When Loved Ones Sabotage Your Diet

The hardest part of a diet is sticking with it. The cravings come, party invitations arrive, along with a thousand other reasons to knock you off your diet.

What stands in your way, destroying your best intentions? Often your friends and family block your weight loss success.

Eating is a huge part of socializing and society in general. It's not just nutrition, it's recreation.

In social or family situations, eating signifies togetherness. Eating can be extremely intimate. Thus, if you ask to be excused from a meal or party that involves eating, your friends or family often feel slighted, even insulted.

Often they feel that their occasion for eating won't make much difference, it's just a small bite after all. If you don't partake in the party food, they feel you're not really joining in the celebration.

Holidays are a challenge unto themselves:

It's my birthday, so eat a big piece of cake and a bowl of ice cream.

It's Thanksgiving, eat a turkey and plate full of mashed potatoes and gravy.

Merry Christmas! Have some sugar cookies and candy canes!

Valentines's Day? Say I love you with a 5-pound box of chocolates.

Even with the best of intentions, those closest to you can sabotage your weight loss efforts. Try making them part of your program. Tell them in advance what you can or cannot eat. Update them on your weight loss journey so they can take part in the victories.

Or you can just be sneaky. Take a plate of food and conveniently leave it somewhere.

Suggest non-eating activities for celebrations and activities. How about:
a walk in the park
visit to the zoo or
a game of cards or chess

to replace heavy eating.

A simple cup of coffee or glass of sparkling water complete the event perfectly.

Take up a craft such as knitting that you can take with you. That will give you a good excuse for not eating. Your hands are already busy.

Do you suspect that some friends or family secretly don't want you to succeed with losing weight? Perhaps that person has tried to lose weight, but failed. Maybe they just take pleasure in criticizing you.

Don't let it depress you, though. Adopt an attitude that you will succeed without them, even show them up! Use their negative attitude as a weapon against them, rather than as you.

If that sounds harsh, remember how much your losing weight means to you and the people who truly love you. Your health matters more.

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