Weight loss: a super common New Year’s resolution. It’s not hard to understand why—with a whole year stretched out before you with clear start and finish dates, it just seems like a logical plan to make.
It sounds smart at first, but let’s think about it some more. Most Americans plan their New Years’ resolutions toward the end of the year, a time when they’re blasted with the biggest meals and the fattiest foods. So they recognize the need to lose weight, but don’t want to do anything about it until after Christmas—the time of year when Americans pack on the most pounds.
How is that a good plan?
Doctor and weight loss expert Khandee Ahnaimugan wrote a thinker for The Huffington Post recently. Dr. Ahnaimugan claims that this strategy (putting off dieting until after a month of heavy eating) is a result of misunderstanding what a proper diet is.
“The dieting mentality has poisoned our society. Even people who don’t think they are affected by it act in ways that betray the fact [that] they think that managing your weight means denying enjoyment,” he says. And because they think they can’t enjoy their favorite foods when they’re on a diet, people just give up on starting one during the Christmas season and resolve to begin later.
But then what? If the diet gets in the way of pleasure afterward, do you give up? And if it works, do you stop once you hit a goal? Dr. Ahnaimugan challenges us to think of a healthy life as a lifetime activity, not just a short- or mid-term goal.
So, can you start dieting this Christmas? And if you have been losing weight already this year, what’s your plan for keeping it off? Leave a comment and let us know!