Dear Women, It's Time To Cut "Diet" Out Of Your Vocabulary

I know this will offend some people, but I don't care. Also, eating healthier isn't the same as a traditional diet. I'm talking about all those fad diets, starving yourself, never eating anything you like, living on weird foods no one even knows how to pronounce, and so on.

I cringe every time I hear someone say they've started a new diet. Seriously, it has the word "die" in it. That's not something I want to do to my body. I'd rather have a cute little spare tire than diet.

Why I'll Never Diet

Women have constantly been pushed to look perfect. This means always having an incredible body with little to no fat. Sorry, but that's just not realistic or healthy.

I know some women are naturally that thin and no one should ever make fun of them for it. I hate seeing being skinny-shamed just as much as I hate fat-shaming.

But, I digress. While most women start feeling pressure as little girls to look a certain way, I had a different experience. It happened when I was just five years old and it's stuck with me ever since and saved me a lot of self-esteem issues throughout my life.

My great-aunt, who was basically another grandmother to me, had an overbearing husband who expected perfection. There's a reason why she ended up with such an asshat, but that's a different story.

As a result, she ate very little, constantly dieted, rarely ever ate her favorite foods, and did her best to always look thin and pretty. Even though she could make the most incredible desserts I've ever tasted, she'd never eat more than a tiny sliver of cake or a few bites of a cookie.

Just after I turned five, my mother had to explain to me what cancer was. This was my first experience with the big C. As a child, I still had hope even though she was already end-stage with just weeks to live.

It didn't hit home until we visited her. It had only been about a month since I last saw her. This vibrant woman in her 50s was suddenly a skeleton lying on a couch barely able to sit up. To say I hated cancer at that moment is an understatement.

We sat and visited for a while and then she told me something. She told me to never let anyone make me feel like I had to change myself to be in their lives. She said to love myself as I was, including how I looked. She told me to never diet or exercise myself to death to look a certain way. It's just not worth it and won't make you happy.

She said this was one of her biggest regrets. She had grown up during extremely poor with very little to eat. When she things were better, she fell in love with pizza. But, her family and her husband pushed the "perfect woman" crap on her. You know, the same nonsense illusions that Instagram filters and magazine covers create. So, she'd only have a piece a few times a year and then feel guilty about it.

Calories bad. Food that tastes great, bad. Basically, any comfort food was bad.

She had reached the point where she couldn't keep much food down and she regretted not having pizza whenever she wanted. She told us that being thin and dieting never made her happy, but a few slices of pizza every week definitely would've made her happier. But, it was too late. She couldn't have pizza anymore.

All that healthy eating, dieting, and exercising hadn't done a damn thing to make her live longer. A woman in her 50s, who looked amazing, still died. But, she was filled with regrets over not being a little more lenient with what she ate.

Forget Diets

From that moment on, I vowed to never diet. I'm sure doctors would say I'm obese, but I'm far from it. Have you noticed how if you're over a size 2, suddenly you're morbidly obese?

I grew up naturally thin. I could eat nothing but cookies and ice cream 24/7 and not gain a pound. I was always thinner than my friends, but I didn't do anything weird. I didn't diet. I was happy and active, but just casually active. Outside of running, I hated gym class (honestly, can't we skip gym and just let kids play instead of feeling bullied by jocks). No matter how hard I tried, I sucked at baseball and while no one could hit me during dodgeball, I also couldn't catch the frickin' ball.

It wasn't until I was in my 20s and depression really set in that I started to gain weight. I wasn't as active and my eating habits hadn't changed at all.

But, when I was thin, roughly 100 lbs., I got sick 4-5 times a year. Now that I'm in my 30s, I've hit 150 lbs. Sure, I'd love if my belly didn't cause the waistband of my underwear to roll down a little, but I usually only catch a cold or the flu once a year or even every other year. I'm actually healthier now and feel better with the extra weight.

So no, no dieting here. I have no desire to ever be stick thin again. And I encourage you to give diets a big ole middle finger.

Maybe switch to some vegetables a few times a week versus greasy fries (or air fry some homemade fries). Eat a big piece of chocolate cake, but maybe cut the cake into 8 pieces versus 6, so it's a slightly smaller slice. Mindful eating lets you still eat what you want, but in a healthy way. You don't have to do without.

You also don't have to bust your ass at the gym 24/7. Find physical activities you like and do them. Hate long workouts? Spread it out throughout the day. Do a simple 5-10 minute yoga routine in the morning, walk for a mile in the afternoon, and hit the gym or find a workout video online or in an app to do after dinner. Smaller bursts of activity are actually better for you and keep your metabolism up longer.

So, dear diet, you can die. I want to live and enjoy my food. Thank you to my dearest aunt for helping me grow up knowing my worth isn't tied to my body fat.