The average woman spends 17 years of her life dieting. 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day. Imagine how many of your dreams can come true with that time? Write a book, start a non-profit, create a life-changing business!
What is even more upsetting is that it begins at a very young age. 51% of 9-10 year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet.
The diet industry loves this and targets young girls and women. The total U.S. weight loss industry has grown to a historic peak of $90 billion in 2023. We are stuck in this vicious cycle of losing weight and 95% of dieters regaining it back, only to go back on another diet. Diets are stealing our time, energy, and money.
We are constantly getting the message to make ourselves smaller to be "more worthy" which couldn't be farther from the truth. As long as you are distracted by shrinking yourself you aren't expanding your life.
WE CAN CHANGE THIS MINDSET.
My passion for women's health, having been stuck in this mindset for years, and also being the mom to two daughters motivates me to speak the truth and help women at any age to stop dieting.
Why does dieting or obsessing about our weight and calories actually prevent us from losing weight?
Your body is responding to your thoughts and actions. The constant negative dieting messages we tell ourselves sends messages to our body that it's "not safe". Our body has a survival mode called the sympathetic nervous system. It prioritizes protecting you when it thinks the outside world is not safe. So remember those negative messages are perceived as something is going on and it isn't safe right now. Maybe there is a famine because we are restricting our calories. So the body thinks it better hold onto weight until the famine is over. Or maybe it isn't safe out there because a bear is nearby. So definitely not a good time to burn fat. We might need to turn it into energy so we can outrun it.
After years and years of obsessing over food and calories I finally just let go of it. I focused instead on eating nourishing real food that gave me energy and doing exercises with the goal of building strength, not burning calories. The extra weight slowly but surely came off and has stayed off with consistently (not perfectly) doing those two things.
What is the first step to breaking away from the diet mindset?
You need to reframe your thoughts & actions. When you catch yourself saying "I need to lose more weight" practice reframing it. We were taught that the scale is the best way to assess our weight and health. In fact, it's just one piece of the whole larger puzzle. Losing weight does not automatically improve your health. If you can, give away your scale and focus on how you feel on the inside and how your body is functioning to assess your health and progress.
How many times have you sabotaged your healthy journey because you didn't like the number on the scale, so then you gave up, restricted yourself more, increased your workout intensity, or binged on junk food?
Some examples of non-scale measures of health can be your mood, energy levels, appetite, libido, stress, fasting insulin, glucose levels, blood pressure, and how you feel in your clothes.
So try reframing your negative thought into something like "I have way more energy to keep up with my kids".
What is a healthy and more successful approach to your health?
Focus on eating a nourishing real whole food meals that power you up. There is still room on your plate for foods that give you pleasure too.
Also, focus your movement efforts on building more strength. This will have huge effects on your health and longevity, improve your metabolic function and insulin function.
Talk soon,
Stephanie
P.S.-Want to learn more tips? Check out my free 10 ways to sustainable weight loss guide here.
Comments
Post a Comment