2010: The Year of ANTI- Dieting

If I had to count how many times my new resolution was to diet and lose X-number of pounds, I'd be going back a couple decades. This year, I'm swearing off counting calories and scribbling in mandatory gym days into my schedule. This doesn't mean I still don't want to lose the pounds that crept on over the years, I just don't want to have o lose my mind to do it.

The problem with dieting is that often times, in our dieting attempts, we cut corners and go to crazy extremes to lose the maximum amount of weight as quickly as possible. Here are some of the biggest reasons explaining why diets fail, along with some helpful hints, techniques and goals to get your weight down without watching it skyrocket back up the next month.

Diets aren't realistic. Who eats a stick of celery with cottage cheese for 2+ meals each day? When you do a crash diet like the celery/grapefruit/juice diet, you're cutting so many calories out of your diet that you can't help but to lose weight quickly. But as soon as you hit your mark on your scale, you resume your old eating habits, and low and behold, those darn numbers just won't stay low enough. The thing you have to strive for is a lifestyle change.

Some of the most effective diet regimens require dieters to stop eating out and stick to low-calorie home-made meals to stay on track. Many times I hear women complain that dieting is expensive and requires a gym membership and expensive pre-packaged, calorie-calculated frozen meals. Low-calorie cookbooks now take up a whole bookcase at my local Barnes and Noble; this way you can keep track of what you're putting in your body without losing taste.

This takes us to my next point: many diets sacrifice nutrition. Women can become so focused on dropping the pounds that they'll cut whole food groups. The problem isn't the food, ladies, the problem is the amount you're consuming. For high-calorie foods such as desserts and fried foods, the key is moderation. If this means limiting your cheesecake dessert to one or two bites instead of the whole piece with whipped cream, then make the adjustment but don't torture yourself into making food the enemy.

Life does not revolve around diets. When you put yourself on a rigid, strictly laid out dieting track, you leave no room for lunch or dinner dates with friends and family, which forces you to make the choice of going out with your loved ones and having to eat food you can't immediately calculate into your food journal, or staying home with your cottage cheese-you can't help but miss out on life.

This year, I've resolved to cook more at home, buy low-fat products when available, and actually make it to the aerobics class at the gym I've been eyeing forever. After all, who said I can't enjoy breaking a sweat? If Kelly Osborne can dance off the pounds, so can I. The diet frozen meals in the freezer are not emergency-only go-to's; I've reclaimed my right to life and changing it according to my ability.

What makes me happy, is that I know I'm not alone here who is doing it. Way to go Fabbers agains Fab.

Have a fantastic week.