Is Your Program Better?

A question recently asked of me:

“Would you say the program you are on is better than any of the other diet programs out there?”

I’ve spent the past 18 years overweight.  I’ve gone up and down on the scale during that time (mostly due to pregnancies), but always overweight.  I’d get inspired to start a new program, or join a new diet group, or take a new product, but after some initial weight loss I would always gain it back.  The bottom line was, I just wasn’t committed to stick with it or see it as a lifestyle change.  I wanted to shed the weight, and then go back to eating the foods I wanted, when I wanted, and how much I wanted.

Seven months ago, that changed.  With the jumpstart of Rachel cooking for me and those first 35 pounds gone (the most I had lost on any program), I slowly came to embrace that this was not a “diet”.  It was a complete change in the way I approach food that would last forever. 

I remember being inspired at different times through those 18 years when I would see my friends losing weight and would think, “Oh, if she can do it, so can I.”  But I didn’t have the discipline or commitment to work past the initial weight loss.  I got tired of “their” food, that really didn’t taste that good anyway.  I was sick of being hungry all the time.  I was discouraged to be spending all that money on something that would probably not work long-term anyway.  And, importantly, I couldn’t see how what I was doing could ever be something I could do for the rest of my life.  

I’m not bashing or discrediting any particular diet program or product.  You will find people who thrive on this particular program or that one.  And that’s great….for them.  But that’s the key.  It wasn’t for me.  You have to find something that works for you; that works with your lifestyle, that works with your budget, that you could see yourself doing forever.  At some point, the “diet” is over and you have to go on eating for the rest of your life.  If what you are doing isn’t something you can do forever, odds are you will gain it all back once you end your “diet”. 

I needed the “jumpstart” of Rachel cooking.  Maybe this or that diet program is your jumpstart.  But until you come to terms with the fact that losing and keeping weight off involves a change in the way you eat forever, you will probably continue to go up and down on the scale.

So back to the original question:  Do I think the program I am on is better than others out there?

 No. 

But only because I don’t see myself on a “program”.

I have changed the way I eat.  And this change will stay with me the rest of my life.  I see myself always counting calories.  I see myself always eating within certain protein/carb/fat percentages.  I see myself staying away from certain foods (namely processed foods and refined flour and sugar products) forever.  These changes work with my lifestyle.  They work with my budget.  And they are changes, many of which are now habits, that will stay with me forever.  And that is how I am losing weight.

47 pounds gone.  Everyone says I need to do something special when I hit the 50 pound mark.  I'm open to suggestions!!!