The word diet makes most of us recoil in horror. The thought of depriving ourselves of foods that bring us so much pleasure in life simply fills us with dread. And then as if limiting or even completely eliminating that pleasure isn’t hard enough, we also have to somehow avoid temptation when attending food-centered family gatherings or social get-togethers with friends. The temptation overpoweringly stimulates our senses. We can smell it, see it, almost taste it ourselves but somehow in some way we have to resist it. I can’t think of anything more stressful.
Does this sound all too familiar to you? Sticking to strict rules or eliminating certain foods all together can be incredibly challenging for many of us. It doesn’t help when we read about diets that have worked wonders for other people, whether it’s someone you know personally or a testimonial you read on a website, but we see little results from when we try it ourselves. With every positive testimonial you hear or read, it gives you confidence to start over with a new diet.
We believe that if we are to reach our goal weight, deprivation must be endured. We accept the self-punishment and push on. The micromanagement of counting calorie after calorie becomes habitual and we relish in the weekly four pound loss for just a moment before it all starts again the following week. Eventually, we reach our ultimate goal. Our target weight loss has been reached, the misery is over, and life can now go back to some normality. A cookie here and there is now a reward for a hard-fought endeavor.
Weeks go by and just like muscle memory, those old familiar cravings begin to find their footing again. Our metabolism rejoices in acceptance of sugar and carbs back into our system. It familiarly and easily processes, stores and converts these elements back into fat, just like it always did and always will. The weight eventually comes back. Such a short-lived reward for such hard-fought gains.
The more restrictive a diet is, the harder it is on us to adjust our lifestyle. It can make attending parties, knowing what to pack for lunch during the week, and making dinner for our families that much more difficult. So many aspects of our lives can be centered around food, and it’s difficult to see how a restrictive diet can negatively affect our lifestyle until we’re practicing one. We’re more likely to want to throw in the towel even after making big sacrifices and despite seeing positive results.
So we stop the restrictive diet, and we gain the weight back at a faster pace than we lost it. Now the familiar dilemma….a fork in the road: the left path is the road to stress—the road to doing it all over again—the dread of dieting! The right path is the road to guilt and shame—the road to just giving up and accepting that poor health may be easier than the misery of dieting. This is a terrible place to be in, yet so many of us arrive at this place.
Neither choice is tempting and neither will bring happiness.
Such is the life journey of those of us who struggle with weight gain. We feel forced to live a life of pursuing one dieting regime after another. We experience small successes and soul-crushing defeats, and a small sample of welcomed highs enveloped in a blanket of prolonged lows.
The endless cycle of Post Traumatic Dieting Disorder.
Physicians Weight Control Center wants to give you the power to take control of your health and wellness—whether that means losing weight or learning better eating habits—by learning more about who you are, your health history, and your daily habits. All of these things contribute to your health and wellness, how your body processes food, and your ability to reach your health goals.
We strongly believe that weight loss and wellness is not a one-size-fits-all approach. We reject the idea that a diet that works for one person would automatically work for another. Gone can be the days of sitting in frustration and defeat, wondering why you have only lost one pound in two weeks when your co-worker lost 5 pounds in one week doing the same fad diet. We know this story well and understand how easily it can wear you down.
We recently discussed our Wellness Coaching program in a previous blog post. We discussed the problems with restrictive and fad diets and the negative impact they can have on our confidence and self-esteem. Many of us who struggle with weight issues feel like we are failures because that’s the message society bombards us with. We try countless fad diets and weight loss plans throughout our lives. Maybe you have lost weight dozens of times only to regain again. Does this seem familiar? We shouldn’t view this as failure, however! This shows determination, perseverance, and tenacity. Failure only happens when you stop trying. All of these are positive traits. We just need to redirect these efforts toward a more sustainable method. A wellness coach can help redirect that effort for positive and sustainable change after identifying a patient’s habits.
The goal at Physician’s Weight Control Center is to help patients make lifelong positive changes through personalized consultations.
If you have gone back and forth between weight loss and weight gain, tried countless diets with little or temporary results, get in touch with us to discuss how we can help you in your wellness journey. We want to help you achieve your health and wellness goals by getting you to a place where your health is prioritized and you are confident and happy with your weight. It’s not only possible to get to that place—it’s also possible to maintain it through our Physicians Weight control program under the expert care of Dr. Chris Puempel and his compassionate staff.
For more information on how you can achieve your health goals, visit one of our centers or contact us today. We’re looking forward to helping you live your best life.
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