost maybe 6 pounds! Never mind the placenta and all the other stuff!

Don't even think about adding up the money, time, effort spent.

I can tell you calorie counts, nutrition facts, I spent years keeping track of every bite and every minute of exercise. I have drowned in water consumption. I have crawled on the floor with zero energy. I have NOT vomited. I now weigh more than I ever did being 9 months pregnant in my four pregnancies. And I am happier. I threw away the scale years ago because I did not want it to dictate my feelings. I also did not want my daughters to go through the same things with weight and low self-esteem.

Let me just say this, quit wasting your life away. Moderation is the way. Eat and exercise for health. To feel good. Go play with your kids. Quit fixating. Quit self-loathing.

As you can tell, I could go on and on about this subject. Maybe I will at a later date.