Career Dieter

First, just to get this out of the way - yesterday's weight was the same. I maintained. Boring. I hate maintaining, especially when I feel like I'm working my butt off. But in my scale's defense, I'm super sore from boot camp this week, so maybe I'm holding water in my muscles. I really don't know. Hope to see a downward movement next week though.

So the boy is out of town for work right now and when I got home from boot camp, I snuggled up on the couch with the dogger and made a few phone calls, watched some TV, and read my new Self Magazine. I'm sure you've heard about the study they did - the one that says up to 75 percent of women engage in "disordered eating." Wow. That is a lot. But I know for sure I am one of those types.

What type am I?

Career dieter. For sure.

From the article: "Career dieters may not know what to eat without a plan to follow; despite their efforts, they're more likely than other types to be overweight or obese."

The career dieter has been on a diet more than 3/4 of her adult life. Honestly - I'd say I'm pretty damn close to that. I can't remember a day when I didn't think - a lot - about what I was going to eat, what I was eating, what I just ate - and how it was going to change my results on the scale.

I've tried a bunch of programs. WW, Slim 4 Life, Atkins, South Beach, Slow Carb (just did that, for like 10 minutes, remember?) and now I'm counting calories on Spark People, which is what I did in 2006 when I was really successful with weight loss.

Part of me just likes having the accountability. But part of my reads an article like this and says, "holy shit, what am I doing to myself?" I'm a career dieter and I'm still overweight.

It's tempting to just throw in the towel. But I also know that even though I'm counting calories, right now I'm not following any "diet plan" other than my own, and I'm actually seeing some success (despite the maintain this week.)

Do I want to count calories - and think about food, a lot, for the rest of my life? No, of course not.

Do I think I might anyway? Yes. I know myself, and I know I have a tendency to get out of control with it if I don't think about it consciously at every single meal. Every single meal.

So yeah, I might be a "career dieter." I might have to think about food a lot. It doesn't mean I'm happy about it, or that it's healthy. But honestly, I'd rather do that than avoid thinking about it, because I know when I do that I fall into my worst place, a very bad place, and I end up gaining. I'm 28 now, and I don't want to go into my 30's mindlessly and continue to gain weight as I age until I get to a place where I don't even recognize myself.

What about you? Do you fall into any of these categories?