What was the last diet you did and how did it make you feel? 

We are wrapping up our Body Love Series and talking about the amazing thrill and pleasure in eating delicious food and moving our bodies in ways that feel good.

First of all let me ask you these 2 questions:

1. When was the last time you ate a meal you really REALLY enjoyed?  

2. When was the last time you moved your body in a way that felt good physically, mentally and emotionally? 

These might seem like extremely basic questions, but if you have been a long time dieter I am guessing they might be a little more difficult to answer.

Dieting tells us what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat.  Let me just say DIETS DON’T KNOW YOU PERSONALLY!  Only you are the expert of you!  This body love process is all about trusting yourself again around food and movement.  Dieting programs also often prescribe specific workout plans whether its a certain cardio or weight lifting plan that can be done at the gym or a DVD/online video work out or whatever.

I don’t know about you but my experience with these programs is not super positive.  When I was a few months postpartum with my son several years ago I did a popular 21 day diet program that was big on portion control and working out to a DVD 7 TIMES a week (that’s crazy! I have a newborn!).  Yes of course it felt good to get my heart pumping and body moving in these workouts, but I didn’t ENJOY them and overall I pretty much felt like sh** most of the time because I was irritable, cranky, HUNGRY, sad, angry and obsessed with thinking about food and what I was going to eat.

What was the last diet you did and how did it make you feel? 

Exercise and body movement is also about you.  What do you enjoy? This can be anything: walking, hiking, volleyball, running, rollerblading (a personal favorite of mine), swimming, weight lifting, baseball, basketball, jump rope, crossfit, biking, surfing, skiing, snowboarding etc.

When we shift our mindset to thinking about exercise in terms of enjoyment instead of weight loss you will find joy in some sort of movement.  

I used to do this thing when I was trying to loose weight where I would go to the gym wonder around maybe do some cardio (with an inability to keep my eyeballs off the time and calorie count), maybe do some of the weight lifting machines, stretch and leave.  I maybe felt good after but I didn’t feel awesome or excited about anything I just did.  Clearly the basic gym or workout DVD’s aren’t great methods of movement for me because they are blah and boring.  I recently tried crossfit and I love that it takes all the thought out of it because you basically have a personal trainer for a small group of people and they tell you what to do and how to do it.  Yes it is extremely difficult (although not as “intense” as I thought it would be), but I have a trainer telling me what to do and when I am done I feel like a badass and those endorphins make me feel good all day.  I want to encourage you to begin looking for exercise that you love regardless of the calorie burn, intensity or whatever.  Do it because you love it as a way to take care of your soul.

Now lets shift the focus to food.

What would your life look like if you did not restrict any food?  What foods do you LOVE but maybe don’t allow yourself to eat? What have you noticed when you have restricted certain foods?

Food is one of the most delicious parts of life.  It is important to begin healing your relationship with food by putting all foods back on the table and label them as “available” anytime you want them.  This will ultimately prevent binge eating (see my next blog called “What Is Binge Eating”). The process to begin trusting your body in what it needs nutritionally and in terms of movement is HUGE.  This is a process and it takes time.  Begin reading the book Intuitive Eating for a more step by step process or schedule and appointment! We would love to hear from you!

Happy Eating & Moving,

Chelsea