Spill your diet secrets!
I dieted for half my life
Just before I turned 28 years of age, I realised something that was both sad and shocking. I had been dieting for half of my life. I’d been put on my first diet at the age of 14 by well-meaning parents. I look back at photos of myself at this age and while I was a little chubby — just some puppy fat — I was also very active and ate good home-cooked meals. I’m sure that weight would have disappeared naturally over time.
When the diet started — my self-esteem plummeted. I began to believe that the most important thing about me was my appearance, and truly did not understand why I was not okay as I was.
So my love/hate relationship with my body began, and lasted until that day, just before my 28th birthday. By now I was still overweight, bordering on obese. But I was also educated, successful, a good friend, in love and loved dearly in return. It was in that moment that I decided to stop it. The energy that I had spent over the last 14 years stressing out about my weight should have been used enjoying the wonderful things that I had. I decided that my weight would stop being my focus — I only wanted to spend my time enjoying the things I was passionate about; my husband, my family, my friends and work. I rediscovered my love of physical activity, for no other reason than pure enjoyment.
Now I am about to turn 29 years old. My tummy is still a little round and my thighs are still a little soft, but I am noticeably smaller than I was this time a year ago. My level of happiness is unbelievable! I feel like my life is mine again. Scales are banned from my house — I measure my worth by the size of my smile, not by my jeans.
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