Why Diet?

Why diet at all? Why exercise, or take diet pills, or give up sweets and fats? Vanity? Romance? To please someone else? To boost your career? Because of health problems? To avoid health problems? To feel disciplined and in control? All of these are good reasons, if their effect is not extreme. Anorexia can stem from a need to feel in control. Dieting to please someone else is fine if it is an effort you have freely chosen to make, but dieting because someone is pressuring you probably won’t work. Losing weight because you believe you will be a more effective salesperson if you present a more energetic image is one thing, meeting the standards most models are held to is another, and dangerous, reason. Perhaps thinking about why you are dieting will help you choose the most appropriate approach to weight loss.