By Barbara Zimmer, LCSW, Former EAP counselor at Middlesex Hospital

Everywhere we turn lately we keep hearing about how Americans are overweight and getting heavier year by year. I’ve heard this referenced as the new health crisis among adults and now children as well. It is estimated that over 60% of US adults are either overweight or obese. In the meanwhile the diet industry is booming with more Americans than ever trying to lose weight.

We all know the basics of dieting. Calories consumed have to be less than the calories burned. Yet we still seek that magic diet formula that allows us to eat all and everything we want and to still lose weight. Unfortunately some diets and supplements advertised also promise this. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

So forget dieting. Stop right now. Eliminate the word “diet” from your vocabulary if you have to. The word “diet” implies a temporary change in our food consumption and patterns. Most diets are based on deprivation of some sort, which usually set us up for a major binge on those foods we have deprived ourselves of in the near future. We often diet in hopes of losing the weight we want while secretly or not so secretly looking forward to the day we can go back to eating our old foods.

So first and most important, get honest with yourself. There is no magic to losing weight. There really is no special food combining formulas to lose weight. The bottom line is that if you take in more calories than you burn, you will not lose weight, and you will continue to gain. There is no easy way. Getting honest with yourself is hard, it means seeing the truth about yourself, your eating patterns in this situation. If it was easy, wouldn’t we all be thin, svelte creatures? I knew someone who would comment that she had no idea why she couldn’t lose weight, because she was constantly dieting. But she conveniently forgot about the mid-morning danish she would have every day and the 3 deserts she would eat at gatherings because she wanted to try them all.

So instead of dieting I suggest from this day forward focusing instead on coming up with a lifelong eating plan for yourself. It doesn’t mean never having dessert, or having wine with dinner. It means changing your relationship with food. Even if you ate 3 desserts one day, you still wouldn’t consume enough calories to gain a pound (assuming each dessert is 500 calories.). One instance or day of blowing it does not cause weight gain. It’s when you develop a pattern of eating in that way that it becomes a problem. Remember that, and the next day go back to healthy eating. Focus on choosing healthy foods, be kind to yourself, and make friends with your body. And move that body every day whether it be taking a walk or dancing to tunes at home or taking the stairs instead of the elevator. You know all this. Now do it. No excuses. And if you slip up, forgive yourselves, and go right back to healthy choices and moving that body. As in AA, it’s always one day, and sometimes one moment, at a time.

If you would like to talk about this or any other problem or concern, please call Solutions Employee Assistance Program at 1-800-526-3485 or www.solutions-eap.com

George "Bud" Wassell, M.S., LPC, CEAP
Director, Solutions EAP
213 Court Street
Middletown, CT 06457
800-526-3485
fax: 860-704-6221
http://www.solutions-eap.com