The period of December to January takes up only a little time, but marks a huge shift in mentality. December is the month for embracing gluttony, and we are encouraged to eat and drink to our hearts content. And then a little more. The point is to be not satisfied, but overstuffed.
Yuletide cheer and gorging fall away sharply on the first of January. People wake up, shake off their hangovers and grab the pair of running shoes they haven’t seen since this time last year. January is the month where diet culture takes over more than any other. New Year’s resolutions have homogenised lately, with a huge proportion of people holding the same goal: lose pounds, lose inches, lose lose lose.
Glossy magazines and advertisements telling you how perfect life will be at the end of your weight loss, are enticing. They promise, in a word, happiness. And that’s what we all want, right? But a certain number on a scale or the size of a dress doesn’t magically transmute into contentment. Magazines show dieters (usually celebrities; people who the rest of us admire) as ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures, but it is difficult to reach a point where a person is ‘finished’ with weight loss. The rush of a fad diet can, for a small proportion of people, spiral out of control.
That is a genuinely life-threatening scenario. But the effects of fad dieting on the majority of people are also incredibly dangerous, and for the most part ineffective. Sure, you’ll drop a few pounds. You might drop a dozen. But the majority of it will be from water, which is lost as you eat less and become dehydrated. You’ll be tired and malnourished. But of course, you’ll be smaller and therefore ‘happier’?
Not quite. The majority of fad dieters regain any weight they’ve lost, and even a bit more, after the diet ends. Severe restriction isn’t sustainable. It will just make January colder and more miserable as you try to cope with the freezing temperatures without adequate fuel.
New Year’s resolutions can be wonderful. They can cause you to make a real change to your life, or to others. Don’t do what everyone else does. Use them to develop a passion or save the world, rather than try to make yourself less.
