Vanity is not a desirable character trait. The Bible contains 79 references to vanity, and none of them are complimentary. However, once in a while a little bit of vanity can bring about good results. My vanity in my college years protected me from a life of dieting.

My parents sent me off for my freshman year with money in my checking account that they thought was adequate for my needs. I heard so many jokes that year about students writing home, "please send money" that I was determined to live within my funds and not write that letter.

My eating habits at the time were terrible. I ate meat, potatoes, bread and dessert. I ate a little fruit and almost no vegetables. By my freshman year I was as tall as I was going to get. Couple that with unlimited bread and dessert in the dining hall, and I began to put on weight. By the spring all of my clothes were too tight.

I couldn't buy new clothes without writing that dreaded letter asking for money. So I decided I had to lose weight. I bought a calorie counting book and forced myself to eat vegetables. I didn't have to lose much - probably just 5 pounds - to get back in my clothes.

This is what I tell my daughter about dieting. If you don't put on extra pounds by bad eating habits, you don't ever have to take them off.

In the 30 years since I graduated from college, there have been a few critical times when I overate because I was angry or upset. I ignored everything I had learned about nutrition, and began to gain weight. During one of those times I reached a day when I realized I could only fit into one pair of my pants.

Vanity kicked in again. I had my own money now, and I could have bought new clothes. But I didn't want to let the frustrations beat me. I knew that if I bought new clothes, I would never go back to the old ones. I fought back. I wore that one pair of pants until I could get back into the rest of my clothes. Again, I didn't have a lot to lose - just 5 pounds.

This is what I tell my daughter about dieting. You may reach for comfort food when you are upset. Once in a while won't hurt you (especially if you reach for beneficial comfort food). But don't stay upset for so long that you put on weight that later you will want to take off.

I was looking something up in Live Right for Your Type the other day and found that Dr. D'Adamo says essentially the same thing.

"Once you are overweight, it becomes even more difficult to restore a normal balance. Your metabolic hardwiring has changed." and "If you try to lose weight by restricting calories, you'll lose muscle tissue…low calorie dieting for more than 10 - 14 days is detrimental to your overall body composition."

If you are dealing with weight issues, I don't mean for this blog to give you pain. I would suggest you read again the chapter on metabolic synchrony in LR4YT. There is some really good information there that all of us need to review from time to time.

I tell my daughter these things because for her the answer can be simple. If she doesn't put on unwanted pounds, she will never have to take them off.