The Diet Didn't Fail, You Failed the Diet

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
TW: Language, dieting, calories, diet mentality, and disordered behavior

Holy fucking shit. How many times have you heard this bullshit before?  If your familiar with the myriad of diet programs available in this day and age, then you have probably heard it touted by some "health coach", or a dieting buddy, or maybe in the not-so-secret pro-eating disorder forums that abound the internet.

This shit makes me so fucking mad. Because I fell for this shit, hook, line, and sinker. Even though knowing factually that the majority of people who go on a diet to lose weight, almost always gain it back, as 95-97% of people who have ever intentionally lost weight will gain it back.  And yet we still continue to diet, why? Because we as a society believe that the human body is somehow completely governed by this make believe thing called "willpower".

You can see through terms such as "She has really let herself go", and the continuing presumptions that fat people are lazy, and undisciplined that we associate every aspect of weight loss with mere "willpower". So despite the statistics on diets and weight loss, most of us still genuinely believe that diets don't fail, people do. And we keep the cycle going.

We truly believe that we can somehow pull a one-over on nature, and be the few percent that loses weight and never gains it back.  We look down upon others that gain weight back, while we fastidiously keep ours down. The minute our scale goes up though, we crash from our high pedestal, because now we have failed the all-powerful diet god. We have sinned and we must atone if we are to ever become worthy in the eyes of our Lord.

We know we are fighting against the bodies natural order as we restrict ourselves from consuming foods with too many carbs, too many fats, and too many calories. We try to subsist on 1000 calories a day, and as we quell or bodies cues to eat, we feel proud that we are dominating the gross, human body to become something more "ideal".

And yeah, we lose weight. I'm not denying that virtually every diet program that exists will allow the majority of people to lose some sort of weight while they are doing them. That's just freakin' science. If you make a caloric deficit large enough, your body will lose weight. Typically, however, when you go back to eating more normally, your body will rebound, because that is how the human body was designed to operate!

But what is the cost of all that lost (and eventually regained) weight?

Our self-esteem, self-worth, and self-respect become intricately woven into whether or not we are following our diet plans, and even more so with if we are losing weight.

We disconnect from our body so much that we can no longer tell what food we do like.

We miss making memories with friends or loved ones because we don't want to be around "tempting" foods.

We avoid vacations, trips to nature, or trying new activities because we feel disgusting in our clothes, and feel shame that our bodies might be seen by others.

We isolate ourselves to the point that the only true friend we have is our diet, the scale, and food.

These are NOT worthwhile sacrifices.  These should never be worthwhile sacrifices.

You have the RIGHT to be respected (including by yourself) here and now, with your body exactly as it is.

Your body has the RIGHT to be respected by you and others for how it is right now.

You have the RIGHT to consume foods that are palatable without having to punish yourself for it later.

You have the RIGHT to eat when you are hungry.

You have the RIGHT to go on adventures, wear a bikini, and do whatever your heart desires exactly as you are right now.

Our bodies do not fail diets, diets are a rigged game that will only lead to self-loathing, an obsession with weight and food, and a half-lived life. So kick diets right in the face and out of your life, and give yourself permission to live today.

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