Eureka!

Please, let me explain my elation.

For the past month, I have been helping my very close friend, Jackie, lose weight. Usually undertaking this sort of task for friends or family members causes grief and strife, and for the most part doesn't end well. It's not because they aren't satisfied with the results, if it even gets to that point, but usually because I end up getting my feelings hurt.

This is because, in the end, they just don't get it. They want to revert back to their old ways: losing 15 pounds after week two of the South Beach Diet, and then gaining back 20 pounds after week 3 of Phase 2.

But my way isn't the "diet" way. I AM THE ANTI-DIET. (cue Slayer...now.)

So yes, they don't get it, and "they" didn't get it, until today. This evening, after finishing my make-you-want-to-throw-up work-out with Jackie, she mentioned she had lost about 6.5 pounds so far and felt amazing, because...wait for it...wait for it...SHE DIDN'T FEEL LIKE SHE WAS ON A DIET. My response? A big, stupid grin.

Jackie will later on, as I requested, write the best little testimonial on my behalf, but in a nutshell, what she is most excited about is having the control to say yes or no without the feeling of eminent failure on the horizon. CONTROL is the key word there. She is able to include all her favourite dishes without the feeling of guilt and without eliminating a single food from her repertoire. She can eat carrots and bagels, and she can drink wine. All together, even.

Diets are like really bad boyfriends/girlfriends: they tell you what to eat, how to eat it, with what to eat it with. Soon enough, you get fed up (hopefully) and start to exhibit classic the symptoms of battered person syndrome against your bagel!. And what the hell has that carb-licious bagel even done to you?!

By no means am I saying there are no general rules for trying to lose weight. If that were so, I wouldn't have a job. On the contrary, nutrition in relation to your body can be a complicated thing; therefore, when books and products claim to have the ONE answer, a big DING!!! should automatically go off in your head followed by a big RUN AWAY!!! And if it doesn't, well then, I'm hoping that I can help sort those things out.

You too can have your EUREKA moment!

Cheers!