I’ve been working with someone, helping them (hopefully) with maintaining their weight, and we had this conversation which got me thinking
Them: So you eat everything you want?
Me: Umm, I allow myself to eat everything I want, but in sensible portions.
Them: That wouldn’t work for me, because I don’t want to eat sensible portion sizes. I want to feel stuffed
Me: Yeah, me too sometimes
Them: So don’t you feel deprived that you can’t.
Me: Well, I can if I want, but yes, sometimes I feel deprived. Depends where my head is.
So this got me thinking about deprivation.
Long ago, I remember reading a “diets make you fat” type of book, and how we shouldn’t deprive ourselves of what we want to eat. Well, tried it for a while, but hey, didn’t work for me. I ate, and ate, and ate. I thought I was craving one thing, so ate it, but then decided I was craving something else, so ate that too. Kept going until the cupboard was bare, then went out and filled it again and continued to eat so I never felt deprived.
After all, the secret (they told me) was not to feel deprived and by eating everything, I would stop the craving. Didn’t work for me long term.
So is it wrong to feel deprived? Or can it be a good thing? I think in this day and age, people will do whatever they can not to feel deprived. We want…we expect to be able to eat what we want. It’s our right.
Yet we naturally deprive ourselves of all sorts of things throughout our lives without giving it much thought, let alone wallow in pity for ourselves.
Take work for instance. I am sooooo disappointed with my boss who tells me that I need to go back to work after a long break. He should know how much fun I’m having. How could he
Fact
Work deprives me of my freedom from the clock
Work deprives me of my freedom to shop whatever time I want
Work deprives me of more relaxation time.
But
I love my job. I love getting paid :clap: I love the challenge. I love having a restful period after it, knowing that I’ve done a good job and worked hard.
I deprive myself of time because the pros outweigh the cons. I get much more benefit from working than I would do not working….especially in the money department. And without the money, I wouldn’t enjoy not working so much. No internet access, perhaps no television, no car. Yep, it’s worth it to me to deprive myself of something to reap the benefits of others.
That’s how I feel about maintaining and the diet I did to get me to this point. It wasn’t about what I couldn’t have, but about what I could have. By doing that, I didn’t feel deprived. There was no time for it because I was focusing too much on what I could do.
Losing the weight and then maintaining is far more important to me than overeating.
So instead of thinking about not being ‘allowed’ to stuff myself silly, I remind myself how good it is that I don’t need to now. How good it is to feel ‘control’ around food. How good it is to get into smaller clothes, feel better.
Deprived? Maybe sometimes when I lose focus of the benefits, but it's rare.
What about you? Do you feel deprived when you diet or are working on maintaining your weight?
Them: So you eat everything you want?
Me: Umm, I allow myself to eat everything I want, but in sensible portions.
Them: That wouldn’t work for me, because I don’t want to eat sensible portion sizes. I want to feel stuffed
Me: Yeah, me too sometimes
Them: So don’t you feel deprived that you can’t.
Me: Well, I can if I want, but yes, sometimes I feel deprived. Depends where my head is.
So this got me thinking about deprivation.
Long ago, I remember reading a “diets make you fat” type of book, and how we shouldn’t deprive ourselves of what we want to eat. Well, tried it for a while, but hey, didn’t work for me. I ate, and ate, and ate. I thought I was craving one thing, so ate it, but then decided I was craving something else, so ate that too. Kept going until the cupboard was bare, then went out and filled it again and continued to eat so I never felt deprived.
After all, the secret (they told me) was not to feel deprived and by eating everything, I would stop the craving. Didn’t work for me long term.
So is it wrong to feel deprived? Or can it be a good thing? I think in this day and age, people will do whatever they can not to feel deprived. We want…we expect to be able to eat what we want. It’s our right.
Yet we naturally deprive ourselves of all sorts of things throughout our lives without giving it much thought, let alone wallow in pity for ourselves.
Take work for instance. I am sooooo disappointed with my boss who tells me that I need to go back to work after a long break. He should know how much fun I’m having. How could he
Fact
Work deprives me of my freedom from the clock
Work deprives me of my freedom to shop whatever time I want
Work deprives me of more relaxation time.
But
I love my job. I love getting paid :clap: I love the challenge. I love having a restful period after it, knowing that I’ve done a good job and worked hard.
I deprive myself of time because the pros outweigh the cons. I get much more benefit from working than I would do not working….especially in the money department. And without the money, I wouldn’t enjoy not working so much. No internet access, perhaps no television, no car. Yep, it’s worth it to me to deprive myself of something to reap the benefits of others.
That’s how I feel about maintaining and the diet I did to get me to this point. It wasn’t about what I couldn’t have, but about what I could have. By doing that, I didn’t feel deprived. There was no time for it because I was focusing too much on what I could do.
Losing the weight and then maintaining is far more important to me than overeating.
So instead of thinking about not being ‘allowed’ to stuff myself silly, I remind myself how good it is that I don’t need to now. How good it is to feel ‘control’ around food. How good it is to get into smaller clothes, feel better.
Deprived? Maybe sometimes when I lose focus of the benefits, but it's rare.
What about you? Do you feel deprived when you diet or are working on maintaining your weight?