I would have to guess that rarely does anyone make it past week 3 of a diet- if they make it that far.
Week 3 was a killer. Especially after a week of such strict diet rules, I was so burnt out. I kept trying to conjure up the motivating reasons why I was doing this; and none of what I thought were my reasons were motivating enough.
I told my husband I didn't think it was worth it to keep going. He is usually very supportive of my decisions and I expected him to say, "Whatever you think is best, honey"- like he usually does. What a great husband I have.
Instead he told me, "You can't quit! How are you supposed to know what it's like for everyone else?" My silent thought was "I have learned what it's like and I hate it. I'm done!"
He continued "What is going to make your program any different? You have to know what week 4 is like, what week 5 is like, and what week 6 is like."
So here I am still chugging away, though I have started to mark down how often I go to bed hungry. Which hasn't been very often lately because I haven't kept to the after 8 PM rule (no points there, but no hungry there either). In fact, in the program I am developing, the 'no eating after 8 PM rule' will be the first to go.
Well now I've gone and said too much. Stay Tuned . . .
Thank you SOOOO much for going through this on our behalf!! I appreciate your willingness to try to understand very much. And kudos to your husband for making you stick with it. :) The problem though, is that as insightful as this 6 week effort is, it's only the tip of the iceberg of a dieter's feelings, because a person who really struggles with being overweight knows that their life must change--not for 6 weeks, but forever. You have an end in sight--a dieter does not. I'm trying to think of a good way to describe what dieting feels like to me. You're a writer--so maybe you're as passionate about reading as I am. What if that were restricted? What if over-reading was unhealthy and somewhat shameful? What if you could never, ever read as much as you really wanted to ever again? A diet would be reading far, far less than you would want to--just a paragraph 3 times a day, with maybe a splurge of reading a whole chapter on the weekend. Textbooks and manuals would be like vegetables--maybe you could read 2 paragraphs at a time. But romance or mystery novels would be like cake--ok in rare very small servings. The intuitive reading plan would be much better--you could read until you've had enough stimulation, but you would monitor your feelings and put the book down when your mind signaled enough. Eventually, you would be able to fully enjoy a paragraph or two and be content. The need to stay up all night and finish a cliffhanger would be gone. That's pretty close to the way I feel about food---I wouldn't last long on a book diet--food-wise even with IE there is a deep sense of loss--coupled with deep discouragment. I've always been overweight nothing in 48 years has been able to change my heart, mind or body to release that weight. Anyway---waaay more than you wanted in a comment. I'm just so delighted that you're trying so hard to help!!The only suggestion I'd add to your actual diet plan is for the next 3 weeks to spend some good time daydreaming about something that is almost--but not quite possible for you physically acheive in 3 weeks--that helps to add that nice veneer of frustration that's fundamental to most overweight people. Good LUCK!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOne more idea! Be sure your husband has lots of tips (weight watchers has loads)to "help" you. Two of my favorites (not!) are to have an apple instead of the cake I want, or to take a candlelight bath. Read plenty of supermarket magazines too--the best are the kind with a diet on one page and a recipe for chocolate melting cake on the other.
ReplyDeleteOh Anneli! Thank you for your thoughts and insight. You make me laugh! You have no idea how much I appreciate your insights. The book analogy was perfect and I will certainly have to browse some diet magazines and ask my husband to spout off useless ideas of what I could do instead of eat.
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