I want to get on the Intuitive Eating train but… I still want to lose weight
I get this comment ALL the time during discovery calls. Just know you are not alone in this feeling!
And listen…I totally get it. We live in a society that reveres thinness and diets. On a more personal level you’ve probably been dieting for years. You’ve been actively trying to reduce your body weight. You’ve noticed you get compliments for losing weight or for “eating healthy.”
If you are considering intuitive eating, you’ve probably also noticed that dieting isn’t sustainable. That the lost weight usually comes back. You probably feel out of control around food. You’re probably fed up with the food rules and your inner food police.
It makes perfect sense that you cannot suddenly shake your desire for weight loss. The good news is that this is something that you can work on and these desires can lessen over time.
Instead of running away from intuitive eating all together, can we explore your dieting history and the desire for weight loss? Here are some questions to reflect on…
When did you start dieting?
Why did you go on the first diet? Did you feel pressure from friends or family?
What happened to your weight after the first diet? What has the trend been like after any diets? Did you see temporary weight loss, and a gradual weight gain?
What are your beliefs about weight loss? Where did these beliefs come from?
Where do you feel pressure coming from now to lose weight?
Do you fantasize your life being different if you lose weight? Have you put things on hold until you lose weight?
I hope that these questions assisted you in finding some compassion for your desires to lose weight. For so many women, dieting and weight loss can be a life long, painful endeavor, and the fact that you are getting curious about your experiences with dieting is a huge first step into your journey to making peace with food.
Evelyn Tribole (Co-author of Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works) once explained to me in a coaching call that eating disorders and diets are a lot like weeds. The practices of intuitive eating are like a lawn mower that can keep the weeds trim, and looking good from the outside. But to get to the root is an inside job that takes learning, unlearning, reflection, and compassion.
Remember that your body doesn’t know that when you go on a diet, you are trying to lose weight. Your body believes there is not enough food, so it essentially goes into starvation mode. The body slows your metabolism, increases the fat to muscle mass ratio, and does all it can to keep more weight from coming off. More often than not, dieters will re-gain back more weight than when they had started a diet. Dieting might result in temporarily weight loss, but it isn’t sustainable, it worsens health outcomes over the long term, not to mention the physiological distress it can cause.
So, if you know that the next diet will likely bring you the same results: temporary weight loss, stress around food & body image, frustration, food cravings, an increased risk of developing an eating disorder, just to name a few… Would you be willing to try something different?
Might it be worth trying something that is rooted in being attuned to your own needs, so you don’t need external rules, meal plans, and weigh-ins? Intuitive eating is about centering you as a whole, as a person, and cultivating an easy and happy relationship with your food & body.
I cannot say that by adopting intuitive eating you will lose weight. But what will happen is that your body will go to the weight it feels best at, where your genetic blueprint desires it to be. This will be impacted by your dieting history. By choosing to stop going down the path of dieting, you will no longer be slowing your metabolism, which raises your weight set point. Instead of focusing on weight, you can start treating your body with respect and kindness, which in turn helps you to live a fulfilling life by taking back the brain space, time, money, and frustration that dieting takes away.
Ready to make your free discovery call to discuss how I can help you on the path to food freedom? Hit the “work with me” tab to book now!
