Fearing weight gain? Part Two.

FIND PART ONE HERE.

Our bodies are incredible machines. They're breathing without our conscious control, regulating our temperature, digesting and absorbing our food, fighting pathogens and regulating our weight.

And despite what diet culture tells us is required, the latter is happening without input from us. Put another way, we don't need to micromanage our weight. And if we are "needing" to, this is in fact a strong sign that our bodies are operating at a weight level too low for us.

Portion controlling, calorie and step counting, exercising to "earn" food and continually weighing yourself - none of this is actually required for health or to maintain your natural healthy weight level. In fact, these behaviours could be viewed as unhelpful and unhealthy. Another little dirty secret of diet culture....

What does it feel like to imagine being in your body? Honouring your body's needs and yet not attempting to manipulate it's weight. How much time, energy and money might you gain back? How much joy and contentment?

Our bodies are in constant flux, managing all kinds of things in the environment and this is normal. And yet, these machines we live in are designed to bring us back to homeostasis or, our happy place. And that's as much about our electrolyte level and body temperature, as it is about weight. So daily scale weighing of yourself will tell you zero about your body. You're simply seeing regular shifts in fluid throughout various times of the day and yet how harmful is this action for you? And I invite you to dive into what "knowing" your weight provides you with? Does it connect or disconnect you from your body's unique needs?

The 'why' of weight gain fear was explored in Part One. How understandable these fears are, and where they can originate from. And yet our clever bodies do their thing, if we let them. Their thing in this case being, weight stability.

Weight cycling is the opposite to that stability, and where compromised health status is linked [1]. Because constant ups and downs on a scale signify a trauma for the body, as does the dieting that created it [2].

And if this is your experience, please don't be alarmed. Know that there is an alternative to the constant and exhausting nature of always attempting to shrink your body. And that alternative is - reconnecting to it. Allowing yourself to become attuned once more to your body's needs and preferences. (We're reconnecting because being attuned to our needs is our default setting). Learning to honour your own hunger, fullness and satisfaction. Moving your body in ways that feel good to you and becoming more empowered and trusting of it with each step. It's through all of these steps of becoming an Intuitive Eater, that you're able to support your body finding its own weight stability.

If you'd like support on this journey, it can certainly make it more easeful and I'd love to help. Book a FREE 15-min discovery call with me where I'll get to know your situation and share some info on how I might best be able to support you.

[1] Anderson et al. 2001

[2] Tylka et al. 2014

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