Why Dieting Is Not A Happy State

When you're on a diet, you go through the same emotional roller coaster as the hunger-strikers. Self-righteousness, commitment and idealism all slowly ebb away as the hunger bites deeper into your soul. Unease, anxiety and depression take their place. And as the days pass, you become emotionally and physically weaker, and weaker, and weaker ... The diet inflicts this upon you - it creates a world that is not real and sustains a set of bad habits that will almost certainly make you gain weight in the long run.

After a few days, or weeks, on a diet, the inevitable happens. You have that 'what the hell' moment. That's the time when you decide you've had enough of all the starvation, misery and denial, and give in to temptation. You gladly say 'yes' to the portion of dessert you've been refusing for weeks. You give in, you indulge and, for just one moment, it feels wonderful. Truly awe-inspiringly magnificent. And satisfying too! The thoughts that follow are ones of abandonment, loss of control and guilt. You then think, 'What the hell, I've broken my diet, what does it matter if I have another piece?' So you do. And does that make you feel better? It certainly satisfies your craving for sumptuous foods. But pretty soon afterwards the guilt really kicks in big time.

You feel ashamed because you are now a 'failure'. And perhaps angry too. You feel annoyed with yourself for being so 'weak'. Angry at the world for making you fat. Then all-consuming disappointment can take over, followed by depression. And you resign yourself to being fat with no prospect of ever being slim. Eventually, the guilt returns - bringing in its wake yet another diet.

Do you see the pattern? Yo-yo dieting leads to permanent unhappiness. It's a habit. A bad habit. You constantly switch from one negative set of emotions to the next in a continuous cycle. If you don't break the diet habit you will spend the rest of your life being fat and miserable. Is that what life's about?