What Does Dieting Success Mean to You?

Most of us would agree that dieting involves losing weight. However, getting down to a set weight on the scale does not have to be the way we judge success.
Why are you on a diet? It’s probably not really to do with the number on your scales. Your reason for dieting might be:

• You want to fit back into those jeans
• You’d love to have the energy to run around with your kids or grandchildren
• You want to set yourself up for good health for years to come
• You have health problems – or are at risk of them – due to your weight and former eating habits

When we read about dieting in the media, we’re often faced with images of skeletal celebrities who are on starvation diets in order to get down to a size zero.

Dieting Isn’t About Being Thin

Going by dieting advertisements and “before” and “after” photos, you could easily end up thinking that dieting is all about being thin. And, indeed, if you’ve ever told friends that you’re on a diet only to meet with “Oh, but you’re not fat!” you’ll know that this is the popular conception of dieting.

But dieting doesn’t mean being thin. A healthy diet is a way to ensure that your body is in good health and that you have the energy and the self-confidence to go after your goals in every area of your life.

Being thin isn’t going to improve your health: in fact, many experts believe it’s better to be slightly overweight and fit than to be underweight.

Setting Your Dieting Goals

So if you take the focus away from thinness, what are your personal dieting goals? Earlier in this post, I asked “Why are you on a diet?” These reasons are a good place to start when setting goals.

Your goals don’t necessarily have to be about the number on the scales. You might prefer to:

• Set a goal of a particular waist size
• Have an exercise goal – eg. being able to jog for five miles
• Simply work towards more energy and zest for life – not measured in inches or pounds, but in how you feel each day when you wake up in the morning
• Cut back on sugar, caffeine, fat or anything in your diet which you feel is making you feel tired or sluggish

Real dieting success comes when you’re clear about what you want to get out of your life. Of course, this may well involve shedding some excess pounds – but that doesn’t have to be the sole purpose!

Staying On Track With Your Diet

Once you’ve set clear goals, you need to come up with some way to measure them. You might like to weigh yourself every week, as many dieters do – or you might prefer instead to set the scales aside and to focus on how you feel rather than on a number which is prone to natural fluctuations.

Staying on track might mean:

• Measuring your waist, hips and upper thighs once every fortnight
• Writing a food diary every day – and looking back each week to spot patterns and trends
• Keeping a journal about your energy level and mood
• Ticking off exercise sessions on the calendar

The key is to find some way to make sure that you stay focused on your dieting goal: not simply on being thin. It’s easy to get waylaid into chasing some idea of “perfection” which is anything but healthy – and this is how eating disorders can arise.

If you’re on a diet, or about to start one, take some time to define what diet “success” really means to you. Is it about being thin – or is it simply about enjoying your life more?