Are You Really Ready to Lose the Weight?

Being fat sucks.  But so does dieting.  In fact, it’s kind of a toss-up which sucks more.  If you think about it, I’d go so far as to say evidence suggests dieting sucks worse than being fat, because almost every person who says they want to lose weight stays fat.

Dieting is about foregoing temporary pleasure in favor of long-term rewards.  That sucks.  Dieting is about deprivation, doing without comfort, entertainment, companionship, getting drunk off your ass, and chili nacho cheese fries.  Did I mention it sucks?  It sucks.

Being fat is also horrid.  The physical aggravations, the shame, being invisible, being scorned, feeling alone and unlovable.  The painful feet and knees.  Making excuses to avoid finding out you have reached the point you have to buy two airline seats, or that the safety bar won’t close around your gut on the roller coaster.  The plus size department at the store, where they keep the vividly colored sacks of ugly.  Being tired all the time.

I don’t recommend dieting.  What a miserable waste of effort.  Most people are going to fail, and even if they do succeed, for most people it’s temporary and they’re right back up over where they started, ready to repeat the whole cycle again as soon as this episode of Seinfeld is over.

What do I recommend (before you slit your wrists in despair)?  A lifestyle change.  A radical change in your thinking and actions.  A total shift in the direction of your life, that will take you down a new road full of long-forgotten or never-experienced pleasures.  A change in your mind that leads to a joyful and healthy body.

This can be yours.

When you’re ready.

Are you ready now?  It’s up to you to decide whether you’ve reached the magic moment.  For me, I had to smack my fat ass on bottom with a resounding, public, thud before I was ready to change my life.  I had to get so fat that climbing some stairs while traveling so exhausted me I sat down at the top and cried.  Twice.  My back in spasm, my feet in $500 custom orthopedic inserts, my hip joints and knees screaming, out of breath and humiliated.  My lovely vacation in Mexico was a horrible experience because I was too damn fat to climb 150 stairs without crying.

That was my moment.  I don’t know if you’ve had your moment yet.  If you haven’t, you know what I think you should do?  Take a minute to write down the things you don’t like about being fat.  Then fold the list up, put it away, and go eat whatever you want for a while.  Stop doing whatever self-loathing diet/cheat/diet/guilt/binge cycle you’ve been locked in.  Give yourself permission to relax.  You might eat a lot of veggies.  You might eat your way through all the appetizer sampler platters and dessert carts in town.  It doesn’t matter.  If you’re not ready to change your life for good, stop doing a half-assed job of it.  Rest.  Breathe.  Eat.  Learn to love yourself.  Wait for your moment.

What if you’re there?  What if you’ve had it with being fat?  What if you know your life must change now or you’ll die before your time and make your pallbearers deeply unhappy?

Then change.  It will be hard.  So what?  Being fat is hard too.  Choose your hard.