Choose Life?
When you think about starting a diet, does the thought fill you with dread? Do you want to stamp your feet like a toddler and shout about how unfair it all is? Do you immediately start thinking about what you can’t have?
In 2008, I made a decision that I didn’t want to be big any longer. I went on a very low calorie diet for 8 months and went from morbidly obese to a healthy weight. I was 44 and had a long history of unsuccessful dieting attempts but I knew this time would be different. I think seeing quick results and dealing with the emotional issues all helped. That and planning the whole exercise like a work project. I started in April and soon decided that I would reach my target weight 23 November and that is exactly the day that I did. I never doubted I could do it. People would constantly say how marvellous I was, what great willpower I must have and how hard it must be. The truth is it was actually quite easy.
Yes of course there were days when I was so angry with someone and I felt as if the feelings would overwhelm me without food to resort to. But that was a great opportunity to learn about my behaviour and decide to respond to those feelings in a different way.
The main difference this time was in the deciding. It sounds so simple but it really is. You can make the decision. It is your choice. When I was dieting people would hand round all manner of food which wasn’t in my plan. They would stop at me and say ‘Oh sorry, you can’t, can you’. My reply was always ‘No I can have some if I want to but I am choosing not to now because I value my health more’. Sometimes it felt a bit hollow but it got me through eight months of successful losses. It is also a powerful and positive statement that made me feel good about myself.
Since then I have sometimes made the wrong choices. I started a new job and reverted to some of my old behaviours to deal with the stresses but I was more aware of it. I have been kind to myself and acknowledged I spent a long time dealing with my emotions with food and I won’t overturn those in a few months.
I am old enough to remember the 80’s ‘Choose Life’ T-shirts and I feel confident that by making the good small choices day by day I am choosing life. I am choosing great healthy food, the joy of clothes shopping, running really fast for a bus and only taking up one seat on it, chasing after my nephews and niece, entering a 10k, confidently making presentations at work and knowing that I’ll be doing all this for a long time.
What are you going to choose?
Karen Beardsell
