Diets are like relationships...

I was thinking on my walk this morning that being on a diet / embracing a new healthy lifestyle is a lot like being in a relationship.

At the start, there’s the excitement of something new, motivation to work hard at making it work, and the first flush of love!

As time passes, familiarity sets in, sometimes along with resentment and there are times when we wonder if it’s all worth it.  But, if we’ve committed to a relationship, we accept that there are times when it’s tough and we try to work through them.  No-one expects to be perfect in a relationship – there are quarrels, hardships and sometimes, heartbreak.  But most of the time, we keep on trying, and if a relationship breaks up, after healing we try again.

So, how about applying these to our efforts here?  We seem to be so hard on ourselves for little slip ups and days where things just don’t go right.  But no-one expects us to be perfect in anything else in our life so how about cutting ourselves a bit of slack and forgiving ourselves when we simply can’t make it work?

I know that coming here to CC and the friends I’ve made here have made a huge difference to my weight loss journey this time around.  The acceptance, encouragement, support and motivation I’ve been given have meant that although I couldn’t quite get it together for months, eventually things came back into focus. 

I think learning to accept that we’re human and that inevitably we will make mistakes is one of the most important things I’ve learnt, in this context.  I mean, what other habits, aside from brushing our teeth and going to the bathroom do we always manage to stick to?!  Learnt an instrument?  Did you practise every day without fail, come rain or shine?  I think we set ourselves impossible standards sometimes, in terms of what we expect to achieve, which can only lead to disappointment.

Let’s all lighten up, literally (to paraphrase Bette Midler in The First Wives Club)!

Amen to that!

 

Here here!

AMEN is right.

I actually cried a little reading that...  J and I have had a few rough patches in 5 years, but I would never give up on him or us" the way I do on myself (in the past). 

Why is it, we ladies, give everything we have to everyone else and always take care of them ---  but to take care of ourselves is too much to ask of us? 

I especially liked your description of how the "love" begins and changes, the resentment or other feelings that come with familiarity....  It feels good to be safe and boring with something/someone you love, but it is also safe and boring.  =P  Reminds me that change is not all bad ---- NOTE TO SELF:  if feeling hateful about being healthy, change something (maybe just the way I think).  If something feels like that, it's not working.  ( :

SMART and gorgeous --  that's our caro!    : D   xoxoxox

I love the analogy!

And three cheers to everyone who is TRYING to live a healthier lifestyle.

It is better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all! 

So I'm going to keep on loving my attempts at a healthier lifestyle... and at some point down the road I'll have lost... and be better off for it! ;)

Love this analagy too.  It is very true. The most important thing we can do for our selves is to be kind to ourself ALWAYS. We wouldn't treat a total stranger so harsh for a lesser action,  than how we sometimes treat ourselves...Three cheers to you - for reminding us of our most special and valuable relationship with ourselves!

Well I realized something this weekend.

The reason I ate so much this past month was because I didnt have time to treat myself to anything else.

It is so good to have your own sacred time - like the mornings I run and my yoga classes...Take out all of those for work and all I had left was pizza and ice cream.

Thank for writing this, Caro! It's well stated, and so TRUE! Love it!