I ordered my prepared diet meals for a month and I was so excited to get a whole week free—why couldn't I stick with something so easy?

I think of two possibilities, and they are connected.

For some people, prepared meals are a good dieting aid. Maybe they aren't so good for you. I don't know your exact situation, but let's say someone is a mother and does the cooking for the family. This is a situation where pre-made meals may not be the answer. Some women simply find it too hard to cook meals for the rest of the family and not be able to eat any of it. Someone who wrote to Maria's Last Diet ran into a problem similar to this. She was totally sold on the idea of prepared diet meals, and she arranged it so her husband would do the cooking for the family during the weeks she'd be on this prepared diet. So she didn't need to cook, but still there was all that non-diet food on the table every night, and that was just too hard for her.

Here is the connecting idea that you may want to think about—it's the concept of getting something for "free". In his book, Predictably Irrational, Dr. Dan Ariely, Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, considers what it is about "free" that is so irresistible to us. He suggests that we often feel compelled to grab a free item, even when it's something that we don't particularly like or need or want. We automatically reason that there is no downside if something is free. It costs us nothing, after all, so what have we got to lose?

In your case, perhaps the week of free meals was so tempting to you (you are not alone in feeling this way) that you jumped at the offer and chose a diet program that doesn't really fit in well with who you are and how you live. This is not at all to imply that a prepared meal diet plan can't be a boon to some dieters—it surely can. I am only suggesting that maybe something about it doesn't really work well for you, but you were blinded by the gift of a free week of meals.

The most important thing when choosing a diet plan is how compatible it is with your own life. If it is at odds with your day to day functioning, then it's not easy at all. It turns out to be much too hard.

© Maria's Last Diet. Maria's Last Diet is an online weight loss support website for women. At Maria's Last Diet, you'll find the tools to fix the thoughts, feelings, and automatic habits that fight against you when you diet. Because it's never just about the food. Visit www.mariaslastdiet.com for more diet tips and weight loss motivation.

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