Choosing a diet is much like choosing a book… nearly any book will have (some) benefit, even though it might not be a book you prefer (or want to keep reading). However, if you keep putting off starting to read (or beginning that diet) you’ll never find out if it works for you. The diet is not the (only) problem. Said differently, we can dawdle along, “choosing” a different diet or new lifestyle to follow, but none of them will help if we don’t make up our minds, already!
It wasn’t too very long ago that I wrote Goodbye Trim Healthy Mama – For Now. So, please understand that I am preaching to the choir here. After reviewing the plan book for Trim Healthy Mama in late 2016 – not quite eight years ago – I found myself immersed in the world of Trim Healthy Mama (THM).
How it Started with THM VERSUS How It Ended
Starting Trim Healthy Mama was great. After some adjustment, and learning to use the ingredients, I lost forty pounds. And then I had two kids, life changed, my body changed, and nothing was working.
Nothing if not stubborn, I kept going with Trim Healthy Mama – but truly with the major life changes of two children and two elderly adults moving in with us, I got too lax. Crossovers take less thought and planning, and are easier if you are cooking for a large group (five adults and two young kids at the time of writing this, with only me and one other adult plus the kids on-plan). They also can lead to weight gain, if you abuse them.
With my ending weight higher than it started, and having about ninety pounds to lose instead of fifty or so, I abandoned the idea of Trim Healthy Mama – sort of.
When the Diet is not the (Only) Problem
Trim Healthy Mama would probably work for me if I were stricter. More careful. However, sometimes it (seems) easier to change diets than to actually commit or double down on the diet or lifestyle you’ve already chosen.
Yes, my medication causes weight gain. It feels like fighting a losing battle. Yes, I was frustrated and gaining weight instead of losing it, feeling like Trim Healthy Mama had stopped “working”.
However.
I’m the problem, too. The diet is not the (only) problem. Yes, my body changed, but Trim Healthy Mama is a flexible lifestyle. Jumping around to different diets has not helped the problem, it’s made it worse.
TL;DR
Leaving your current diet or lifestyle may not be the answer… because the diet may not be the problem. The problem could be many things, including an inability to fully commit to eating according to the diet, or even impatience with the waiting that tends to come before losing weight.
Christian, wife, “hybrid” mama, I run the site All Behind A Smile to help others like me.
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