Home | WebMail | Register or Login

      Calgary | Regions | Local Traffic Report | Advertise on Action News | Contact

Sign Up

Sign Up

Please fill this form to create an account.

Already have an account? Login here.

Posted: 2015-12-30T15:37:51Z | Updated: 2015-12-30T15:51:37Z

If you're one of the many people resolving to go on a diet January 1, the marker of a new year and a new you, stop. Take a pause before you start trying to remember where you put the scale, how many calories are in a bowl of Special K and if you still have your high school jeans around somewhere.

As author Anne Lamott so poignantly wrote in a post on her Facebook page , "The world is too hard as it is, without letting your pants have an opinion on how you are doing."

Your value and progress as a person is not determined by a number on a scale or how your yoga pants fit on a certain day. In her post, Lamott admitted she, too, is guilty of judging herself with meaningless scorecards: "I have been addicted to the scale, too, which is like needing Dick Cheney to weigh in every morning on my value as a human being."

We need to talk.I know you are planning to start a diet on Thursday, January 1st, I used to start diets, too. I hated...

Posted by Anne Lamott on Tuesday, December 29, 2015

To Lamott's point, the majority of diets fail , with 97 percent of dieters gaining back their lost weight -- and then some. Going on a diet, for most of us, is a mere promise to struggle and gain some weight.

That's not to say you should resolve to surrender your goals for physical health. Maintaining a healthy weight can benefit your brain, decrease your risk for diseases and boost your sex drive. Losing weight can improve things that have nothing to do with how you look in a bathing suit, and those goals are worth prioritizing. But, as Lamott emphasized, we are more than our BMIs -- and maybe instead of resolving to lose weight this year, we should resolve to reframe its importance and our strategies for doing so.

Read Lamott's full, inspiring Facebook post above. When you're through, you might find yourself considering a new kind of New Year's resolution.

Are you as happy as you could be? Sign up for our newsletter and join our 30-day happiness challenge to become a happier, healthier version of yourself. Well deliver tips, challenges and advice to your inbox every day.


Related on HuffPost:

Support Free Journalism

Consider supporting HuffPost starting at $2 to help us provide free, quality journalism that puts people first.

Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?

Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.

The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. We hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.

Support HuffPost