Permission to Stop Dieting

[Anonymous]

Just wondering if anyone has ever given themselves permission to stop dieting. I'm 56 and have been dieting my whole life. I'm about 20 lbs overweight and I am just over it all.

[Anonymous]

In a better world, we’d all be able to eat until we were no longer hungry, have food that made us feel good, exercise to make our bodies and brains happy, and then not worry about where our weight/body size settled. So yes, I give you permission!

[Anonymous]

I gave myself permission to never start and I still have to remind myself that it's not a requirement of being a woman with an "imperfect" body that you have to count calories or avoid certain foods or feel guilty about eating something or eating a certain amount of something. Diet culture is really pernicious.

I'm perfectly healthy, by the way. Workout regularly, no negative health impacts. I am fortunate that I've never had serious weight issues but I don't look like a supermodel either. I have no interest in the lifestyle that would be required for me to look so enviably slim, and I question why that's enviable to begin with, given what it takes to maintain a body like that past the age of 20 or so.

[Anonymous]

I give you permission. It makes me only sad that there are millions of women starving themselves and hating themselves because of a few extra pounds (and really, who made these rules?). You 1000% have my permission to stop dieting…and enjoy life…and above all to love yourself.

[Anonymous]

I gave myself permission about a decade ago. I exercise and generally eat healthy, but I don’t “diet”. When I accepted this, I felt like a weight was lifted from my mind. I’m also about 20 pounds overweight but I think this is where my body is happiest at.

[Anonymous]

I am in such a better mental place since I did this, probably a couple of years ago. I am almost 43 and have essentially been on a diet since I was 13, with various degrees of (physical) success (and not) and so many negative mental consequences (anxiety, stress, depression).

[Anonymous]

I do not believe in dieting, ever. I do believe in eating a clean, balanced, mostly plant diet.

[Anonymous]

Is the diet not working or do you need permission to not feel guilty for your indulgences? I am not being snarky OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the diet not working or do you need permission to not feel guilty for your indulgences? I am not being snarky OP.

You are being intentionally obtuse (NP). It’s about abandoning the need to diet and the dieting mindset that plagues so many of us - that’s how I read it.

[Anonymous]

OP here - I am not looking for permission to become a glutton, just freedom from the mindset that because I am 20 lbs overweight I should be on a diet.

[Anonymous]

The concept of "dieting" is outdated. The phrase intself connotes old age: no one says "dieting" anymore. Now we are to think about the lifestyle of eating that we should engage in. Low sugar, low salt, abundance of leafy green vegetablels, healthy oils (non-seed oils, such as olive, avocado, walnut, coconut), small amount oh not-too-surgary fruit (blueberries, raspberries), oily fish (salmon, sardines), beans, small amount of whole grains. Yes, eating heathily and maintaining a healthy weight is important for heart health and for preserving the quality of life in older age (preventing need to take lots of meds, preventing kidney failure, etc). We can't just give up, that is not responsible toward ourselves and our families.

[Anonymous]

I have done the same (stopped worrying) and found out that I am not gaining weight when I am not "watching and worrying." Until a few years ago I could eat whatever and not gain weight, but after Lyme and turning 50 not so much. I am now at one weight, and it seems no matter how much or how little I eat I stay that weight all the time.

[Anonymous]

Google the word diet and see the definitions below. Change your thinking to only use the word in the context of noun 1.

noun
1.the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.
"a vegetarian diet"
2.a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.
"I'm going on a diet"

verb
restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight.
"it's difficult to diet"

[Anonymous]

I do not diet. I have a set weight in which I feel I look good and feel good. If I start to move away from that number I eat better and work out more that week.

[Anonymous]

Are you 20 lbs more than you like or 20 lbs over the top of the bmi weight?