Making Peace with Food and Exercise

Oftentimes when working with clients, one hurdle continues to come up time and again. No matter how much we discuss the idea of intuitive eating or letting go of rigid patterns, we still always come back to the same discussion: “but I still want to lose weight, just healthily.” Or “but I still hate my stomach, so we can still fix that, right?”

This is hard. Can you lose weight healthily? Generally, yes – depending on where you’re starting. Can you change your body? Generally, yes – again depending on where you’re starting.

But in this pursuit of weight loss or body change, you will never be able to fully let go of food rigidity and eat according to your body’s needs. Never. Can eating intuitively cause weight loss? Sometimes. I cannot tell you definitively what will happen to your body if you stop stressing about food and fitness, and that’s really hard for people to hear in our world where EVERYONE is concerned about weight.

Generally, I can tell you from experience with clients, your body will settle into a set-point that is easy to maintain, once you start trusting it.

Beyond that, I can tell you that your life will be fuller and richer. I can tell you that you will have more brain space for things other than food and exercise. I can tell you that you will make more meaningful connections with others. You will be able to laugh and enjoy life fully. You will have less anxiety and less stress daily. I could go on, but simply, a life without food and exercise rigidity is much more enjoyable than one without.

Now, I’m not trying to say it’s easy. Nor am I trying to say that you have to go from dieting to 100% food freedom overnight. Nor am I trying to say that having goals is a bad thing. Everyone is on his or her own path, and there’s no right way to go. But with each step away from food rules, dieting, and rigidity, life gets better.

It may be hard to let go of wanting the “perfect body” or whatever it is that has you pursuing yet another meal plan/diet/”lifestyle change,” but it’s worth considering all the other things you want in life and putting those first.

These are just some things to think about as summer approaches and more people get on the diet-talk bandwagon. Would love to hear any comments below!