Lasting Weight Loss: No Discipline Required “I’d
love to lose weight, but I don’t have the discipline. .
. .”
If I had to lose weight the way the diet mongers say we need to,
I’d never lose an ounce. Or maybe I would, but it certainly
wouldn’t stick. And then, what’s the point?...
And if I had to make myself work out, well that wouldn’t
be likely to happen either. The truth is I like working out, so
it isn’t a chore and it doesn’t require ‘discipline’.
It does require time and prioritizing. So I’ve tried to
make that as simple as possible. Anyone who knows me knows that
I’m a big believer in simplicity.
If you attempt to lose weight using ‘discipline’
you are taking a risk. You are working against yourself, rather
than with yourself and setting up a situation just ripe for rebellion.
Losing weight with discipline invites perfectionism and extremism.
“If I don’t do this, I am weak—I have failed.”
You are trying to bully yourself into an act of submission by
attacking your own character. Does that sound like a picture of
success?
You also take the risk of trying to accomplish something using
an authoritative stance. Drill sergeants may be able to get their
recruits to obey, but I’m willing to bet that most of us
would prefer a more flexible, open-minded approach.
If you are involved with losing weight and committed to getting
there without dieting, you want to be comfortable in relationship
to the process, not relating to it as a “should”.
Otherwise, it is akin to a loveless relationship—you are
there, but you don’t want to be. You keep thinking of what
you are missing.
When you talk about discipline, you are really talking about
desperation. You don’t know any other way to get from point
A to point B. You have been told that dieting is the only way
to lose weight.
It doesn’t make sense—we can have a great work ethic
and be very disciplined in other areas. But when it comes to our
bodies, nothing seems quite as personal or quite as hard to get
a handle on.
We think that if we just follow the rules . . .
But what happens when that doesn’t work? We are right back
into the same old patterns—berating and sabotaging ourselves.
Losing weight really doesn’t take discipline—what
it takes is connection to ourselves, especially to the act and
experience of eating.
It also takes permission to be ourselves and to accept ourselves
as we are. It takes becoming aware of what works for us and allowing
ourselves to fail, at times, in the process.
