I always thought that the hardest part of dieting was fighting against my own urge to eat the wrong things (mmmm…doughnuts!). Boy, I wasn’t even close! The last couple of days I have been very careful to only take “good” (a.k.a. low carb) foods with me to work so that I couldn’t slip up. This morning the scale said 196.5, and while I realize that after only 2 days that’s most likely nothing more than water loss, any time the numbers go down instead of up helps to strengthen my determination. I know that in order to reach my goal, I’m going to have to make some sacrifices (sorry Coldstone, I can’t come visit you right now, but know that I miss you terribly and think of you often!), and I am perfectly willing to do that. What I want to know, though, is why does that bother *other* people so darned much??
Since starting my diet on Wednesday, I have had to practically *fight off* people urging me to eat macaroni and cheese, cheetos, chocolate, pizza, and ice cream (not necessarily in that order). I am not so weak that I will crack if you simply make the offer, but why the heck is it so hard for people to simply accept the words, “No, thank you, I’m on a diet” ? Why do they care if *I’m* denying myself? I’m not asking them not to partake, I’m not even asking anyone to leave the room if they’re eating something that’s torturing the hell out of me…so why does it drive them so crazy that I *want* to stick to my diet? I just don’t get it. You say no, and yet they still persist. “Oh, you know you want it!” “You shouldn’t deny yourself, here, have a little.” “It’s ok to cheat a little now and then, come on…” If I had told you “no thank you, I’m deathly allergic,” would you still shove that plate of cookies in my face declaring that “a little bit won’t hurt”?
So look…the next time you offer someone a big slice of chocolate cake and they tell you “thank you, but I’m dieting”, let it go! Instead of spending the next 5 minutes trying to convince them that “a little piece is ok, here, try it”, why don’t *you* try this: accept that ‘no’ means ‘no’, let that person know that you applaud their efforts and wish them luck, and go peddle your evil cake elsewhere.
Imagine how hard it would be to climb a mountain if everyone you knew was standing at the top throwing rocks down on you. How much easier would it be if they threw you a rope instead?