Want to Know The Best Part About Unsolicited Advice? There Isn’t Any.

Keep your opinions to yourself unless you’re asked.

Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash

I’m almost 45 years old and I can tell you, dieting and weight loss have been a pretty prevalent part of my life for at least 39 years. Sound crazy? It should. My mother put me on the first diet I remember being on when I was around six years old. So when I tell you, I know a little bit about diet, weight loss, and exercise, I’m not exaggerating.

And believe me, when I tell you I don’t remotely need your unsolicited advice or opinion about my body or what it needs, I’m deadly serious.

I really despise the word ‘diet’ as it pertains to culture. Weight Watchers, Keto, The Rice Diet, Flat Belly, all the fads and latest and greatest things make me want to vomit honestly. Thinking about sitting down and counting calories, watching everything I eat, putting down my fork between bites, anything related to diet culture makes me cringe. It all goes back to that very first diet from when I was a kid.

Why was I put on a diet at such a tender age? Because when I sat down, I had a tiny roll in my tummy.

And it just got worse from there. Everything I ate, drank, hell I swear that woman knew what I thought about, was considered, weighed and analyzed. I remember trips to the pool during the summer and snacks of peanut butter and celery. One of my favorites. But wait, that’s what my brother got. Me? Just celery, with a little salt. To this day, I refuse to eat celery without peanut butter.

It’s shit like that which stays with you for life.

Recently I’ve decided once again, it’s time to do something about this middle aged spread I’ve had going on (forever), along with various other things. I quit smoking, too. I started going to the gym. I stopped drinking soda. I’m healthy now, right? Why isn’t the weight just dropping off?

This is bullshit.

I’ve noticed a lot of diet culture/industry shit flooding the market since the last time I went on a ‘diet’ and whew, it’s nuts. Protein cookies? Being sold at the gym. Boy howdy. You’ve got to be kidding me. So I did a comparison, because I’m not one to just buy it because it’s being sold at the…