Losing Weight for Summer

Question:

i have to lose some weight before summer, and last year i did it by eating all fruit and drinking water only. can this cause damage too me?

Answer:

Like many others who have written to me, the summer season seems to intensify your desire to lose weight. We are surrounded by images of an unrealistically thin ideal of beauty and by many people who are attempting to emulate it. Fashionable summer clothes, especially swimsuits, often seem designed to reveal and emphasize body shape and size. Beaches, pools, picnics and other opportunities for seasonal fun can become occasions for discomfort or worse for someone who is unhappy about the way their body looks. Social gatherings at any time of year can stimulate body image anxieties, of course, but it does seem to be worse in the summertime.

Eating only fruit and drinking only water does not meet your body's nutritional needs and would eventually damage your health. I also want to point out that though you lost weight with this restrictive diet last summer, now you again feel that you need to lose weight. This is one of the reasons why I cannot recommend dieting - it simply does not work. In fact, dieting slows your metabolism, making it harder to lose and easier to gain weight. Each time you diet, your metabolism gets slower, so repeated dieting makes it worse and worse.

Perhaps, instead of depriving yourself and risking your health, you can experiment with sustainable habits of self-care. You may find that you are more able to enjoy yourself this summer, and hopefully next summer, every summer and the seasons in between. There are many books which can provide inspiration and ideas. Check the self-help section of your local bookstore or the online catalogue of Gurze Books (Welcome to Grze Books Home Page ). Or you may find this site, looks contents, from gURL headquarters! supportive and/or amusing.

I wish you good luck and a safe and happy summer!