Yes, that’s right.  I would suggest that you make a New Year’s Resolution NOT to diet ever again.  Diets don’t work because they don’t help you develop a way of eating that is sustainable and enjoyable.  The diet might work to help you lose weight while you’re doing it (although frankly I never was able to stay on one more than a day or two).  Then, when you stop the diet, you go back to eating the way you did to begin with and you gain the weight back.  Right?  Be honest with yourself.  If you are contemplating dieting at all on the cusp of this New Year, ask yourself if it ever really worked before.  If it had, you wouldn’t be contemplating doing another one because you would have already reached your weight goal.

To read an interview by the authors of The Diet Survivor’s Handbook go to the following website.   They also suggest that self-care is best accomplished by honoring your internal cues for physical hunger, moving the body, meditating, getting good rest, and NOT dieting!  These are all suggestions that I applaud with vigor.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-fain-licsw-msw/new-years-resolution_b_1167354.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

If you want another New Year’s Resolution, how about deciding not to weigh yourself anymore?  I have rarely weighed myself since 2008 when I moved houses and threw out the scale.  Sometimes I’ll let the nurse weigh me on a visit to the doctor, but not always.  And, I never want to know the number.  Now this might sound a bit neurotic, but I’m much happier not knowing the number.  I was NEVER happy with the number, so what’s the point.  If I want to be unhappy, get on the scale.  If I want to be happy, don’t get on the scale.

As the New Year approaches, I believe that we should all engage more in the activities that bring us joy and happiness and a feeling of “yes” inside and engage less in the activities that drain us, create a sense of burden, and make us unhappy.   My plan is to go on a weekend retreat over the New Year holiday and journal about those things.  Perhaps you might give it a little thought as well.  2012 can be a year in which you create the life you want to live instead of letting it live you.

Happy New Year!!!

NOTE:  If your doctor has prescribed a particular diet for you, this is different than “dieting.”  You should always work in conjunction with the recommendations of your primary care physician.