Weight loss struggles
You’re not alone in your desire to change your weight, but your story is personal. Your motivation may be driven by your health, self-image, or something else. Maybe you’ve gradually gained a few pounds over the years and you’re determined to stop gaining. Perhaps your weight has gone up and down like the tide, and your tide is high (again).
History repeats itself
If you’ve lost weight and gained it back, you already know how hard it is to lose weight and keep it off. The vast majority of weight loss diets fail, giving you a round trip ticket to your previous weight (plus a few more pounds) within five years. While improved health is often the motivation for weight loss, the outcome of weight cycling actually puts a strain on health – not to mention the emotional impact. This sobering information is worth considering, especially if you’re on the tipping point of doing whatever it takes to lose weight.
Losing weight is such a seemingly daunting task that you may not consider the second phase of weight loss… how to maintain the new weight. By comparison, weight loss maintenance is the hardest phase. The multi-billion dollar weight loss industry banks on you failing at this stage, repeatedly. Weight loss diets, by implied definition, have a beginning and an end. Even the most dedicated followers eventually break diet rules, such as counting points, portions, calories or sweat breaking minutes at the gym. The body’s mechanisms for survival during times of famine (diets) are profound and work to restore lost energy stores.
Weight loss diets are based on rules, no matter how subtle they seem.
The truth is… people don’t fail at diets, diets fail people.
Here’s the cascade of events…
- Desired body weight is most often defined by cultural ideals (and is often different from the body weight that nature intended and wants to protect).
- To achieve desired body weight, the body is deprived of energy (calories) and/or greater energy is expended through exercise.
- Calorie deprivation cannot be sustained due to a cascade of physiological responses to preserve energy stores.
- Overwhelming thoughts, cravings, and preoccupation with food (starvation response) cause diet rules to be broken.
- Subsequently, weight is regained to restore the body’s energy stores, causing more body shame and dissatisfaction with weight.
- Another diet is attempted, then another, and then another. Each diet attempt often results in a few extra pounds regained, adding up over time.
If your battle with weight is ongoing, it’s time to wave a white flag for peaceful eating.
A better way
If you’re ready to get off the weight loss roller coaster or halt your steady weight gain, I can help you find your way back to the intuitive eater you were at birth. Babies are born with the innate ability to sense when they are hungry and when they are full. When caregivers respond to cues properly, babies continue to be attuned to their own internal senses. However, culture inevitably interferes to varying degrees, starting at a young age. The power of cultural influences on eating and self-image is profound. I’ll provide tools and techniques to help you turn down the volume to outside voices while turning up the volume to your internal voices.
Will I lose weight?
Intuitive eaters naturally seek a variety of satisfying foods that support feeling good/well, and eat amounts that provide the right amount of energy. This allows weight to stabilize – a healthier alternative to the constant weight loss/gain cycle. Weight loss can occur – but it’s a side effect, not a goal.
Fact: Weight alone does not indicate health status.
