What I'm about to say is going to sound quite harsh and a little offensive, but stick with me, it's for your own good. If you are overweight, it's your own fault. The only way you are going to be the weight you want to be, is to change your lifestyle. You are NOT what you eat, you ARE your lifestyle.
Still with me? If you are, then I hope you've taken that on board. Faddy diets are not going to make you the weight that you want to be. Your weight is defined by your lifestyle. So stop hoping that you can just go on a diet and everything will be OK. It won't.
When I was 18, I estimated that I ate at least 5000 calories everyday. But I wasn't fat. The reason was my lifestyle. If I dietted, I probably would have died through malnutrition. I ate at least 5000 calories a day, because my body needed 5000 calories a day. In retrospect, I realise I was addicted to the endorphins in my body when I exercised. I hope that now, I have learnt from this and I have a cheaper food bill but still quite an active lifestyle.
I ate all the food I wanted, without having to worry about putting on any weight. In fact, I couldn't quite eat enough food and when I applied to join the TA, they said I was underweight. My overly active lifestyle compensated for my calorie intake so my huge calorie intake was required to keep me healthy. If I had stopped exercising without decreasing my calorie intake, my weight would obviously go up (as I later discovered).
Dietting is not nice. When people are dietting, all they think about is the food they "can't" eat. I would hate that. And I hate hearing it from friends and family who are dietting.
What is the point in dietting if all it is doing is making you unhappy? Wouldn't it be better if you could eat whatever you wanted, and be happy, and your desired weight?
Well that's the way it should be.
When I was 18, I didn't walk anywhere, I ran or cycled. I lived in a 3 storey house and every time I went up or down the stairs, I ran. If I went to the shops, I ran. when I went to work, I cycled. Walking is boring. It takes so long to get anywhere and the scenery passes too slowly. My entire lifestyle and everything about it was active. Even when I went to the pub, I ran.
The mere act of dietting can be bad for your health and bad for your happiness, but with exercising, there are no down sides. Dietting reduces your body's ability to produce the endorphins your body needs to make you happy. As I'm sure you know, exercising is not only fantastically beneficial for your health, it also releases endorphins into your body. Endorphins basically are happiness. They are the chemicals that your body uses to produce the behaviour and feelings associated with happiness.
Slim, attractive, healthy AND happy. Could life get any better?
You shouldn't be sat at home watching TV or surfing the web all the time. Do you drive everywhere? Walk for Christ's sake, even better jog there. Do you walk up the stairs? Life's too short for walking up the stairs, get a move on. Run up the stairs, miss out every other step if you can. If you have to use the car, don't walk to your car, run to it. You need to learn to like getting a little out of breath. Unless you change your lifestyle in this way, you will always struggle with your weight. If you can master this, you can eat whatever you like, within reason, and never have to worry about your weight. Your metabolism will take care of things for you.
