1. You are crunching numbers all. the. time.
Forget the scale. Forget calories. Forget counting anything in your day (except your $$, because we all want a fabulous new pair of shoes, right?) We tend to focus SO MUCH energy on the scale. “Why won’t it move? How did I gain 3 pounds in a day? I didn’t eat all day, why do I weigh the same?”
If you are going to give yourself a “goal weight,” at least give yourself a safe range. And make it flexible. If your body is not responding, then it is probably for a reason.
Ladies, if you lose your period, your body is NOT comfortable at that weight. It may be what your mind is tell you you should weigh, but your body is clearly giving you a signal that it is not healthy at that size.
Unfortunately, calories are not the way to go either. Your body is a chemistry lab, not a bank account (Thanks, JJ Virgin for that expression!). You cannot simply “add and subtract” calories. If you want to count, then count nutrients!
Check out my blog post: 5 Pounds Away from Happiness.
2. You come from a place of self-hate.
Okay, this idea may be “out-there” for some of you because you haven’t grasped the concept of the mind-body connection yet, but I promise until you get over it, you will be a combo of the Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch. If you come from a place of self-hate, instead of self-love, your body will never respond to your demands because chances are, you aren’t treating your body with respect.
Food becomes an extension of ourselves. Let me explain…
Have you ever had a food you considered “bad” and then felt “bad” about yourself…or even said mean and nasty things to yourself?
TRUTH BOMB: Food does not have morals. Food is NOT good or bad, we perceive it to be “good or bad.” Food is just food.
Another thing here: exercise. When you come from a place of self-hate, you treat fitness as a punishment. How many times I have heard “I need to go work-off those cookies I ate” or “How many miles will I have to run to work this dinner off?” Ugh…those tables with the food and the number of burpees or minutes of exercise you have to do? They make me want to hug the woman who is printing that for her fridge! This is no way to live your life or enjoy your food.
3. You just want to follow a set of rules.
You know how your friend lost a ton of weight once she started eating fill-in-the-blank diet but it completely flopped when you tried it? Yeah, that’s because we are all different! This should be something we rejoice over, not lament.
Stop feeling like you are “missing something.” If you plateau, IT’s OKAY!
Remember, weight loss is a journey…a process. Usually, it is a result of stress and your body is just adjusting to a new set point. It’s saying “Hey you, let me just hang-out here for a second and catch up!” Don’t beat yourself up - that WILL just make it worse!
4. You restrict yourself.
Restriction is the #1 diet tool people try these days. But, no surprise here, drastic restriction is NOT the answer.
DO NOT UNDEREAT.
If you ask any nutritionist what percentage of their female clients undereat, most would say between 90-99%!! When you feed your body less food than it needs, it will down regulate this stress. Meaning it will slow down your metabolism, it will hold on to food and possibly soak up more calories from the food it is fed. Sometimes increasing calories or healthy carbohydrates will get you the results you want (this is actually part of my story!) Plus, the root cause of overeating/bingeing comes from restriction.
A great way to approach food and eating is through intuitive eating. It can take some practice to master and understand, but it can be very healing for the body and the mind.
5. You believe in “The Wagon.”
Friends, THERE IS NO WAGON! You are not “on” or “off” anything. You are living. You are experiencing life…every single moment of every single day! This mindset that you are either eating healthy or you are not is just not true. Don’t fall into this shaming mindset.
What can you do?
Be your own BEST friend.
LOVE yourself.
TRUST your body.
FORGIVE yourself.
NOURISH your body.
And LIVE your life as a happily and healthfully as possible!
If you want to learn how to eat + live healthfully without obsessing over your body weight or food, I invite you to join my Mindfull Makeover group program. I'll be launching this program in September 2016 and would love to have you join us! Sign up to be notified FIRST for the next group's enrollment here.
