Here we go again, I thought.
Saturday morning I was online ordering library books when I came across yet another weight loss book enthusing, “How I lost a bazillion pounds easily onto to find everlasting peace and happiness.”
The book’s jacket added something like, “The amazing part is how effortless it is to keep the weight off once I embraced”. . . something.
I ordered the book to find out what she embraced.
I’ll report back.
Effortless! Easy! Painless! Fast! Intuit Eat! Simple!
Diet books promise the moon and stars, and when we don’t even make lift-off blame us for the system failure. Because it’s Effortless! Easy! It’s and painless! It must be you if you can’t make this amazing plan work.
Nobody told the diet gurus that spectacular results that last take time and are hard-won. Nothing truly incredible is fast or easy. At least on this planet.
Most diet books focus only on behaviors: i.e. what we put in our mouths. Eat this, not that. This food good, that food bad. Give up sugar, caffeine, dairy, alcohol, anything white, and anything grain-ish.
In fact, consider becoming a breath-etarian because consuming only air for three to ten days is the latest. (And don’t forget, fasting is effortless, easy, and painless!)
But here’s the irony: using any quick-fix plan eventually drives us to eat with abandon. As in, eat strict, throw strict plan out the window, eat kitchen.
The old yo-yo diet lives.
Which is why I was thrilled to find The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America by Tommy Tomlinson.
Tommy’s life story actually matches laws that govern reality. He doesn’t tell us that losing weight is effortless, easy or painless. In fact, quite the opposite.
Tommy details how his loving parents would sit up nights worrying about how to help their boy, how he broke his promise to his bride when he said, “I’ll get this figured out”, and how people his size don’t generally make it to 60.
He shares the mortification and loneliness he endured daily at being a heavy kid (because school), the fun of overeating as a teen thanks to two part-time jobs, and the horror of hitting the floor as an adult because chairs (plural) broke beneath him.
I’m paraphrasing, but Tommy tells the unvarnished truth: that being fat is life-altering in the worst sense, and that losing is such a formidable foe as to mostly seem impossible.
Tommy is brave. He tells the truth about food addiction and weight loss.
His story screams that losing weight is grueling.
I tend to think of losing weight as being akin to giving up cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. Maybe the physical component isn’t the same, but the psychological pull sure is.
Nobody tells smokers that it can be effortless to give up cigarettes. And who would tell an alcoholic or drug user that it can be easy and painless to give up drinking and self-medicating?
When our culture consistently denies the massive difficulty of weight loss, those of us trying to lose are set up for failure. This should be simple, we think.
Thing i, you and I can lead the way. First, we need to acknowledge to ourselves how uphill the weight loss path is to walk. Then we need to tell our fellow earthlings.
Yes, losing is monumentally hard (and maintaining isn’t exactly a picnic either).
But here’s the bare-bones truth: You and I can do hard things.
Have a wonderful week everyone.
And remember, it’s not your imagination. Health is hard!
♥ Wendy
P.S. Have you read Buh-Bye Aunt Bea Bod: 13 Tools to Lose Weight & Maintain a Forever Loss?
I packed Aunt Bea with every essential method I used to lose fifty-five and still use today.
Remember getting your driver’s license? How learning to drive wasn’t a “one and done” thing? Same with Aunt Bea. The Aunt Bea post is your ride to embedding Smart Eating habits into your life, habits that will have your back forever.
Click Begin Here. ♥♥♥ Print Aunt Bea, and tape her inside a kitchen cupboard, on your car’s dash, under your pillow, and so forth.
Apply to life as needed. 🙃
Some links may be affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. I will be totally upfront with you re: sponsorships or items given to me and disclose everything in the post.
6 Comments
Hi Wendy!
oh that first picture had me thinking of how much I miss rock climbing! I used to do it before I got sick. How I met my hubby.
Anyway, I think it is funny or silly how some plans are marketed to be so simple! yet, not sustainable. I think people need to have the reality of what it takes to get fit/healthy and know what is manageable as a lifestyle change. The book you mentioned sounds quite good and more of a realistic picture.
Enjoyed reading!
Have a wonderful week!
jess xx
PS. I have Type III EDS, which is Hypermobility type. Do you know what type your friend is?
http://www.elegantlyudressedandstylish.com
Hi Jess!
Okay, that is officially the coolest way to meet a husband that I’ve ever heard. I Bacebooked my friend and also has Type III. She’s had symptoms forever, but just got dx. She’s in CA and I’m in Atlanta, so I don’t know much more. I sent your site to her. If you’re in any FB pages for EDS you like, I’ll send them to her. 🙂
Wendy
I hate the word diet as it brings so many weird memories of those fad diets. It wasn’t until I changed my mindset to think of diet as what I’m putting into my body (not what I’m keeping out). Now I tell my kids if you put poor gas into your car it won’t run well. If you put unhealthy food into your body it won’t run/feel well. For me it was a change of mindset that keeps me healthy (well, healthier as I do have my days!! lol)
LOVE your metaphor of putting good gas into the car!
Thank you!
Funny how it seems that everything is marketed to us as being easy. But if it were so easy, everyone would be healthy and slim.
It takes attention and hard work to be a success at any goal. And I love how you are pointing this out and showing the way to achieving our goals one step at a time.
You said it: it takes attention and hard work to be a success at any goal. I was getting financial tips from someone and I found myself hoping it would be easy. Of course it wasn’t! 🙂