I worked at Weight Watchers for five years. I know A LOT about eating healthy, nutrition facts and dieting tricks. (Not that I always apply these to my life.) Even though my husband is in good shape, I get tempted to "share" my expertise with him sometimes, though he never asks for it. I'll point out the calories in the butter he puts on his steak or the amount of carbs in his baked potato. In other words, I turn into a fun sucker.
Not only is he a grown man who can handle his own nutrition, he is my lover (I hope I didn't shock anyone with that news) but I can kill that idea by trying to be his diet coach. It dawned on me the other day that a diet coach and a lover are polar opposite jobs. A diet coach's job is to tell you your body is not OK as it is. He/She is there to remind you that you have too much jiggle. Diet coaches suck the fun and pleasure out of eating by breaking yummy food down into units (point, calories) to be counted and sparingly doled out. The results of dieting may be sexy, but there is nothing sexy about the process of dieting.
Now lets look at the job of lover (so much more fun!) which is the actual job you signed up for when you got married (at least I hope you did). A lover's job is to tell you how much they LOVE your body, exactly the way it is. Lovers love a little jiggle. Being a lover is all about pleasure and nothing should be measured or counted.
The lover giveth pleasure the diet coach taketh away.
So I have to make a choice. Do I want to wow him with my calorie-counting expertise or WOW him with me? I pass him the butter. Labels: body image, diet coach, food, lover
