8 Ways to Know when You're Taking Weight Loss Too Far ...

Maybe you feel that you look great, but friends are saying to you that they’re worried you’re going too far. Stop and listen to what they’re saying, and ask yourself if they could be right. Friends can often be more objective, and see what you can’t see.

Has dieting taken over your life? Are your bookshelves full of diet books? When you refuse to eat out or with friends because it could ruin your diet, then that’s a warning sign. Even if you do need to lose weight, you need a balance in your life, and I don’t mean scales. Dieting should not take over.

Crash diets are downright dangerous, and any expert would advise that a slow, gradual weight loss is the best approach. It’s taken time to put the weight on, and it will take time to lose it. Don’t put pressure on yourself to achieve unrealistic goals, such as losing weight for a special occasion that’s coming up soon.

It’s all very well to receive support and encouragement from those around you, but watch out for anyone who wants you to go too far. Some men almost bully their partners into slimming, so make sure that people have the right motives, and don’t want you to fit some ideal image.

Diets should be about a sensible balance, not deprivation. If you eat a boring menu and never allow yourself any treats, then you are going to be bored and fed up. The occasional dessert or chocolate won’t hurt you, and having a meal out doesn’t mean that you’re going to fall into a life of existing on takeaways.

Everybody has a star whose style they admire, or who they sometimes wish they looked like. However, trying to achieve someone else’s body is unrealistic. So, if you are losing weight because you want to look like someone else, be it a friend or an actress, that’s not a good motive. Lose it because you want to be healthy.

Was your mother always on a diet? Times have moved on (I hope), and it’s now acceptable to have different body shapes. So ask yourself if you grew up with negative messages about your body, and whether you really do need to lose any weight.

So you’ve lost weight and you’re still not happy, even though you’ve reached your target. Doesn’t that tell you something? So often we convince ourselves that buying or achieving something will make us happy, yet it doesn’t. Being thin doesn’t automatically mean life will be wonderful.

I admit I’m no dieting expert, but I hope that these points will make at least one person think. It’s great to be a healthy weight, but things can go too far. Have you ever realised that you’ve lost too much weight?

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