Tuesday 22nd September 2009
by
Today’s question of the week is for people of both genders although women may be more likely to answer it than men will be. That’s because most of us women have struggled with body image issues at one point or another. We may now be at a point where we feel fairly confident in ourselves and can maintain healthy habits for weight loss but there was probably some point in time when we did unhealthy things to try to shed a few pounds.
So, today’s question of the week is:
What’s the worst thing that you’ve done to lose weight?
Have you tried fad diets, diet pills, starving yourself? Are you willing to admit it so that others can see that many women struggle with (and overcome) this issue? Why do you consider what you did to be so bad?
My answer to this question is that I tried diet pills and caffeine pills briefly in an effort to lose weight during my late teens. The pills made me feel sick so I stopped them pretty quickly. I’m a bit embarassed to admit that I even tried them because I feel like this isn’t something that educated, normal-weight women should be doing. And I think it’s a bad thing (for me anyway) because it reflected a serious lack of concern for my health compared to my interest in my appearance.
Please share your stories in the comments.
Tags: diet pills, health, question of the week, weight loss
I think its really important to note that it isn’t just women that try these fad diets or use supplements. I used supplements to drop about 25 pounds between high school and college. I stayed on them trying different brands and wasting money but merely as a means to maintain my current weight as my frame wouldn’t support any more weight loss (without sort of rebuilding my body from the ground up). Even still, those supplements are things i consider going back to once in a while, if it wasn’t for the cost.
I once went on a “biblical” diet, based on the Old Testament passage in the Book of Daniel, where three captive Israelites were fed a diet only of vegetables and water, and were said to look better and be healthier than anyone around them.
Of course this was essentially a vegetarian diet, but I didn’t take any thought for getting it all balanced and getting the right sorts of nutrients. So I did this really sparse vegetables-and-water diet. I did lose weight (of course!), but it absolutely wrecked my nerves by the end. Never again.