I’ve joined several new groups lately that focus on body positivity, loving your body at any size, not dieting, etc.
I’m learning so much!!
Did you know?
95% of people who diet gain it back with-in 5 years.
Most people gain back more than they lost.
You can’t really control your body over a long period of time. It will always get back to the size that it wants to be at.
Once you stop dieting, over time, your body size will level off to the size that it wants to be at… For some, that will be lower. For some, that will be higher. My fear was having to constantly buy new clothes and that I would keep gaining. That’s not true. Learning to eat intuitively/for self care and exercise for mental/emotional health will be enough to keep your weight from climbing too much. And if it does, oh well!
Dieting is disordered behavior. This includes all of the fad diets and restricting by counting calories. Whole 30, Paleo, Vegan (unless for religious or ethical reasons), THM, 21 Day Fix, low fat, low calorie/My Fitness Pal, etc.
Things that I’m working on…
I choose to eat nourishing foods because it makes me feel good physically. I eat foods that wouldn’t be considered healthy sometimes because I want to (Along the same lines, food isn’t “good” or bad.” Food is food.). I use raw sugar and pyure in my coffee with some half and half because it makes me happy and I like the taste. I drink Coke Zero because I just quit drinking alcohol and I can only handle one thing at a time. It’s not as bad for you as people have been saying. I am learning to read about the science of things versus what people say (and anecdotal blogs, etc). This is what I am choosing to do. The main problem with it is that I need to drink more water. I am trying to drink more water each day because my body needs it.
Exercise is hard for me because I’ve always exercised a lot when I was dieting and not exercised at all when I wasn’t dieting. Finding a happy medium and moderation is something that I’m working on. Movement for mental/emotional health and self care. I also have high cholesterol, so exercise for lowering that is a good thing.
I am unfollowing people on Facebook and Instagram who talk a lot about dieting, Plexus, 21 Day Fix/Beachbody, Whole 30, etc because it’s triggering for me at this point. I may be able to re-follow these people eventually. We’ll see.
I threw my scale away! When I get weighed at the doctor, I will turn the other way. I don’t want to know how much I weigh!
I’m going to start wearing clothing that is more comfortable even if I gain a little more weight. Leggings, stretchy jeans, skirts and dresses. Continue wearing comfy t-shirts and over-sized shirts, etc.
And a funny… when I told Robert that I was writing about “Body Positivity,” he told me, “I’m positive I like your body!”
Simply Courtney 