healthy weight loss Archives - Diet Free Radiant Me | Intuitive Eating | Emotional Eating

Powerful Strategies to Conquer Overeating

I recently started a series called Powerful Strategies to Conquer Overeating on The Diet Free Zone Show™ on my YouTube channel.

In case you don’t subscribe to my channel (although you should…here’s the link to subscribe for free https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_vbh0Zqy6Y2TSQCbHQwziA ) I wanted to share the first 3 strategies with you here.

Click on the images below to watch the videos, then come back and comment below.

Stay tuned for the next 3 strategies in the coming weeks.

Strategy #1: Be patient!

Strategy #2: Talk to yourself!

Strategy #3: Make new friends!

Are You a Yo-Yo Dieter? Find out now!

It’s the same story with every diet you start: “this time it’s going to work, this time I’m going to be stronger, this time I’m going to stay committed”. However, the unfortunate truth of dieting is that it will never help you achieve your long term weight loss goals. In fact, statistics show that 46% of people who make a weight loss resolution never make it past 6 months. So, if dieting doesn’t work you may be wondering how you will ever reach your weight loss goals. The key for weight loss success is not to follow a diet, but rather to understand what is really sabotaging your weight loss.
Here are two questions you need to answer to get started:

Question #1: Am I a Yo-Yo Dieter?

Yo-yo dieting is a term you are likely familiar with. It is a process that results in what is commonly known as weight cycling and it involves going on and off diets and constantly losing and regaining weight along the way. You may be thinking that yo-yo dieting is the perfect description of your life. The cycle of yo-yo dieting is crippling mentally, emotionally and physically. Not only does it lead to an emotional rollercoaster of successes and failures, but weight cycling has also been shown to impose adverse health effects. Does this sound like you? If it does, move on to question #2.

Question #2: Have I Hit Diet Bottom?

Hitting diet bottom happens when you simply do not have it in you to go on another diet. You have hit diet bottom when you’ve been dieting your whole life and you no longer have the energy or inner strength to worry about the number on the scale, count any more calories or deprive yourself of foods that you love. The negative emotions and feelings of guilt that come along with overeating are tormenting you and something that you cannot endure any longer. Hitting diet bottom is the first step you need to catapult you into a diet-free life.

If you have succumbed to the yo-yo cycle of dieting for many years and still haven’t reached your weight loss goals, consider if you are at the point where you have hit diet bottom. Figuring out for yourself if you are at this point takes self-reflection into your personal diet patterns and being honest with yourself as to how dieting has affected you throughout your life. Then, and only then, can you move to the next step of discovering the biggest mistakes you’ve made at dieting.

To help you on this discovery journey, please accept my Hitting Diet Bottom Blueprint as my gift to you. Find out if you have hit diet bottom, and learn what you can do to end the yo-yo dieting cycle.

Drown Out the Miracle Diet Noise – Create Healthy Habits from Healthy Thoughts Instead

Have you ever had a day where you saw something that inspired you? Or maybe you read something that immediately caused you to say “yes, I’m in”! Something about it caught your attention and made you want to be better, or do better. So, you jump on board without too much thought. But then what happens. A hectic day full of work, carpools, food shopping, homework, cleaning, and preparing food for the family often pushes those noble thoughts out of your head and into space.

There is so much propaganda out there right now trying to get into your head to encourage you to create these grandiose plans to take dieting action. While any healthy thought is admirable, a grandiose thought like, “I’m never going to eat bread again” can get you into trouble. These declarations are usually too difficult to execute forever.

I’ve seen this myself. Without calling out any particular person or company, there is one “celebrity health guru” that comes to mind. Not a day goes by that I don’t get an email or video from her encouraging her readers to eliminate certain foods to drop the weight. Now don’t get me wrong. There is definitely a time and place when you might need to eliminate certain foods that are GI triggers for you, or that you are allergic to or have a food sensitivity too. I actually work with clients who have food triggers/sensitivities and we do an elimination diet followed by food challenges to identify those triggers.

That’s not what I am referring to here. To tell the general public to absolutely avoid certain foods (like dairy, gluten, eggs…) in order to drop the weight, well that to me will yield short term success. Yes, when you eliminate entire food categories and the “junk food” that usually falls within that category (think cakes, cookies, white bread when eliminating gluten, and fruited high sugar yogurt when eliminating dairy), you will most definitely lose weight. But is there a reason you should be off these food categories for life if you choose healthier options within those categories (think whole grains, whole wheat, and plain Greek yogurt)?

I think not!

What you can do when you are faced with these grandiose thoughts is to use them as a springboard for coming up with more realistic and sound thoughts that you can truly turn into action. Do you really want to never eat bread again? Do you think that is what is going to make you into the healthier person you want to be?

Instead, make a commitment to not denying yourself but to give yourself unconditional permission to eat what you truly want when you are hungry and stop when you are comfortably full. Choose healthier versions of these foods for good health and you will find that you won’t even desire them that often. Key words here…healthier versions!

As an intuitive eater, you learn what your true food preferences are. Oftentimes, something that you thought was a trigger food for you that you could not stop eating (overeating/bingeing) may actually be a food that you realize you never really liked.

Small changes add up to big changes and instead of having a “flash in the pan” healthy moment, you will end up with a healthy lifestyle full of healthy habits that has built up over time.

I encourage you to honor every healthy thought you have. Think about how you can turn it into a healthy habit instead of it being a passing thought that disappears because it is too big to stick. You can turn any thought into a healthy action, just be mindful about the ones you choose.

Your turn to take action: Turn one of your healthy thoughts into a healthy habit this week. Please share how you did this and how you feel.

Healthy Weight for a Happy You!

We live in a society that places such a strong focus on weight and looks, often giving the impression that there is no such thing as too pretty or too thin. This false belief has caused millions of women and men to obsess over their body weight and fall into the debilitating cycle of chronic dieting. The week of January 19-25 is the 21^st annual Healthy Weight Week, a very special 7 days set aside to allow us to take a step back and accept and be happy with our natural weight and the bodies we were born with. It is a time that we can celebrate achieving and maintaining a diet-free positive body image and put an end to eating and weight problems.

It is important that it is understood that we are not all shaped the same and “healthy” and “skinny” are not one in the same. One of the best and most effective ways to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight is to simply be aware of the food decisions you make on a daily basis – it is more about choices, not calorie counting. Make sure your meals and snacks are well balanced and include a fruit, vegetable, whole grain and lean protein.

Another important aspect in diet-free weight control is to lose the guilt and let yourself enjoy a treat when you want it. Food is something everyone enjoys, so why deny yourself of something you love? Start to practice mindful eating by simply eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full. Being able to listen to your body signals is the key to ridding yourself of the diet mentality.

One last insight to take away with you for Healthy Weight Week is to compare yourself to you and you only. All you can be is better than you were yesterday and keep on making healthy food choices and staying as active as you can!

Your turn to take action: How will you celebrate Healthy Weight Week?

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