Photo Credit: Lily & Val

Atkins. South Beach. Weight Watchers. Jenny Craig.

Just a few names of a modern day form of torture all women inflict upon themselves at one point or another: dieting.

Whether it’s to fit into that tight dress in the store window, to get a body that rivals Beyoncé’s (she is flawless) or a for select few—to improve overall health, we all turn to some form of dieting to try to achieve these goals.

After a week of carrot sticks and hours long treadmill sessions, we step on the scale and to our horror, we didn’t lose any weight… or worse, we gained a pound. Defeated and depressed, the carrot sticks are replaced with a bag of chips and we’re back at square one.

In a world of instant gratification, the lack of progress after only a week of regular exercise and a healthier diet feels like a major disappointment, but it shouldn’t be.

The idea of dieting as we know it is wrong.

Cutting calories and depriving your body of much-need carbohydrates, fats, and other nutrients may help shed weight quickly, but it’ll find its way back.

To really get healthy, the fixation on what numbers appear when stepping on the scale must stop. 

Try following these three rules:

1. Enjoy what you eat without feeling guilty or hungry afterwards—food can be delicious and healthy

2. Exercise to feel good—go outside and take a walk, it’s easy.

3. Don’t deprive yourself!—indulge every now and then.

You can change the way you eat, and it doesn’t have to suck like the dreaded d-word does.