Day 29 Supplemental - Dieting is Highly Personal.

On a side note, I got into a "discussion" with a dear friend yesterday about my diet. I know it's a common thing for people to give their opinions and expertise on any subject you embark upon, and it's often welcome, good advice, but why is it so hard to get criticism or suggestions about what you should or shouldn't eat? Why is that such a touchy subject? Well, I'll offer MY opinion, since after all, it is my blog. I think it's because the whole act of going on the diet is an admission of the less than perfect state of one's own body. While it's as hard as anything to admit, we don't want other people agreeing with us, right?

So when you start this huge chore (that's going to take a YEAR to finish - or at least it will feel that long) and you're already giving up the very yummiest things in life because they don't fit into the schedule of restrictions you've set for yourself (I will never again have the pleasure of a McGriddle because I cannot believe it would hold me for an ENTIRE day as it has over 1,000 calories), and someone says that you shouldn't be eating the meager little treats that DO fit in the restrictions, it's like they are saying that you're not doing enough. You're not working hard enough. You are not doing it "right."

When you are already crying inside that you cannot go to the pub and have a Cornish pastie and two pints of cider and they say the 80 calorie fat free pudding snack or the occasional oatmeal creme pie is "naughty," how are you supposed to react? Yes, there are as many diets out there as there are stars in the sky, but the ONLY one that I KNOW works, is to eat fewer calories than you burn in a day. That's it. End of story. And while I know that some calories are worth more, are better for you, and yeah, might make you feel full longer, when they are not what you want to eat, are they, in fact, worth it? When your body is craving a sweet and you try to give it fruit instead, are you satisfied? That's a big fat no. When you want chocolate, not a goddamned thing in the world will do but chocolate. And when you can get it in an 80 calorie pudding snack, is that so bad?