<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"The other day, I was complaining to my mindful eating guru, Jean Kristeller, Ph.D., about how worried I was that I wasn't going to be able to take off 12 more pounds and meet my goal weight of 135. I've been hovering at a major plateau--147 pounds--for several weeks now. And while the good news is that I've dropped a size and am garnering lots of compliments (when you work at a magazine for women, colleagues notice when you lose 5 pounds and shower you with warm words), I fear that the needle on the scale is never going to move again, or that I'm going to have to start starving myself to make any progress. And as I well know by now, starving myself only backfires and leads to a [binge](/health/blogs/healthyself/2010/09/the-pleasure-diet-why-binges-h).Anyway, Jean, in her practical way, asked me why I wanted to lose 12 more pounds. I told her that my goal weight was 135, which, according to [BMI](/calculatorsprograms/calculators/bodymassindex) charts, I should weigh at my height of 5'3\\\". \\\"To be honest,\\\" she said, \\\"I think there's a problem with some of these recommendations.\\\" She went on to acknowledge that there was a correlation between a too-high BMI and ill health effects (incidentally, a BMI of more than 24 is considered overweight; currently I'm at 25). \\\"But when you're talking about a BMI of 25 or 26, there's a lot of variation,\\\" she explains. \\\"Depending on how active you are and other health factors, those numbers don't necessarily mean that you're headed for health problems.\\\" Her point: \\\"You shouldn't beat yourself up over 12 pounds.\\\"\\n\\n\\n\\nThat makes sense to me, especially when I think about how far I've come physically (muscles in my arms, abs beginning to emerge!) and the fact that the rest of my [health numbers](/health/2010/09/simple-ways-to-check-heart-health) are, well, healthy. My blood pressure is 120/70, my resting pulse is 70, etc., etc. Don't get me wrong. I want to lose the weight--and I've promised to lose the weight for the article that will appear in SELF in a few months' time. But am I willing to drastically cut back on eating in order to lose that weight quickly? Maybe not. Perhaps, when it comes to the [Pleasure Diet](/about/the-pleasure-diet), time is not of the essence.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n--Paula Derrow\\n\\nMore from [The Pleasure Diet](/about/the-pleasure-diet):\\n\\n-[The Pleasure Diet: Day 1](/health/blogs/healthyself/2010/08/the-pleasure-diet-day-1)\\n\\n-[Mindful Eating](/health/blogs/healthyself/2010/08/the-pleasure-diet-mindful-eati)\\n\\n-[How slowly can you eat a raisin?](/health/blogs/healthyself/2010/08/the-pleasure-diet-how-slowly-c)\\n\\n-[I'll take a half pound of weight loss!](/health/blogs/healthyself/2010/08/the-pleasure-diet-ill-take-a-h)\\n\\n-[A date with my very own nutritionist](/health/blogs/healthyself/2010/08/the-pleasure-diet-a-date-with)\\n\\n-[What, exactly, is a serving size of hummus?](/health/blogs/healthyself/2010/08/the-pleasure-diet-what-exactly)"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.self.com/story/the-pleasure-diet-how-importan>