The Seven Circles of Reverse Dieting

It’s not enough to lose weight, you are supposed to keep it off too

Photo by Fuu J on Unsplash

I consider myself lucky. Or blessed. Or both. But more than anything, I think that I am a superhero. Not to brag, but I do think that what I achieved in the past two years in terms of weight loss, it’s a superhuman act of consistency and willpower. And I deserve a medal. But I also deserve a break. I deserve a break from dieting and worrying about my weight, my health, and my body. Maybe I also deserve a mental breakdown…

I spent all my life dieting. Or at least the last 30 years of it. Which is a lot.

I used to be a chubby girl, not too active physically — which is a vicious circle: no success at sports, less trying, leading to even less success and even less trying. I was trying to avoid to get hurt, so I stayed away to save myself from failure and embarrassment. It was easier to just study and read — I was good at that. But the PE classes… they were killing me. I hated them so profoundly, and along with them iIbegan to hate everything where I was going to fail from the get-go.

I was good at dieting — or so I thought. I wasn’t efficiently dieting, but I was very good at keeping a low-calorie diet, for even longer periods of time, like 6–12 months. And I did get results. But they weren’t…