Even though I gave up dieting eight years ago, I sometimes wonder if I should lose some weight. Why? Well, for starters it’s a concept that’s very ingrained in me.

I started my first official diet at the age of twenty-two, not because I needed to lose weight but because I was supporting a friend and losing a few pounds didn't sound half bad. We joined Weight Watchers and I ended up losing around 20 pounds. Man, did I look good, skinny with protruding hip bones – just like Twiggy who I had idolized in high school.

We all know the story though, lose weight, gain it back, lose it again, gain back more. Gosh, dieting became the thread that ran through the story of my life – for forty years.

Have you ever thought about how amazing the human body is? Honestly, it’s mindboggling.

One of the really cool things I admire about the human body is that it gives us information. Sometimes I think we humans look at our bodies like they’re something we have to endure. But truly, we couldn’t be alive on this planet without it and no matter what our body looks like, we really should be honoring and listening to what it has to tell us. 

For instance, excess weight can be an indication that the body is out of balance.

Life is interesting. We’re presented with so many ups and downs, good days and bad days.

I tend to have challenging days and a lack of patience is my biggest challenge. I can screw up a perfectly good day by being impatient. With the help of my husband, I’ve started to come to terms with being patient mainly because he’s impatient with my impatience.

When I was in my early twenties, I went on my first diet. I did it to support a friend and I ended up losing twenty plus pounds. That in itself didn’t start my dieting career though. It was the comment I received after the weight loss from a male acquaintance who I thought was a demi-god. He said I looked hot. And that’s how dieting became my new best friend.

How could that one statement have impacted me so? How could this one comment keep me dieting for the next 40 years? Let’s take a look, because that’s exactly what happened.

Do you remember the time in 1988 when Oprah Winfrey lost weight, and in her tiny body trapped in some very tight jeans, pulled a wagon full of fat onto the stage of her show?

The fat in the wagon represented the 67 pounds of fat she had dieted off her body. If you weren’t about to barf at the sight of a wagon full of fat, then you were probably pretty amazed. But it’s what happened next that got my attention.

Have you ever thought about how contracted and single focused a weight loss diet is? While they lead you to believe they are here to help you, the truth is the only thing they’re capable of doing is making you and your body feel miserable. 

In order for you to allow a diet into your life, it first has to convince you that something is wrong with you. Is there? Was there something wrong with you before the diet told you there was?

In my article “Are You Accidentally Gaining Weight” I wrote about weight loss diets and how I believe they fail women. If you and I were sitting across from each other having a conversation, you would be able to see how truly passionate I am about this topic.

I’m passionate because I believe it’s time for women to re-evaluate how we think about our bodies. I want us to accept ourselves as we are whether we’re short, tall, thin, fat, whatever.

When I was 21, I went on my first weight loss diet. I wasn’t personally looking to lose weight, but a friend wanted to lose a few pounds and asked me to join him. Little did I know that I was setting myself up for a 40 year battle with yo-yo dieting and body hate.

During that first diet, I lost enough weight to go from a size 14 to size 8 and hey, at 5’9” I thought I was looking pretty good! I bought, and wore, a little black bikini and skimpy shorts with matching skimpy halter tops. Life was fun – on the outside.

This is what I know to be true. We’re not alive on this planet to be on a weight loss diet, we weren’t given bodies to try and control them. We are, in fact, amazingly beautiful beyond even our wildest imagination. We carry the light of Source – love consciousness within us.

Going on a weight loss diet, is like telling the Goddess of all that is that she’s an ugly bunch of fat that needs to be controlled, denied, and restricted so she can look better. It's trying to control the universe that lives within us - that is you. And why would you want to do that?

Can you recall a time you enjoyed your weight? A time when you hopped onto the scale with delight and when you got off you felt all tingly with excitement?

No? I don't think you’re alone.

I recall times when I’d be feeling pretty good and then I'd get onto the scale hoping I’d see the magic number and when I didn’t, I’d spiral into despair. I’d go make my mandatory “you failed” salad for lunch and pace back and forth in front of the vending machine in the afternoon trying to decide if I should sneak a 100 calorie ice cream sandwich.