To stay locked in the diet world you take on certain beliefs:
- I just need more willpower
- Certain foods should be banned
- I need to exercise more
- I can only eat at certain times
- The right combination of food is important
- I have to find the right diet
And the list goes on and on
And because you want to be thin, you do anything, and believe anything. Except in yourself and your ability to eat when hungry and stop when full.
The way you started as a child was a perfect system. The exceptions being if we had parents who asked us to clean our plate when we were full or had body issues and fears around weight.
With our first diet we relinquished our power, our body power. We no longer trusted ourselves and the slippery slope of disordered eating began.
Let’s examine these points.
Of course you have will power. Look at your life and all your accomplishments. That took time and energy and follow through (my idea of will power). But you didn’t waste your time on things that didn’t seem worthy and dieting should be on that list. Instead of beating yourself up, just note that the perceived lack of willpower is telling you this is the wrong path.
If you label foods good or bad, you will, if you eat the ‘bad’ foods, label yourself as bad. An easy way to self flagellation. Let’s keep them neutral.
Excessive exercise has become the norm for many people. It is way we ‘punish’ ourselves for what we see as eating too much. Movement is important, but not the way it is being promoted as the panacea for thinness.
Your body will tell you when to eat: when you are hungry. Sometimes you are hungry at 6, other times not. You dictate when to eat, not the clock.
Your body will tell you what the right foods are…. listen to it and it will speak to you. A stomach ache is telling you something and so is a constipated system. And the opposite is true. Listen and you will know what your system wants and doesn’t absorb well.
How many diets have you tried and retried? Over my decades of dieting I had tried every new diet and spend a fortune on books, products, videos, meals, courses and membership fees.
But the worst lies were the ones I told myself about my identity:
1 my self worth is tied to the number of the scale
2. my life can only be successful when I am thin,
3 once I lose the weight, my struggle and all my problems would go away.
When I stopped thinking this way by embracing Mindfulness, Loving Kindness and a variety of techniques, it all shifted.
Start with ending the lies to yourself and the rest of the lies will never effect you.
The truth will set you free.
Are you ready to be free?
Thanks for reading,
Christina
Who is the best judge of anything for you?