I used to be the master of diet deprivation. I would keep detailed diet calendars, and write down in a little square on my calendar if I had a “perfect diet day.”

This meant that I had not cheated on my diet, had kept to the plan exactly, had been “legal,” (old Weight Watchers term) had all my water, had not gone off my diet, had probably not had any fun or gone out anywhere, and, had most likely, lost weight that day.

Whew!

No wonder I would eventually go off the diet — and end up binge eating on everything I had been depriving myself of all those months, and, many, many, times, end up gaining all those pounds back.

 This can set you up for a “deprivation – binge” cycle.  It can be drastic, because it can cause you to gain all your weight back — and this gain be devastating, especially if you have lost a significant amount of weight (and/or spent large amounts of money losing it).  For me, it set up a lot of yo-yo dieting over a three-decade period of my life, which I finally stopped in 2001 after deciding to live the thin lifestyle after losing 50 pounds for the last time.

In my last blog, we talked about Mirielle Guiliano, author of French Women Don’t Get Fat, who taught me how to let myself have some  of whatever I wanted, and still stay thin.  It’s all about just having a little bit, a few bites of something, and savoring foods.  Otherwise, if I don’t let myself have something I’m craving, I will think about that food until I finally get it! And if I’ve waited too long, I’m bound to eat too much of it.  So I eat a little bite here and there, which is better, makes me feel satisfied, and has somehow, magically, gotten rid of that “binge” feeling I used to get after months and months of dieting.

Next:  Acting like a Thin Person

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 26th, 2010 at 6:35 am and is filed under Health. Tags for this post: Bathroom scale, BMI, Burning Calories, Calorie Calculator, Calorie Counting, Counting Calories, Diet, hcg, Health, Healthy Eating, Healthy Lifestyle, Healthy Living, Keeping Weight Off, Living Thin, Living Well, Losing Pounds, nutrition, Restaurant Eating, Scales, Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.