I, like many women my age, have a long history with dieting.
I’ll spare you all the boring details, but I’ve essentially been on (or cheating on) one diet or another since I was about 14. Some have worked, some haven’t. But obviously, since I’m still unhappy with my weight, nothing has produced lasting results. Shocking, I know.
As a reasonably intelligent person, I’m not completely clear on why I continue trying diet after diet – after the first couple, shouldn’t I have realized that they’re bogus? On an intellectual level, I suppose I do know that this is true. But I guess I’m vain. Or maybe I’m oppressed by a culture that demands that women be thin in order to be desirable, worthy, and socially accepted. You decide.
Anyway, this year, like so many years before, I resolved that I would lose weight. Since I’ve experimented with nearly every commercial diet out there save for a handful, I decided that I’d try one of the few that I haven’t been on before. I won’t name names, but this diet involves drinking weight-loss shakes in the place of meals.
Today was the first day. The results? I have a horrible, terrible stomachache. Like, I actually considered leaving work early because I was in so much pain. I also have a chemical taste in my mouth that won’t go away, and I feel light-headed and a little dizzy. Sounds great, right?
Believe it or not, I’ve actually felt much, much worse than this on the first day of a diet and have been able to soldier on for weeks. But, for reasons I can’t really explain, today is different. Today, on my way home from school, hunched over from stomach pains and trying to focus on the road, I decided that I have had enough.
I am done with weight loss products, programs, subscriptions, and “information.” I can’t promise I’ll never try to lose weight again, but I am seriously, 100% done with spending money on stuff that’s supposed to make me lose weight. I just can’t anymore with this stuff. I just can’t.
This blog isn’t about emotions so let’s talk about why, financially, I’m so done with diet products: simply put, I’m fucking sick and tired of throwing my money down a rat hole that does nothing but make me miserable. I have no clue how much cash I’ve spent on trying to whittle my waistline over the years, but I’d estimate that it’s in the thousands of dollars.
Do you know how much that pisses me off? Thousands of dollars, you guys. And what did I get for that money? Stomachaches, headaches, boring nights that I didn’t go out with my friends, tears, ridicule, and a hell of a lot of shitty, unsatisfying food. Oh and, lots of wasted stuff. Like right now – what am I going to do with all those shakes I won’t be drinking? Talk about pouring money down the drain – literally!
So that’s it. I hereby declare that I am no longer spending money on anything related to weight loss. My wallet (and my psyche) has undergone years and years of diet-related damage, and there’s no way to get that cash back. But I am damn sure I’m done making the problem worse.
