Dieting

When I was a kid, I loved Garfield.

Not only was he a cat, as I already had a great affection for that animal species, but back then he used to make me laugh out loud with his dry feline wit and antics.

One joke that always stuck with me as I got older was when his owner, Jon Arbuckle suggested Garfield go on one of the many diets he would try to put the overweight cat on over the years.

Garfield’s response to this affront became a classic phrase they have plastered on everything from greeting cards to t-shirts: “Diet is just die with a T on the end.”

Having been actually trying to lose weight for the last three months plus, I can say it’s not that bad, but it can feel that way for some, and anyone at times.

I felt I was ready to stop being obese (no, I’m not saying how much I weighed), and take on the only thing that actually works to lose pounds in a healthy manner, eating less and trying to move more.

It seems simple but between all the processed food we eat today, a sedentary lifestyle getting more prevalent over the last fifty years, and the psychological reasons people can eat and over eat, it is anything but simple, in fact as you can see it can be very complex.

Even dieting itself can become an obsession, leading you to fear the changes required and make your mission ten times harder.

The world being the world it is, it’s like almost anything else in anyone’s life most of the time…it can be done if you’re mentally prepared and don’t give up.

Most diets fail according to the numbers and that is because a diet is not like a vacation where you’re going to take a few weeks away from eating tons of fast food and not drinking anything but water and then go back to business as usual after you get back thinner like you were getting a tan from the beach because that beach ball you threw into the ocean is coming back with a vengeance.

It’s a lifestyle change for life through and through if it’s actually going to make you lose weight and keep that weight off.

Soda was my comfort item, if I had soda then I thought I had one less thing to worry about on a daily basis, I drank almost nothing else BUT that dark soda for at least over twenty years, even when I was not very overweight.

Various snack chips were another thing among many that I’d happily munch on when bored watching television or reading, empty calories down the hatch.

Dieting is much more about habit changes than pure food choice changes although food is obviously a huge part of the issue of weight.

Hopefully I can use that knowledge to make sure I stay focused and continue forever improving myself to be able to be more in control of my body and my life than before.

Is there anyone else out there currently on this journey or who has logged many miles on the diet road?