If you've ever been on a diet - or five - you know there's a whole culture and language that comes with it. Those of us who've traveled this road share a unique understanding of the strange habits, tricks, and products that made up our dieting lives.
Here are 20 things that will have former dieters nodding in recognition:
Celery as a "free" food: The crunchy diet staple we convinced ourselves was satisfying while our stomachs growled in protest.
Calorie counters: That little notebook or app where every morsel was meticulously recorded, down to the last grape.
Measuring food: Hauling out measuring cups and food scales at every meal, even when dining with friends who looked on in confusion.
My Fitness Pal: The app that knew more about what went into your body than your doctor did, and judged you for that extra tablespoon of peanut butter.
Using water to fill your tummy: Chugging glasses of water before meals to create artificial fullness, only to excuse yourself to the bathroom every 30 minutes.
Looking at the clock to see when you can eat again: The watching, waiting, and mental calculations of exactly how many minutes until your next "allowed" eating time.
Snackwells: Those '90s cookies that promised guilt-free indulgence but delivered the texture of sweetened cardboard.
Diet Coke: The dieter's nectar – zero calories but plenty of artificial sweeteners and that distinctive metallic aftertaste we pretended not to notice.
Crystal Light: Transforming water into something resembling fruit punch while convincing yourself it was just as satisfying as actual juice.
A "tine" of dressing for your salad: Requesting dressing on the side and then using just the tip of your fork to add the smallest possible amount to each bite.
Being "out of points": That dreaded moment when you've used up your daily allotment by 3pm and face hours of hunger ahead.
Cabbage soup: The infamous diet where you eat endless amounts of flavorless cabbage broth and nothing else, leading to both weight loss and social isolation for obvious reasons.
Meal "replacements": Those chalky shakes and bars that replaced actual food, leaving you counting down the days until you could eat something that required chewing.
The good food/bad food mental catalog: The exhausting binary thinking that categorized every food as either virtuous or sinful.
"Saving calories" for an event: Starving yourself all day before a dinner out, only to arrive so hungry you inhale bread before the menu even arrives.
Diet math: Calculating how many miles you need to run to "earn" a cookie or "burn off" a slice of pizza.
Food dreams: Actually dreaming about forbidden foods during particularly restrictive diets, then waking up feeling guilty about dream-eating.
The shame spiral: Having one "off-plan" food item, deciding the day is ruined, and proceeding to eat everything in sight because "I'll start again tomorrow."
Weird food combinations: Rice cakes with spray butter, cucumber "sandwiches," and other strange concoctions born from desperation and extreme calorie restrictions.
The moment of realization: That eye-opening awareness that despite all these tricks and tools, the weight always came back – and maybe there's a better way to approach health that doesn't involve measuring your self-worth in ounces and inches.
For those who've moved beyond dieting, this list might bring a pit of recognition – and perhaps gratitude that you've found a more balanced relationship with food. Because ultimately, understanding our bodies' actual needs rather than following arbitrary rules is the path to true wellness and peace with food.
If you’re ready to move beyond chronic dieting and restriction and into the world of pleasurable, joyful, balanced and mindful eating - book a free strategy call with me and I’ll teach you everything I know!
