[Michelle]

Michelle, I'm glad you've found a way to be happy with yourself however I think you are misguided.

That's okay. I'm fairly convinced I could have written ANYTHING concerning diet and someone would tell me I am "misguided". :-)

You mentioned that maintaining proper diet and exercising is too hard. It is hard, your body wants to hold onto fat ... that's a natural response that has to be overcome. However what must be realized is that you're preparing yourself for health later in life rather than death early in life.

I just don't believe anything should be hard. That brings me joy :-). Exercise and a healthy diet can be absolute torture for someone who isn't yet in that place. I believe exercise and diet arise naturally in our lives as "symptoms" or results of doing something right just as sickess and disease arise as symptoms or results of doing something wrong.

I would request that you omit your unfounded bodybuilder comment from your post ... it's stereotypical and really unnecessary for your argument. For giggles though, I'll humor you ... I don't know many bodybuilders who have built up anger, nor resentment for the years of hard work they've put in. I've been body building for a decade now, I certainly don't have any regrets, I'm healthy both inside and outside ...

I understand that not all bodybuilders fit this profile, but one I knew closely did - my father. And, having grown up running around gyms, I've seen a lot.

What it sounds like to me is that you give up too quickly. I've gathered this from the numerous diets you have tried (any successful attempt will usually last 6-12 months minimum and I assume you aren't well advanced in age therefore you haven't really attempted many of these properly). It should be noted that these "diets" are for the most part a joke. Weight loss follows a simple formula: Calories in < calories out on a daily basis. I don't understand why it is so necessary for people to over complicate this very basic mathematical premise.

I'll take into consideration what you say about quitting but I like to think of it more as experimenting or trying. Even the "calories in, calories out" theory can be proved wrong by research. Some research speaks for counting fat. Still others say it matters what kind of calories or fat. New research is born into our world each day which contradicts previous finding or adds to them in a confusing way.

Giving up too quickly also seems evident by the comment that it is simply too hard. Most things in life of any worth come with hard work. Maintaining a harmonious marriage takes hard work, becoming healthy internally is hard work, succeeding at anything takes hard work ... etc.

Look, I've worked really hard at things but only when the internal motivation was there. Then it was hard but didn't seem hard or it seemed hard but the hardness was irrelevant compared to the joy or need to move forward. That is the difference I guess. And I think it is only worth working hard at something when it doesn't make me miserable. I choose to be happy! And, believe it or not, I'm not fat, ugly or unhealthy (although by no means perfect).

The hard work is worth it ... trust me, if you had to see what I see on a daily basis you would want to work hard. Too often people wish they had taken better care of their bodies. Had they done so there was a good chance they could have avoided the death and disease they are currently suffering.

Well, to me it isn't worth it. And I don't have any disease. In fact, the more internal work I do the more ease I experience.

Continue to build your internal strength, but make that coincide with the external as well ...

I couldn't agree more :-)