Things That Happened When I Stopped Dieting

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

In January I resolved, as so many do, to “get my eating back on track” and I started tracking the food I ate.

I restricted. I obsessed about snacks that were less than a hundred calories. I choked down “healthy meals” that made me gag.

All in the name of my health.

All in the name of a smaller body.

And I had finally had enough.

I flat out stopped dieting. I decided I would not restrict anything anymore.

I was starving myself deliberately and making it a moral stance.

In the past, I did Whole30, I did autoimmune elimination diets, I went gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, nightshade-free, and I did vegan keto for all of two weeks. I did three day cleanses, three times, involving two or three shakes a day plus a piece of fruit plus a salad with a vinaigrette dressing and salmon or chicken breast.

I used to pack carrots and celery with almond butter in my lunch and force myself to go hungry if I “wasn’t hungry enough for my carrots.”

I hate raw carrots and they make me gag. I was starving myself deliberately and making it a moral stance.

Nope.