It's not punishment

I woke up this morning for a fast day and had a diet related epiphany.
For most of my adult life, like so many others, I have been on one or other diet with varying success. Some sensible, some faddy, all bourne of desperation to fit the cultural norm and somehow reach the health nirvana of immortality. And of course to join the smug ranks of the slim with the perfect number on that evil judgemental chart of BMI.
These desperate measures include:

• Reduced calorie - sure it works, but you spend your life counting and I am just not obsessive enough to stict to it for more than a couple of weeks.Best for: frustrated mathematicians and those who love weighing and measuring.
• Reduced fat - I lost 1 1/2 stone on this one. Yes there is still counting but the numbers are lower and there are lots of zero fat foods for when you are hungry but have used your fat allowance for the day. Use caution, it is possible to over eat and unless you are careful you can stall completely or even gain weight by gorging. Best for: Simple counters and those who don't like butter.
• Low Carb (including but not limited to Atkins)-  I lost a stone on this one. It takes time and you need to prepare a lot of food (although it is easier with lots more low carb snacks and meals on the market since I last did it), but you do get to eat a lot. The downside is getting bored of the limited diet but it does quickly reduce your capacity for sweet things. Best for: Carnivores and dairy lovers.
• Slimfast - Just a glorified low calorie option really. The shakes and foods are nice enough to taste but it's really easy to go over board with your evening meal.Best for: Busy day timers and calorie counters.
• Meal replacement - There are so many but they all really boil down to the same thing once you get passed the name (Exante, Cambridge, Lighterlife etc). In theory easy to follow but unless friends and family are following it too, it's such an anti-social diet. You can hardly sit down to a meal with your shake while everyone else tucks in to glorious mounds of food! Best for: The anti-social and those with iron, no make that tungsten carbide, willpower.

Of course there are countless others in the diet ether and a life time is not long enough to sample them all. Needless to say the defining feature of these is deprivation. There is always something you are not allowed or you need to limit and it always feels like punishment.
That is why, ultimately, I have given up with them all. I love food and make no apology for that. Why should I? I am a human being (well, some may dispute that but I am almost sure my parents are human), loving food is coded into our DNA and we live in such a productive and generous world.

But I seriously digress, my epiphany: It's not punishment.
Losing weight is good for me, the health benefits, the faster runs, the excuse to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes!
Losing weight should not be because I have been bad and need to be punished back to goodness. That makes any diet a Victorian prison with hard labour as standard, and who would not wish to escape at the earliest opportunity?
Following the plan is barely 5% of it, 95% is mental.
I am not punishing myself, I am treating myself. I am treating myself to a better, faster, healthier me.
It's not about deprivation, it's about treats.


Far away in a distant land there are wild celebrations. The last of the zombies have just been evicted, forced through a shimmering iridescent gateway to another place. But where have they gone?
Why can I hearing groaning? And why can I smell rotting meat?


FraidyKat Runs - for treats