I was once contacted by someone I’d not seen for many years. We had at one point worked together and had then moved into the Christmas card relationship. She said we must get together sometime, perhaps go for a meal. I said “Yes—that would be nice”, without suggesting a date, but in my head I said “NOOOOOOOOOO”. Why?
Well, the last time she and I got together we had indeed met for a meal. I should explain that she had lost a lot of weight many years before and maintained her weight by a very strict plan of: don’t eat x, y or z. Ever. Don’t eat after 7 at night. (Miss the deadline? No food till the next day). It really works for her and I am pleased that she’s devised a plan that works for her, but it wouldn’t work for me. Tell me I can’t eat something and that’s what I want, and NOW! (Unless it’s Marmite, because that’s never going to be on any “must have” list for me.) So what’s the problem?
When we went for a meal she spent the whole meal telling me I shouldn’t be eating pretty much everything I thought I might order. In the looking-at-the menu, musing stage and—even worse—at the eating stage. So instead of having a lovely meal and a catch-up chat, I was lectured to. Actually, the meal was lovely, so I kept chewing and filling my mouth and nodded at what I thought were appropriate times, whilst inside my head I was reverting to a child. How?
So, I might have eaten a teeny bit more food than I needed or even wanted, in a “Don’t tell me what to do” kind of way. At the end of the meal the waiter turned up and gave us each a little box. Inside…little sweeties. YUM! I wanted to tip my head back and tip them in, but my mam did a better job on me than that, so I reached out to take a piece, and…here her berating went up several notches. Apparently, they were the spawn of the devil. You can, as you eat, actually hear your arteries furring up and the weight piling onto your hips. Even as you eat! I continued to eat, but a little more slowly than I might have done. Then she went to the loo and my full-blown child took over, I dived in, nicked some out of her box (didn’t want it to feel rejected) and I may have even smirked!
I’ve lost 140lbs and I’ve done this by devising my own plan, which includes all foods, when I am hungry, and I enjoy every single mouthful. There are no demon foods, no looking at my watch to see if I am allowed to eat. I’m not deriding anyone’s way of losing weight, however strange I may think it is. It’s their plan that works for them. What I do have a problem with anyone who wants to force their system on me. So now I am waiting for my food police person to contact me with a date for a catch-up chat. I’m going to suggest a coffee…and I’ll have a sticky bun!
Would you like some help starting your weight loss story? Go to: https://www.glenyschatterley.uk.com/free-steps-to-success/ and download my 7 Stepping Stones to success.
Have fun, stay safe.
Glenys