My response to Frank Luntz tweet "I can't be this hungry every hour of every day."

by Meg Meranus April 19, 2021

This blog is my response to a tweet from @FrankLuntz 4/7/2021:

Please help him see my response by copying this and tweeting @frankluntz

I also posted a video response. https://youtu.be/kwr3oduowGU

FRANK LUNTZ TWEET:

For anyone who has lost weight to live, you have my respect.

After dropping 60 pounds, I can't do it anymore. I can't be this hungry every hour of every day. I truly appreciate the compliments, but I appreciate food even more.

I can tolerate the fat insults better than the hunger.

MY RESPONSE

Frank,

Like millions of us, you went on a diet. And bravo, you lost 60 pounds.

But as the compliments fade, your tweet reveals that you've come to a terrible realization:

To stay at your new weight, you will have to diet for the rest of your life, and you just can’t do that.

And the guilt, and even shame, of letting everyone down, all the people who congratulated you, is too much. And so you've put up the white flag.

And that is spectacular. Because that is the first step. Congratulations.

But why do smart people, like you, go on a diet in the first place when a quick Google search shows the dismal failure rate?

It’s because everywhere we look, “before and after” pictures show us our dream: a thin guy looking happy and fit, a thin woman smiling in a bikini.

And, especially when we feel fat, these images displace our common sense.

In any case, Frank, what do you do now?

You forgive yourself for falling prey to the diet industry.

You stop bullying your body with bizarre food rules and instead teach your body that when you are hungry, you will eat.

You learn that eating without hunger is just ok, but waiting for hunger makes eating fantastic, and you want fantastic.

You discover that when your body knows you are listening for hunger, not trying to ignore it, you lose the desire to binge.

I can hear you gasp! “My body can’t do this!”

Do you think your body is so flawed that it can't guide you to what, when, and how much to eat, just like every other animal on the planet?

The diet industry loves that you think this, that you disrespect yourself this much.

But you are incorrect.

Unless you have Prather's Syndrome, which you would know, your body has miraculous instincts, to keep you alive, nourished, and in your happy, healthy weight range.

Is this too simple for you?

“Nature is pleased with simplicity.” Isaac Newton

So, yes, I am telling you to forgo all diet thoughts, all food judgments, all food rules, and start listening to your body. You may barely hear a whisper now, but when you quiet your brain, and actively listen to your body, it will become a roar. I promise.

I dieted for 25 years, and in 2000, when I turned 40, I, like you, put up the white flag.

It’s the best decision I ever made.

And for your health, can you imagine a better gift to your body than relieving it of the stress of a diet mentality?

Please join me in the happy land of Healthy Thin Mentality eating. It’s nice here. Food is beautiful, not the enemy. Hunger is a wonderful feeling because it is your cue to eat. And you’re not afraid to fill your refrigerator with the food you love.

Your choice is not between dieting and being thinner, or not dieting and being heavy.

Your choice is between connecting with the wisdom of your body or supplanting that wisdom with the diet gimmick of the year.

You CAN do this, come join me.

As I write this, I am drinking coffee with cream and eating crumb cake. I am hungry, and it is delicious.

I am 5’5” tall and got, and and have stayed, at my happy weight, 130, since 2000 when I stopped dieting and realized that hunger and cravings were my guide, not Dr. Oz.

Meg Meranus