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Will you lose weight if you stop dieting?I get asked the question over and over: "How can that work? Won't I just eat everything in sight?" You can lose weight if you stop dieting, and no, you won't eat everything in sight. Dieting and compulsive eating are two sides of the same coin, because dieting causes compulsive behavior through restriction and denial. How? Let's take a look: The more restrictive a diet is, the greater the binge-type behavior you will indulge in, because without making other changes, you can't go on denying yourself food. If food serves a purpose for you other than satisfying hunger, you will not be able to restrict yourself indefinitely from something you need. Even if the diet is initially successful, and you lose weight, a "diet mentality" is being created. The "diet mentality" is the idea that all problems can be solved by restricting your food intake and losing a few pounds! In addition, success at dieting allows the dieter to avoid the deeper issues that contribute to their negative self-image in the first place. Until I had the realization that I needed to heal inwardly, I was convinced that by changing my body, I would change my life. Because I was certain that my suffering was due to my size, I believed that when the weight disappeared, it would take old wounds, hurts, and rejections with it. I thought that changing the shape on the outside would alter the feelings on the inside. Never worked.
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