Why Your Crash Diet Won't Work

Image taken from: www.veganmainstream.com

It’s official. Spring Break is right around the corner for most college campuses. At my school, Ohio State, we have one more week of classes until campus becomes empty and nearly everyone embraces a week free from classes and alarm clocks. A lot of students are busy planning the last minute details of their trips to exotic and warm locales. In between itinerary checking, buying travel sized toothpaste, and loading up on snacks for the road, these travelers all find the time to make their way to the gym. Gym attendance goes up in the weeks before Spring Break with the same rapidity as it does right after January 1st; it is the second busiest time of the year.

As a gym-goer, I have witnessed this increase in attendance over the past several weeks. I have overheard the conversations of dozens of women and men who are determined to slim down or bulk up before they head to the beach. Some of the most popular conversations include statements such as:

“I need to lose ten pounds by next month.”

“I want a six-pack by Spring Break.”

“I need to look good in my bikini!”

“I ate a cookie last night. I feel disgusting.”

As I watch and as I listen, I cannot help but want to walk up to my fellow students and tell them the simple but hard truth: “You will  fail.”

I think it is a wonderful thing when I find the gym filled with people; getting active and taking care of yourself is awesome. However, you cannot expect to create a sustainable change in your life if you commit yourself to working hard for such a short period of time, while simultaneously expecting to see drastic changes in your body. No one would need to crash diet and work out for hours every day to get ready for Spring Break if we were willing to be a little more lenient with our bodies and our deadlines. Goals are great, but starting to work out two weeks before Spring Break and expecting to lose ten pounds is an impossible goal. Yes, you may reach your goal weight, but you’ll be unhappy while getting there. No one wants to deprive themselves and be grouchy and hungry for two weeks.

It may seem like I’m saying that you’re in a lose-lose situation; it’s too late to change your body so you might as well buy a really cute cover-up for the beach. No. I am suggesting that you start working out, that you start to track what you eat, that you fuel your body, and that you take care of yourself, but that you set realistic goals for yourself along the way. Take away the pressure to reach your ultimate body by Spring Break. Instead, make a promise to yourself that this is only the beginning of a new way of life for yourself. Promise yourself that you are going to continue your journey to healthfulness after you return from the land of eternal sunshine. Promise yourself that this Spring Break will be about more than hating your body or loving your body or obsessing about your body. Instead, try to focus on enjoying yourself and making memories.

Once you decide to look at working out and eating well as a life-long endeavor and not as a three-week fix, you cannot fail.