Diet Denial

I was looking at one of the many message boards or forums, if you'd rather call them that, last night. It's amazing their specificity. You name the diet and you'll find a message board for it. Low carb, low fat, low calorie, low salt, the list is endless.

I have noticed one thing, at least, that they all share and that is denial. It comes in many forms, but it is always there. Case in point:

I spent the evening reading the posts on one dieters thread. Her journey to success. It was a journal of sorts that she posted to every few days and then her online friends would answer her posts with rousing cheers for your successes and heartfelt sorrow for her failures.

I read all seventeen pages which covered a thirteen month period. I know, I need a life. Anyway, she started this journey at about 177 pounds. Within this thirteen month period she went up the same twelve pounds to end up thirteen months later back at 177 pounds.

This isn't news. Many people, myself included, lose and gain the same pounds over and over again. What I found interesting were her posts, and this is where the denial comes into play.

Her posts came in two fashions. One were posts where she had lost weight, a pound or less. The other posts, which made up 95% of the posts were complaints about not losing weight and how the diet just simply was not working for her.

In all of her misery, her online pals gave her virtual hugs and admired her stick with it attitude. They weeped and moaned about her fate and how difficult she had it while trying too hard for so long to lose weight.

What no one seemed to mention or perhaps not even notice, as they did not have the perspective of looking over a year at once, was that those 95% of posts that complained of no weight loss also contained the confession of the extra sugar, bits and bites, and days of eating off her plan.

That bit of information seemed to be pushed aside as far as possible and ignored. Of course, here was the true reason she wasn't losing weight. It was right there in black and white if she or any of her buddies wanted to take the time to look and acknowledge the hard cold facts. With all the cheats and days off plan, she was never really truly on plan.

Instead, it was easier for her and everyone else to deny the obvious and sit back and pretend that she and they were helpless. For if they were to admit her faults, then they would have to admit their own.

From personal experience, I know that denial tastes much better when shared with company.