Come Monday I’m on a diet

“Come Monday I’m on a diet”. “Starting from New Year day onwards I’m on a diet”.

Most of us have made this promise to ourselves. There a few periods when many choose to make a fresh start. The period following the Christmas holidays is one of those.

Hence this year too many will have to make a decision about their weight. Some of their options are:

• Start a dietary regime on their own.
• Go to a professional dietitian – nutritionist.
• Do one of the above coupled with exercise.
• Do one of the above while taking a weight loss supplement.
• Follow a “therapy” that promises fat loss
• Follow an “unorthodox” method of a non-expert guru.

In fact, most of us think we know exactly what we need to do: eat less and more healthily, exercise etc. However this is easier said than done. Even the motive is there changing habits are tough.

When it comes to being on a diet the destination is more desirable than the journey since the latter is an arduous and time-consuming task, and we also consider that only the destination has value. In addition, the weight loss journey bring to the surface a number of unpleasant feelings of disappointment, resignation, failure, melancholy etc. Of course when it comes to weight loss relapse is frequent, almost inevitable. And this is a view already established in peoples’ minds.

We remember, for example, that we started on diet with a professional dietitian a few year back, managed to reduce our weight-albeit not reach our “final” target or successfully maintain it in the following years. We reminisce the time when we were at our best, meaning the point in time when our weight was closest to the desirable level. Often trying to reproduce what was going well then in order to repeat it now.

However “everything flows” as Heraclitus remarked thousands of years ago. Our body and the conditions affecting dietary, and other habits we have, constantly change. The times we managed to control our weight as well as those we didn’t are not coming back. The only doable change can take place from here on. Nevertheless, we may use past experience to improve present strategy.

Change is a process not an event. This year use what you’ve learned in the past about yourself and your struggles and carry on changing. Commit to change not the end result. If you only see the end result you likely won’t do justice to yourself and your effort.

The change process takes place inside not outside. The “magical” new diet of the year, weight loss supplements and other methods promise an “outside” solution to a problem that everyone has to follow their own path to solve. They promise a “trick” to lose weight without much “bother”-without trudging through a change process.

Losing weight though requires changing from within. Altering the way we manage our food and is a process not an event. A professional can point us to the right direction, based on what is proven to benefit our health, and help structure our diet to reach our goal. The rest of what’s needed for the journey lies in your hands.