Fitness Friday ~ Lose Weight or Acheive Health?

Welcome to the Fitness Friday edition.

SO I am once again having a debate(only in my head mind you) about how to go about this unhealthy lifestyle I created for myself. Not all of it is unhealthy mind you, but when you really look at the BIG picture, some is.

Let me explain....

A few days ago I read about how more woman would rather diet to lose weight than change their eating habits to be healthy.(trying to locate the article, will link if I do), then I came across how this celebrity lost weight only to gain it back and the how this one did it. There are so many! Not just celebrities either,but others, common folk like myself that have lost weight(well not me lately, but I have)using every kind of "diet" no matter if what they eat or how they do it is really healthy or not. No thought to the actions to get to goal and the consequence they may face because of it. just take a look at the diet industry. They take in an estimated $40 billion a year. Billions people, hello. OK so I know I have contributed to that number yearly for more years than I care to admit, but not anymore.(At least I hope not)

The definition of diet (according to thefreedictionary.com) is A regulated selection of foods, as for medical reasons or cosmetic weight loss. HMM cosmetic weight loss. Sort of says it all. That is exactly how a majority of "diets" portray themselves. A way to get thin and beautiful.

Now let me come clean and say I absolutely would LOVE to be thin and beautiful, like what is portrayed int he diet advertisements. I would also LOVE to be independently wealthy too, but that will not happen because I will not sacrifice my family for monetary gain. SO why would or should I even think about sacrificing my health to be thin? Good question. One I had not posed to myself until recently.

This thought really has been rolling around my mind for a bit and here is where I keep going...thus the debate.

So much in studies recently about the toxins in the food we eat and the air we breath and how they contribute to our ill health, weight gain included. So when I read Tosca Reno's "Eat Clean Diet"and Jillian Michael's "Master Your Metabolism"they both advocate some of the same things. I tend to agree. Get rid of processed foods, eat organic(as much as the budget will allow) and ditch the sugar, fake especially. OK I believe it, it totally makes sense to me.

Now, I then wonder how the heck do people lose the weight eating all that CRAP. The chemicals, fake sugars and all the products that are made with them and as well as the rest of the processed food that is out there geared "to lose weight".

SO now here lies my personal dilemma....do I "diet" to lose the weight (refer to the definition of diet again) and be thin or do I eat healthy and know that eventually the weight will come off by changing my eating habits and adding exercise more into my daily routine?

The answer should be so easy. I stress SHOULD be. I want my health, but I want to be thin and quick(relatively speaking). I do not think my quandary would be as difficult if I did not have such a daunting amount of weight to lose. I may be wrong, but I think it would be easier if I had say 20 or 30 pounds instead of still more than 150. Please understand I am absolutely NOT minimizing any amount of weight to lose because I know it can be hard no matter if it is 5 or 105 or better. My feeling is it would be an easy answer to think hey in a year and a half I will be at goal AND healthy. I am not convinced of that with the amount I have to go. I do not even think in 3 years I will hit goal. I may be wrong. This may be the key that will unlock my success of goal. I have to believe it to achieve it, and I just do not, yet.

To add to my pondering is the fact about counting calories or not. Been through this debate before. I guess I just do not trust myself 100% without that restriction, but on the other hand it gets me so obsessed with food, and that in my opinion, is so counterproductive...dieting or not.

I know eating healthy and only until satisfied works, when I went to Weight Watchers it took me some time to trust myself to try their core program, but when I did I dropped 50 pounds and was never hungry. BUT here enters what I referred to earlier with the bad in my "diet", fake sugars. So can I move successfully away from this mindset, and THAT is exactly what it is, a mind set, to one set to be successful and trust my natural hunger signals, eating healthy foods in moderation, completely changing what I eat, enjoy it and how I view it? This is what I need to accept or decline.

I am giving myself until June 1st to research and come to a final decision. Do I "diet" or do I make a truce with the food and stop my obsessive behavior? That truly is what it comes to with me. I continue to return to my all or nothing mentality and THAT is where I have been for sometime now. Some may call it a plateau, I call it discouraging and frustrating, or I believe more accurately I need to term it "in limbo".

I welcome your thoughts, that is why I share mine with you.