THE T.A.W.I.E (A.W.) DIET

9^th September, 2020

Since lockdown has eased, I have been able to get out more and see people I haven't seen for a while. Some have noticed I have lost some weight and are starting to ask me how I have done it, or what “diet” I am using.

I don't know what to say, which is a first for me :-).

Lots of people lose weight, but with most it's a slimming club or some kind of recognised diet or the latest diet craze. If I could say, oh I have been going to ------club or ------ watchers or I'm following ------ diet, it's easy because people know them and it doesn't take a lot of explaining, with what I have been doing does. Plus the fact that my way of weight management is not mainstream and I'm sure that some people think I'm a little strange (well, I am :-) ) or it's not going to work and then I would look silly. Now, I know it shouldn't matter what people think, but my confidence is not as good as it could be and a lot of the time I am thinking inside that they are wondering “What is she on” or she is going on about something that makes no sense. It makes sense to me and that is all that matters, so why do I feel embarrassed rather than proud that I have found a way that, up to now, works for me?

I think one of the main reasons is because since diets and weight clubs started, as long ago as 1863 for low carb diets, 1920s for calorie counting and the 1960s for slimming groups, people have always been told one way or another what to do by a professional or an expert.

There seems to be some kind of magic formula that the overweight believe is the answer and they can find it there. In the groups there is the group support and you can see others that have been there a long while who seem to be succeeding, so you start to think this is the way to do it.

I read on the internet while doing some research about one lady who had been going to her slimming club for 20 years. Now, obviously, she was happy to do that, and many like the official eating plan and the support a group gives, but that was not for me.

Counting the last N.H.S. Group I went to, I have been to about eight clubs in the forty-six years of my weight loss journey and while they make have worked at some level for the short term, they really were not for me. It was good while you had the attention, but it was hard during the week when you were on your own and it was disappointing when the weight went back on.

I am sure that there will be some that have lost weight this way and kept it off, but as I said, it isn't for me, and they didn't really work for me.

I have found my own way, and as I say, so far it is working for me. Only time will tell.

I come back to what I said at the beginning of my blog – why do I feel embarrassed when people ask me how I am doing it and I tell them. I really don't know, I suppose, it's just not a straightforward answer, and perhaps it's not what they are wanting to hear.

When you think about it really it IS quite straightforward, it's my T.A.W.I.E (A.W) Diet. My Think About What I Eat (And Why) diet. That's what it comes down to. No magic formula. No generic diet plan. We are all different and individual and I am continually working out what is right for me and hopefully it won't sound that strange.

Jackie

xx