Shelby

How To Improve Your Relationship With Food: 4 Mistakes To AVOID

May 12, 2023 by Shelby

Welcome to today’s blog post, where we’ll dive deep into the topic of improving your relationship with food. Our journey towards a healthier connection with what we eat is crucial for our overall well-being. In this post, we’ll discuss four common mistakes to avoid on this path of transformation. By steering clear of these pitfalls, you can enhance your relationship with food and foster a healthier mindset. So let’s jump right in and discover how to improve your relationship with food!

Mistake #1 - Weighing Yourself Continuously

One common mistake people make is placing too much emphasis on the number on the scale. We have been conditioned to associate our self-worth and progress solely with that number. However, this mindset can be detrimental to our mental and emotional well-being. Instead, focus on how you feel physically and mentally. Pay attention to your energy levels, mood, and digestive health. These factors provide better indicators of progress than the scale. Remember, your weight does not define you or your value as a person.

Mistake #2 - Rushing the Process

Impatience often arises during the healing process. We desire instant results and want to achieve our goals on our convenient timeline. However, rushing can lead to frustration and disappointment. Embrace the fact that healing your relationship with food is a journey, not a race. Be patient with yourself and trust the process. Success is not linear; there will be ups and downs. Allow yourself to learn, grow, and make progress at your own pace.

Mistake #3 - Setting Unrealistic Expectations

Perfectionism and unrealistic expectations can sabotage your progress. Many of us fall into the trap of all-or-nothing thinking, wanting everything to be perfect. However, striving for perfection only leads to feelings of failure and criticism. Instead, set realistic and achievable goals. Celebrate every step forward, no matter how small. Remember, progress is progress, and each win brings you closer to a healthier relationship with food.

Mistake #4 - Excessive Food Tracking

While food tracking can be helpful in some cases, excessive tracking can become obsessive and counterproductive. It’s part of the “control” we desire around food yet it’s the very thing that actually takes us in the opposite direction (Learn more about this in my free training). It’s essential to let go of rigid tracking and embrace a more intuitive approach. Focus on learning your hunger and fullness cues, practicing relaxed and nourished eating, and exploring what truly nourishes your body. Give yourself permission to listen to your body’s needs and trust your intuition. Freedom from excessive tracking can lead to a more mindful and enjoyable eating experience.

Improving your relationship with food is a transformative journey that requires patience, self-compassion, and a willingness to let go of old habits and beliefs. By avoiding the common mistakes of continuous weighing, rushing the process, setting unrealistic expectations, and excessive tracking, you can pave the way for a healthier and more balanced connection with what you eat. Embrace the journey of self-discovery, practice mindful eating, and cultivate a positive food environment. Remember, progress is a personal and unique experience, and every step forward is a step towards a more nourished and fulfilling life.

We’re here for you. Check out all the ways we can work with you to get rid of your diet-binge eating cycles once and for ALL.

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How Social Media Affects Body Image

April 14, 2023 by Shelby

Social media has become an integral part of our lives, and it has significantly influenced the way we perceive ourselves and others. Unfortunately, it has also played a significant role in the development of body image issues. In this blog post, we’ll explore the ways in which social media affects body image and what you can do to protect your mental health from being negatively influenced.

Body Image and Social Media

Body image is simply the way we see ourselves physically, including our body shape, size, and appearance. Social media has created a culture of perfection, where images of flawless bodies and unattainable beauty standards are constantly promoted and celebrated with increasing likes, shares, and comments. This has led to a distorted perception of beauty and an unhealthy obsession with achieving an ideal body.

But today’s crazed digital social media influence isn’t starting this issue, it’s merely continuing it.

The historical influence of media on body image can be traced back to the early 20th century, with the rise of mass media and the portrayal of thin, idealized bodies in magazines, films, and advertisements.

The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of the “perfect” hourglass figure as the ideal body type for women, while the 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of the supermodel and the emphasis on thinness as the ultimate standard of beauty.

It was during this time we also saw a rise in eating disorders. In a study published in the Journal of Eating Disorders, researchers found that the prevalence of eating disorders among young adults increased by 53% between 1995 and 2014.

It’s no debate that social media has become a powerful force in shaping body image, with filters and editing tools creating an unrealistic standard of beauty and the pressure to conform to today’s “beauty standard” and is having significant consequences on mental health for men and women of ALL ages, including the development of eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

In fact, according to a survey conducted by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), 69% of adolescent girls who use social media report that it negatively impacts their body image. Today nearly 50% of women and 25% of men struggle with their relationship with food. Yikes.

How Social Media Affects Body Image

Let’s look at specific examples in which social media negatively affects body image:

Comparison Culture: Social media platforms have created a culture of comparison, where people constantly compare themselves to others. It is easy to fall into the trap of comparing your body to others who appear to have the “perfect” body. And even if it’s not the “perfect body” we compare ourselves to, it’s the perfect family, perfect job, perfect business, perfect relationship, etc.
Facetune and Filter Culture: Social media platforms also allow people to edit and manipulate their photos using various filters and editing tools. This has created an unrealistic standard of beauty, which is almost impossible to achieve in real life.
Influencers and Celebrities: Social media influencers and celebrities often have large followings and can have a significant influence on their followers. Many influencers and celebrities promote unrealistic beauty standards and unattainable body types and hide the amount of time, money, and energy they have to spend to maintain their “perfect” image or body in the face of the world.
Fat Phobia and Body Shaming: Social media platforms have also created a culture of fat phobia and body shaming, where people are judged based on their body size and shape. It’s easy to have an ignorant user make a body comment and steal the joy away from the photo’s intended purpose. If this has happened to you, know that says more about THEM than YOU.
Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying is a serious issue that affects many people, particularly young people. Social media platforms have made it easier for people to engage in cyberbullying, which can have serious consequences on mental health, including the development of body image issues.

Protecting Your Mental Health

Although the pressure to confirm to unrealistic beauty standards will always exist to some degree, there are ways you can still choose to not participate in that and protect yourself from the negative effects of social media on body image:

Limit Your Social Media Use: It’s important to limit your social media use, particularly if you find yourself comparing yourself to others or feeling inadequate. Set boundaries and stick to them. Consider taking a break from social media altogether if you find it negatively affecting your mental health.
Unfollow or Block Negative Influences: Unfollow or block social media accounts that promote unrealistic beauty standards or engage in body shaming. If they trigger unhealthy thoughts about yourself, take control and remove your exposure to the source when possible and instead surround yourself with positive and uplifting content.
Focus on Your Own Goals and Achievements: Instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on your own goals and achievements. Celebrate your own successes and strengths!
Practice Self-Care: Self-care is essential for maintaining good mental health. Take time for activities that make you feel good about yourself, such as exercise, meditation, or spending time with loved ones. What interests do you need to sprinkle more often into your life?
Seek Professional Help: If you’re struggling with body image issues, low self esteem or confidence, seek professional help from that of a coach, counselor, or personal development program that can help you crush limiting beliefs, strengthen your own voice and inner confidence, and embrace your unique YOU.

Final Thoughts...

Social media has had a significant impact on the way we perceive ourselves and others, particularly when it comes to body image. You can’t control what social platforms are pushing these days, but you CAN control how you wish to participate on those platforms and what you choose to give energy too.

Remember that your worth is not determined by your appearance, and it’s okay to be different. And losing weight will NOT fix negative body image (Read about those myths here.) Embrace your unique qualities and celebrate your own strengths and achievements.

With the right mindset and support, you can overcome the negative effects of social media on body image and live a healthy, fulfilling life not imprisoned by the pressure to have the “perfect body” (whatever that is!).

What’s Disordered Eating Anyway?

March 24, 2023 by Shelby

My friends, I want to talk to you today about a topic that affects millions of people around the world: disordered eating. Obviously this is something that I’m passionate about helping people overcome so let’s start by first defining what disordered eating is.

Many people panic when they hear the phrase “disordered eating” because they equate it with an “eating disorder” such as anorexia or bulimia, but they are NOT the same thing. Disordered eating simply refers to a wide range of unhealthy eating behaviors, you’ve just got some unbalanced behaviors going on! For most, it commonly looks like any of the following:

Binge eating and emotional eating
Chronic yo-yo dieting (basically you’ve tried it all!)
Fear, guilt, or shame around food
Food obsessions
Hyper-focus on weight or body shame
Repetitive weight cycling
Occasional purging
Rigid eating patterns
Use of laxatives or diet pills to control weight.

While these abnormal eating behaviors can interfere with daily life, they are not happening at a frequency or intensity that would categorize them as an eating disorder. While that’s positive news, it still leaves a gray space for many. When you’re in your head about food but you don’t need treatment like you would for an eating disorder, and you also don’t need another instigating meal plan or higher education on macros, what do you do about it? How do you overcome disordered eating, lose weight, and live a healthy, fulfilling life? Let’s dive in and explore some of the strategies you can use to overcome disordered eating.

1. Identify The Root Cause

One of the first steps in overcoming disordered eating is to identify the root cause of your behavior. For many people, disordered eating is a coping mechanism for deeper emotional issues, such as anxiety, depression, trauma, or low self-esteem.

If you’re struggling with disordered eating, take some time to reflect on what might be driving your behavior. Ask yourself questions like: When did my disordered eating behaviors begin? What triggers me to engage in these behaviors? What emotions am I trying to suppress or avoid when I engage in disordered eating?

Once you have a better understanding of the root cause of your disordered eating, you can start to develop strategies to address it. This might include therapy, support groups, or other forms of self-care.

2. Reframe Your Relationship With Food

Another important strategy for overcoming disordered eating is to reframe your relationship with food. For many people with disordered eating, food is either an enemy or a comfort. It’s something to be avoided or something to turn to when emotions get overwhelming.

But the truth is that food is neither good nor bad. It’s simply fuel for your body. And when you start to see it that way, you can develop a healthier relationship with it.

Start by focusing on nourishing your body with healthy, whole foods. This doesn’t mean you have to give up all the foods you love. It simply means that you’re making a conscious effort to eat foods that will help you feel your best.

3. Practice Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is another important strategy for overcoming disordered eating. Mindful eating means being fully present and aware while you eat, and paying attention to your body’s signals of hunger and fullness.

Many people with disordered eating have lost touch with their body’s natural signals. They may ignore hunger cues or eat past the point of fullness. By practicing mindful eating, you can start to reestablish a connection with your body and its needs.

To practice mindful eating, start by setting aside distractions like your phone or TV. Take a few deep breaths before you eat, and really savor each bite. Pay attention to the flavors, textures, and sensations in your mouth. And check in with yourself periodically to see how you’re feeling. Are you still hungry? Are you feeling satisfied? Here is an article we wrote about 5 Steps To Create Mindful Eating Habits.

4. Build A Support System

Navigating through disordered eating can be a longer journey than your typical 30 day weight loss challenge. It’s important to have a support system in place to help you through the ups and downs. But often it’s difficult to find a support system because disordered eating is often a silent issue for many. It’s not something you talk about over lunch with a friend or spouse. And even if they do, they may not understand and think their triggering advise of “well, just don’t eat it” is the ultimate solution. This is why we have developed various levels of coaching memberships that include a private in-house community who will support you without judgment and who will help you stay accountable to your goals.

5. Develop A Positive Mindset

My friends, one of the key strategies for overcoming disordered eating is to develop a positive mindset. Many people with disordered eating struggle with negative self-talk and low self-esteem, which can fuel the cycle of unhealthy eating behaviors.

But by developing a positive mindset, you can break free from this cycle and start living a healthy, fulfilling life and carry that over into other areas of your life. You’ll truly see life differently. Here are some tips for developing a positive mindset:

Practice Gratitude

One of the simplest ways to develop a positive mindset is to practice gratitude. This means focusing on the things in your life that you're thankful for, even if they seem small. Every day, take some time to reflect on what you're grateful for. It might be your health, your family and friends, your job, or simply a beautiful day. By focusing on the positive things in your life, you can shift your mindset from negative to positive which will also influence how you use food to cope with your emotions.

Visualization

Visualization is another powerful tool for developing a positive mindset. This involves visualizing yourself achieving your goals and living the life you want. For example, if your goal is to overcome disordered eating, you might visualize yourself making healthy food choices, enjoying meals without guilt or shame, and feeling confident and empowered in your body. By visualizing these positive outcomes, you can start to reprogram your subconscious mind and make these outcomes more likely to occur.

Surround Yourself With Positivity

Finally, surrounding yourself with positivity is key to developing a positive mindset. This means surrounding yourself with people who support and encourage you, and avoiding people and situations that bring you down. It also means consuming positive media, such as uplifting books, podcasts, and music and eliminating media that only fuels the triggers surrounding food and weight. By surrounding yourself with positivity, you can create an environment that supports your journey towards a healthier, happier life.

I hope this helps you understand more about what is considered disordered eating. KNOW your struggles with food are NOT a life sentence! Every day I have the privilege to witness breakthroughs with one’s disordered eating. If they can do it, you can too! You too have the power to overcome disordered eating and create the life you want! But you’ll need the right guidance as it involves a multi-faceted approach consisting of nutrition, mindset, and coaching. We’re ready when you’re ready to say “No!” to dieting – forever! View our coaching memberships here.

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How To Recover From A Binge Episode

March 10, 2023 by Shelby

Ugh, the moment you’ve been fearing just happened…you binged. The guilt and shame come flooding in. Your body is screaming at you. How could you let this happen – AGAIN? It is easy to continue to spiral down for the rest of the day, maybe even a few more days. Why not? You already messed up. Deep down, you know that’s not what you truly want or is good for you, but how do you recover from a binge episode?

A true binge episode happens when you are in the fight or flight response. It is a compulsive, out of control balancing act by the body in response to a tightly controlled something else. However, many people label their general overeating or emotional eating as a “binge episode” as well. Regardless, when any of these acts of overeating happen, the key to recovering from any of these eating episodes is to not miss the lesson. You’ve got to put on your objective hat and assess the situation – without judgment. If you do not, you will be swimming in mental games for days, deflating your confidence, and not learning how you can change things for the better moving forward.

How to Recover From A Binge Episode

Step #1: Ask Yourself, "Why Do I Think I Binged?"

Three areas to investigate WHY when you are recovering from a binge are physical, emotional, and mindset:

Physical: Did I wait too long to eat? Did I not eat enough real food today? Did I not eat a lot of protein today? Did I not eat enough at all today?

When your body is stressed due to nutritional lack, it will get aggressive with you and force you to eat often in an ugly way (binge eating). This is a natural survival response, and no matter how much you want to be mindful when you eat, when your body is lacking too much – it’s too late. You’ll feel the body override all your good intentions to ensure you eat and don’t starve to death.

Emotional: How was I feeling prior to binge eating? How would I describe my emotional state? Once you can identify what you were feeling, you can reverse engineer it and investigate why you were feeling what you were feeling.

Here are the most common emotional triggers that contribute to my clients’ binge & emotional eating:

Stress
Anxiety
Lack of pleasure in one’s life
Overwhelm
Bored
Procrastinating
Emotional deprivation with eating
Negativity
Fear or doubt

Mindset: What was I thinking prior to binge eating? Negative and fear-based self talk and thinking patterns can 100% ramp up the body’s stress response and feed emotional and binge eating episodes. Yes, you heard me – we can self impose our own emotional and binge eating episodes via our thoughts! The thoughts responsible for binge eating can be very sneaky, so pay close attention. Was it in fact my mind that was feeding my anxiety which led to my binge? Was I overthinking about something I cannot control? Did I have a case of the “F it’s”? Was I in an all or nothing mentality? Was I having rebellious thoughts? What was I fearing could happen? What was my mind spinning about?

Step #2: Be Compassionate With Yourself

Once you identify which of the three areas are most likely the cause behind your binge, celebrate this awareness and be compassionate with yourself. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. Your binge and emotional eating is happening because there’s an awareness and/or skill set missing that perhaps you didn’t even know you needed. You cannot be mad at yourself for not being successful at something you are still learning a lot about! We all do the best we can with the knowledge and tools we have at the time.

Right now, you’re in the process of learning something very important, how to recover from a binge episode, and you need to support yourself in your efforts to do so. You would 100% support a friend in the same situation, you would be cheering them on from the sidelines. Be sure to cheer yourself on and be patient and encouraging with yourself too. Otherwise, you will NOT improve if all you do every time a binge occurs is beat yourself up, kick yourself in the gut while you are down, and don’t even give yourself a chance to learn and GROW through it. Sometimes this is actually the lesson many need to learn to reduce their binge eating – learning how to better support themselves!

Step #3: Create An Action Plan

This is the, What could I do differently next time? part. Here are some examples of how you could begin to create an action plan based on your WHY behind your binge:

Physical: If you feel your binge episode happened because of physical reasons, what proactive steps could take to prevent that from happening again? Do you need to take a snack in the car at all times? Do you need to manage your time better? Do you need to make more time to eat between your work appointments? Do you need to improve your personal boundaries? Do you need to take a few minutes per week and ensure you get groceries or decide on a few meals you want to have available for yourself to eat through the week? How could you incorporate more quality foods in your eating?

Emotional: If you feel your binge episode happened because of emotional reasons, is there a need that is going unmet? How could you meet this need better? Do you need to plan what you eat a little better so you can enjoy what you eat more? Do you need more connection with others? Do you need more fun in your life? Do you need to find more entertaining things to do in your down time?

How could you reduce your stress and anxiety in healthier ways? Could you do 5 minutes of box breathing every morning? Meditation? Prayer? Do you need to add more movement into your life? Do you need to tap into more positive podcasts or books to help regulate your emotional state? Do you need to carve out 15 minutes of personal time after work?

I dare you to sit down for 15-20 minutes and really think about how you can truly meet your emotional needs and come up with 1-2 alternative strategies to help you meet these needs. Do this and you can guarantee you’ll see a step forward in improvement with how you recover from a binge episode.

Mindset: This is probably the biggest area you’ll be needing to be proactive with because your thoughts feed into your emotional state. Our evolutionary brain is built to search for more problems and not solutions. It’s meant to search for what could go wrong, will go wrong, is wrong, isn’t good enough, and is always waiting for that other shoe to drop. Great for our survival as a species, not so great when the world around us is only getting more fast paced and chaotic.

The fears, thoughts, doubts you have that populate in your head do NOT mean they are always FACT and that you have to ACT on them. Oftentimes it’s just our survival brain kicking in or we are being triggered by something from our past. The action here becomes about noticing the kinds of thoughts you are having and deciding if you actually need to act on what they are asking you to do. If you find you DO NOT need to act on them (which often will be the case), practice reframing those fear-based thoughts into powerful, assertive, or supportive thoughts and move on without giving those fear based thoughts any more power or energy. Here are some examples:

“Oh my gosh I’m never going to get this project done!” → “Let me write out what steps I need to complete to get this project done. What questions do I need answered to help me move forward here?”

“They are all going to judge me and the weight I gained since I last saw them!” → “I cannot control the thoughts and actions of others. Plus, I always think people are judging me but they all have known me for years and our friendship has nothing to do with what I weigh”.

“But what if X happens?!” → “I can only invest my energy into what I can control. Let go of the things I cannot control”.

What are your most common triggering thoughts that feed your emotional state and binge episodes? How could you reframe them differently in preparation for the next time they populate?

Believe it or not, being able to improve your recovery time is a HUGE win!! Obviously the end goal of yours is to not experience any binge eating episodes at all, but the reality is, most people cannot just jump there. Instead, you must take small progressional steps forward. Consider learning how to recover from a binge episode as a non-negotiable skill you must learn to get to your end goal of removing your binge eating all together. You got this!

Top Diet Freedom Goals Of My Most Recent Clients

February 17, 2023 by Shelby

Often in this world of deep struggles with food, people feel very alone. They feel they are the only ones that have “crazy” thoughts or obsessions about food, that scratch their head as to why they can’t figure this whole “eating thing” out, or why they can’t control themselves around certain foods.

It’s easy to begin to believe, “Well maybe I AM a food or sugar addict?”

Trust me you’re not.

The problem is not that you’re addicted to food, the problem is that the only way you know how to eat is through dieting.

That’s all you know.

You’ve lost or never had a strong connection intuitively with food or your body.

Too many numbers, information, and “should’s” cloud your ability to be your own nutrition expert.

You’ve drifted from being able to make your own decisions around food.

The good news is that you can find that again.

When I begin to work with clients, it’s not uncommon that the connection they’ve been missing all along is still there, they simply stopped listening to it, and can therefore begin to tap back into that right away.

But they can do that because they are on a new journey with new goals that require a new focus.

Goals that don’t include instantly losing 30 pounds on a juice cleanse…

Goals that are instead deep, intimate, and involve getting to the root issues of what is most important to them and that will send their life and health on an entirely new trajectory…

Goals that require a new approach, a new way of thinking.

These individuals decided NOT be a victim of their environment and past history with dieting. They decided to be the architect of it.

I am sharing their goals with you for inspiration. To let you know you’re not alone. To help you begin to think differently about what goals you are setting for yourself. If you’re looking for anything “instant”, time to get back to the drawing board in your goal setting. It’s time to be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it…

Diet Freedom Goal #1

“I want to be at peace with my body and with food and finally feel comfortable in my skin. I want to wear all of the clothes I dream of and feel comfortable and be able to maintain this for the rest of my life. I don’t want food to be the main focus of my life anymore.”

Diet Freedom Goal #2

“Learn to eat and enjoy my food without “the voices of guilt and shame”. Be comfortable in my body as it is at any given time. Believe in myself that I can take control of my life – food, decisions, thoughts, and will make the best choices for me at that time.”

Diet Freedom Goal #3

“Love my body, not to be ashamed of it, and not worry about what people think about my body.”

Diet Freedom Goal #4

“Peace with food! To stop feeling like a failure (imposter) because the number on the scale is getting bigger and my jeans aren’t getting smaller. Deal with all stress better (not just food) because it’s all connected. Feel strong and healthy again.”

Diet Freedom Goal #5

“Having a strong, confident body I can feel my best in long term (despite life’s ups and downs) through a healthy relationship with food (and actual enjoyment of it) free of restrictions, binge episodes, excessive daily effort & guilt.”

Diet Freedom Goal #6

“Find a good balanced rhythm with food and activity that feels natural (not forced because I am doing a program).”

Diet Freedom Goal #7

“True and absolute freedom from the chains that food I have been bound to. Eat to live rather than a live to eat mentality. Be “centered” within myself. Become EMBODIED rather than DISEMBODIED with myself. Let go of negative self talk and sabotage.”

Diet Freedom Goal #8

“To push food into the background of my life. That food becomes delicious nutrition but nothing more. That it no longer affects mood or self-orientation. That food no longer controls me. That I learn to work with my body and understand it and love it and then want to take care of it wisely.”

Diet Freedom Goal #9

“Manage my emotional eating. Find other ways to satisfy my need for joy and happiness while interacting with people and food. How to find peace and confidence with myself with the right foods so I can be aware of this action and then correct it with the right thoughts that it benefits me. No longer have food control me. Then I will finally feel free…”

Diet Freedom Goal #10

“To never have to diet AGAIN! I want to feel not just good but great in my own skin and have a good relationship with food. I don’t want to turn to food (even if subconscious!) for comfort, just nourishment.”

Out of all the goals listed above, what goals do you relate to the most? Goals are about the results you want to achieve. But systems are about the processes that lead to those results. Therefore, you do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. If the only systems you have in place are those from your past meal plans or crazy diet, Houston – we have a problem. Let’s change that! Learn more about how our team can help you get the systems and support you need to get your relationship with food on a new trajectory! And don’t wait…Some people spend their entire lives waiting for the time to be right to make an improvement. There is never a “right” time, you simply have to start…

How To Maintain Weight Loss

February 8, 2023 by Shelby

If you’re wondering how to maintain your weight after weight loss, the majority of your long-term success relies on your front end of your approach, rather than the back end of your results. If you think you’re going to “hardcore” your way to achieve and maintain weight loss, think again. That plan will be sure to backfire at some point and you’ll find yourself wondering why you can’t control yourself around food and seeing that scale creep up – again! For more information on why hardcore dieting will NEVER work in the long haul, read up on my Top 5 Reasons Why Diets Fail.

Here are my tips for you to support you in your journey so you can not only lose the weight but maintain your weight after losing it.

Maintaining Weight Loss Must #1: Sustainable Eating Style

Any initial change with eating habits (or any habit for that matter) always comes with some level of resistance and challenge, but at some point it has to feel sustainable for you. If you don’t plan do some crazy 30lbs in 30 days approach, you still want to ensure that no matter what changes you’re making, they make sense for you at all times. I always tell my clients, “attainable doesn’t mean sustainable”, meaning, just because you attained a weight loss goal in a certain fashion doesn’t mean it’s sustainable. Anyone can “suck it up” for 30, 60, 90 days and get militant with their eating and see fantastic results, but just because you attain it doesn’t mean you can sustain it. Ask yourself, “Can I see myself doing [this way of eating] for the rest of my life?” and if the answer is “No” then you’ve got some adjustments to do. Hear me: trying to maintain your weight via restrictive dieting will NEVER work. It’s not personal. Your body will just never allow that to happen. Be honest with yourself. For example, if you are incorporating a more Paleo-like approach but miss bread and day dream of bread all the time, meet yourself where you’re at and incorporate bread at a frequency that helps you reach your goals without feeling so deprived. When you don’t feel deprived while you’re in the process of losing weight, you won’t experience up ticks in overeating once you’ve reached your goal.

Be sure there is also a moderate to high level of enjoyment with when, what, and how you are eating. If you hate it, it’s already game over (Again read my Top 5 Reasons for more background here). You cannot be emotionally (or nutritionally) deprived from food. Otherwise, your biology will take over at some point and force you to break the diet because there is a psycho-physiological need to enjoy your food as a human being. When you lose your weight in a manner that is sustainable for YOU, then maintaining your weight is simply a matter of continuing EXACTLY what you’ve been doing for the last X months rather than starting a new “phase” of your dieting. Pretty nice, right? If you can implement how you intend to eat 80-85% of the time, that will give you both short and long-term results. Trying to implement all your good intentions 100% of the time is not sustainable, or realistic. Speaking of..

Maintaining Weight Loss Must #2: Set Realistic Expectations

It’s important to set realistic expectations both during your weight loss and weight maintenance phase. If you don’t set the right expectations during your actual weight loss phase, you don’t stand a chance to properly sustain your results!

When you don’t do anything extreme like Keto, 100% cutting sugar, or other, healthy weight loss tends to be more gradual. You more than likely will NOT see 1-2 lbs per week, every week, like clock work. If your goal is to lose as much weight as quickly as possible, or in the past that’s been your approach, you will NOT be able to sustain that. Newton’s Laws Of Motion state “For every action there is an equal an opposing reaction.” If you lose too much too quickly via dieting (an unsustainable approach), don’t expect to be able to easily maintain your weight!

This is where you need to make the adjustment, in your expectations and sustainable approach (Must #1) on the front end, NOT the back end after you’ve lost weight. Your body is threatened when it loses its life sustaining fat protection so quickly and abruptly and will at some point step in to ensure that discontinues. Your body cares about one thing: Survival…NOT your pant size.

Now, can people still experience more than 1-2 pounds per week weight loss initially? Sure, but the reality is, weight loss isn’t textbook 1-2 lbs per week. If you’ve been dieting for decades, sometimes your metabolism needs more healing than you think. The longer you’ve dieted, the harder it tends to be to lose weight over time because your body is smart and has adapted to your self imposed famines of the past, time and time again, each time getting more aware of the famine ahead and thus not being so giving in getting rid of your unwanted body fat (Survival wiring).

That being said, I would set the expectation at first to focus on feeling good first rather than just hyper focusing on the scale and how quickly you can lose the weight. Welcome gradual weight loss rather than the extreme weight loss that is 100% always followed by a natural inability to maintain it.

Lastly, when you finally feel you’re at a weight you and your body are comfortable with, maintaining your weight isn’t about staying at a static number. Realistically, you’re going to fall within a weight range of 5lbs up to 10 lbs over the years (everyone is different). That’s NORMAL. THIS IS MAINTAINING YOUR WEIGHT. Trying to keep your weight at an EXACT static number forever is not how the body works. It’s important you know this up front so you don’t freak out by the normal ebb and flow of your weight over time and jump on the latest and greatest diet in response because you perceive this normal weight fluctuation as YOU not maintaining your weight loss.

Maintaining Weight Loss Must #3: Mind-Body Inclusive

Achieving and maintaining your weight loss cannot ONLY be about nutrition and WHAT you eat. You also MUST include your mind and body into the weight loss and weight maintenance process as a whole. This goes a bit hand in hand with my sustainable approach advice. Good nutrition and healthy eating isn’t just a numbers or macro game. It’s not a linear approach like we are all taught it to be. Your mind and body play a BIG role in your short and long term success. If you don’t include ways to nurture your mind like you do your body via food, you won’t be emotionally resilient and will be susceptible to emotional eating or even binge eating because your mind is controlling YOU.

Remember all those times where life events happened and caused the abrupt end to your diet and good intentions? This is what happens when you are not mind body inclusive. Your mind has the power to save you or destroy you. Your mind is NOISY. And it can be a total bully and LIAR too. So while you work hard to develop good habits around your eating, it’s also important you learn to develop habits to keep your mindset from down spiraling such as journaling, reflection, meditation, yoga, self-help books, or anything involving healthy, emotional self regulation techniques. If you can’t handle your anger, anxiety, stress, or negative mindset, you’re looking at a very slim chance of keeping the weight off. If you’re not feeling fulfilled or your spiritual cup is always half empty, you will not be able to maintain your results. Put as much energy into your feeding your mindset, emotional, or spiritual needs, and you’ll not only lose and maintain your weight loss, but you’ll become a confident, unstoppable, best version of yourself.

When it comes to your physical body, study up on intuitive and mindful eating because without a better connection with your body and eating experience, eating will feel mechanical and joyless, and you’ll be following nutrition rules forever instead of being able to have your own say on when, what, and how much you eat based on what your body is trying to communicate with you. Healthy eating is so much more pleasurable and sustainable (and can also be VERY spiritual!) when you are tuned in with your hunger and fullness cues and what foods feel good for YOUR body, skills that are absolutely necessary for any aspect of weight management.

Mistake #1 - Weighing Yourself Continuously

Mistake #2 - Rushing the Process

Mistake #3 - Setting Unrealistic Expectations

Mistake #4 - Excessive Food Tracking

Body Image and Social Media

How Social Media Affects Body Image

Protecting Your Mental Health

Final Thoughts...

1. Identify The Root Cause

2. Reframe Your Relationship With Food

3. Practice Mindful Eating

4. Build A Support System

5. Develop A Positive Mindset

Practice Gratitude

Affirmations

Visualization

Surround Yourself With Positivity

How to Recover From A Binge Episode

Step #1: Ask Yourself, "Why Do I Think I Binged?"

Step #2: Be Compassionate With Yourself

Step #3: Create An Action Plan

Diet Freedom Goal #1

Diet Freedom Goal #2

Diet Freedom Goal #3

Diet Freedom Goal #4

Diet Freedom Goal #5

Diet Freedom Goal #6

Diet Freedom Goal #7

Diet Freedom Goal #8

Diet Freedom Goal #9

Diet Freedom Goal #10

Maintaining Weight Loss Must #1: Sustainable Eating Style

Maintaining Weight Loss Must #2: Set Realistic Expectations

Maintaining Weight Loss Must #3: Mind-Body Inclusive

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