For as long as I can remember, I have lived my life with four sizes of jeans in my closet at all times.  Everyday when I wake up, I still don’t feel confident in knowing which size I’ll be wearing. Worse is the fear that still lingers that none of them will fit and prayers will have to follow… “Lord, please let my leggings be clean.”

This, to me, is the quintessential badge of honor for a yo-yo dieter.

Here’s why I feel I am a yo-yo dieter…

If you show me a picture of any major life event (high school prom, college graduation, a best friend’s wedding, first day at a new job) over the past twenty years, I can actually tell you exactly how much I weighed… to the ounce.

I can confidently estimate that I’ve gained and lost the same 30 pounds, oh 100 times, minimum.

Recently someone asked me which diet I think works best for me.  I said “the Weight Watchers, low carb, elimination, clean eating, high fiber, high protein, natural sugar, food combining, shop the perimeter, with a cheat day, Starbucks and peanut butter whenever I am on my period plan” 

Have you heard of this plan? I created it because I have come to learn the catalyst that fuels yo-yo dieting is the misconception that one size fits all when it comes to dieting.

See I have tried EVERY diet in the book. And even if I have not tried it, I have considered trying it or been lured into the thought that “this could be it… the diet I’ve been waiting for.” So with that belief I take on every diet with a combination of desperation and hope.

Day 1, I follow each plan meticulously – not a single slip up. And did the same on day 2 and 3.  Typically around day 4 or 5 is when the panic sets in that I will have to live life this way forever, with entire food groups off the table. And that’s the end of that.

The next grand idea is soon to follow, of course.  The vicious cycle continues, and has continued for the past 20 years.

If you are about to stop reading because you think I am going to say, “it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle,” I promise you I won’t. Because I never once believed that when someone told it to me, and frankly, it pissed me off every time it was said.  For some reason, unbeknownst to me, that never resonated with me. It was always a diet. Always. There was a finish line for me and I was determined to get there. The perfect diet would have to end dieting…

Truth be told, when you follow a plan that is food related, it’s a diet. And YES it will work. Of course it will work. But the thought of doing that everyday for the rest of your life, will send you face first into an Entenmann’s crumb cake.

So the only diet that can end dieting is the diet YOU create. One that encompasses every emotion, every social gathering, every craving and can still give you peace of mind. It will change by the day, the hour, or even the minute.

For me, it’s “the Weight Watchers, low carb, elimination, clean eating, high fiber, high protein, natural sugar, food combining, shop the perimeter, with a cheat day, Starbucks and peanut butter whenever I am on my period plan.”  But that MAY change tomorrow.

What I can tell is you is that when I abandoned the “one size fits all” plans, when it came to losing weight, my jeans size became one of the few constants in my life.