Hope.

That’s the reason why you might begin a weight loss program. Hope to fit in a smaller dress, hope to improve your health, hope to look and feel more attractive, hope to stop the pain.

Every weight loss plan is a chance for hope and most weight loss plans do deliver — for a little while. Sometimes that little while lasts a few weeks, sometimes a few months, and in some cases it even lasts a few years.

But then there is one result that is a guarantee of every weight loss plan, no matter how long they last, what they’re called, whether they’re fad diets or ordered by a doctor.

Overeating

That out-control binging that always follows a diet is the direct result of dieting. Dieting mentality might convince you that it’s your fault if you end up binging, that you lack willpower or strength. But that’s as true as saying that your falling down is your fault instead of a result of the force of gravity.

Dieting is like driving with your foot on the brake. Sooner or later, the tires wear down and we skid out of control. If diets were faulty cars, we would be suing the manufacturer. Instead, we let them blame us. Dr. Rick Kausman — If Not Dieting, Then What?

Overeating is a good thing.

Nope, I haven’t completely lost my mind. Overeating means that your body and your mind want to break free of the senseless restrictions of dieting and weight management and fake “healthy eating” that feel foreign to your body.

As Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter point out in their groundbreaking work “When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies”, binging is a rebellion against the idea that there is something wrong with you. From a physiological standpoint, overeating means that your body wants food, nourishment, energy, in other words it wants to live!

Perhaps you have been overeating as you read these words. Please know then that it’s okay, it’s healthy to overeat. You’re breaking free from dieting and reclaiming your right to eat what you want and what you need to live a fulfilling life.

It may feel like this will last forever, but it won’t. You can learn to trust yourself and to enjoy all foods.