People who have never been overweight and have not had significant issues with their weight eat, think, and behave differently from chronic dieters. If you're a chronic dieter, do you have a tendency to:
- "Graze," i.e., eat a larger amount of food than you intended throughout part of the day, or binge-eat
- Feel a lack of control over your eating
- Try not to notice how much you're eating
- Eat until you feel uncomfortably full
- Overeat and stop only when the food is gone
- Eat alone (maybe in secret) because you'd be embarrassed by how much you're eating
- Obsess (think too much) about food throughout the day or evening
- Feel depressed, guilty, or disgusted with yourself after overeating
- Eat as a primary coping strategy when you're upset
- Eat when you're bored
- Significantly overvalue body shape and weight
- Weigh yourself more than once a day
- Become pre-occupied with how heavy your body feels or how tight your clothes are after meals or throughout the day
- Plan ahead so you never have to be hungry
- Avoid the scale when you think you have gained weight
- Feel unable to control what you order to eat or what kind of food you buy
- Make one "mistake" (i.e., "cheat") and then eat with abandon
- Feel helpless when you gain weight
- Continually make exceptions to your eating rules
- Eat whenever you feel like it, regardless of your level of hunger
- Try to fool yourself about the amount you consume or the consequences of your consumption
- Skip meals to lose weight
- Outlaw certain foods completely
These characteristics are generally not shared by "normal" eaters and they can make it difficult to lose weight-or to keep it off. You may be able to curb these tendencies for a period of time, especially if you're highly motivated. But chances are you will revert to these behaviors at some point and regain weight-unless you learn a different way of thinking and eating that allows you to make permanent changes in your behavior.
