Today, I want to to talk about “doing the work”. One part of Intuitive Eating that can be so challenging is we have to put in the work, sometimes for months or years before we really start to see a shift in our wellbeing, our relationship with food and our body image.
That can be super hard when you are coming from diet culture and its sidekick, fat phobia.
To make it even more challenging, we live in a culture that fights against us trusting our bodies and accepting our size and shape! So we can be swimming and swimming and swimming – we can be doing the work, seeing our therapist, meeting with our dietitian, reading the books and listening to the podcasts! Maybe our friends and family are tired of us calling out diet culture wherever we see it – and yet, the second we stop- maybe because life gets hectic or we have a major life stressor pop up or we see a photo of ourselves and hate the way we looked in that split second and whoosh we can find ourselves swept back into the turbulent sea of wanting to restrict (just for a few weeks), or thinking maybe a cleanse wouldn’t be the worst thing, or beating ourselves up for not going to the gym and figure cutting out all sugar could be the answer…
I want you to know it’s totally normal to WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT!
It’s totally normal to feel, “I’ve got this!” one day and then slip back into hating your body and wanting to find a diet the next! It’s normal, it sucks and it says EVERYTHING about our culture and very little about how well you are doing on your journey towards becoming relaxed around food and feeling positive about your body.
In April, we plant seeds that look insignificant, we tend delicate sprouts of herbs or tomatoes that show little promise of the fruit they will later bring, we have faith. We keep looking ahead towards the promise of flowers in May, of fruit in July. Even though it can feel uncomfortable and sometimes we lose faith, we keep watering. We keep hoping, we keep the faith.
Intuitive Eating is bit like that! The solution is to keep pressing forward. Keep putting one foot in front of the other, sure, there will be some rainy days but that’s what helps us grow!
If you have had a slip up, (you binged for the first time in months, got on the scale, started cutting out a meal or ramping up exercise even though you aren’t really loving it) and maybe you are tempted to cancel your next therapy or dietitian appointment because you haven’t had time to “work” on your goals, are afraid of being judged, or feel like you are just not good at this… Please know: there is no timeline, it’s a marathon not a sprint, it’s normal, your professional will not judge you and you certainly are not a failure.
If you are ready to plant some seeds, need a little hope and faith or want some support to help move you further along your intuitive eating journey, please reach out to a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor (like me). 😀