How I gained 20lbs before my wedding

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Last new year I was a little over one year into my intuitive eating journey, when I made the decision to not make my New Year’s resolution focused on weight loss. Crazy I know!

If you’re unfamiliar with Intuitive Eating the main focus is:

  1. Listen your hunger/fullness cues

  2. Honoring your cravings

  3. Listening to what foods your body like/dislikes and eat accordingly

  4. Follow no diet

The whole premise is to reinstate a sense of trust with your body. Reforming the connection that your body knows what it needs and will tell you.

I started intuitive eating right after my wedding in 2016. I had gained 20 pounds before my wedding after trying multiple crazy diets out of desperation to look my best. I was devastated with my “failure”, had low self value, and felt like a failure in my profession.

I was desperate to feel happy about myself again, instead of living in fear that my cravings would rage at any moment and my weight would spiral out of my control again.
They tell you flat out with intuitive eating that weight loss in not a priority and may not even happen. BUT that your body will normalize and you will be at peace with your body.

That year and a half was the first time I had felt peace with my body in years. Some days were better than others, but this style of eating forced to me listen to my body. For the first time I had a relationship with myself that didn’t involve self hate and forcing myself to look a specific way.

So panic set in as the 2018 new year rolled around, should I abandon all my hard work and start a rigid diet plan? What the heck was I going to do?

anitdiet 2018.png

Thank goodness the Intuitive Eating ladies of instagram were out in full force posting things like this: New Years Resolution Not To Go on a diet!!!!

So per intuitive eating I stopped and asked my body what it really wanted. It wanted to keep doing the same thing; packing in vegetables every day and lifting heavy stuff at the gym with the occasional ice cream. Boldly I said ok 2018 I will make all about making my body happy.

2018 has been one of the most freeing years of my life! It wasn’t consumed with diets, self loathing, body manipulation, and private binging sessions. Instead it was full of meals that made me feel energized and happy, hours of playtime at the gym, and so much self acceptance.

By listening to my body my weight has re-normalized, bloating is gone, smooth digestion, and only the occasional adult acne.  

As you make your New Year’s resolution I ask you to put yourself first. Make this year about finding what makes you happy AND healthy, not just smaller or more muscular.

Come from a place of self acceptance and self care this year, because like I said in last week’s post people take care of the things they care about.

Here are some non-diet New Year’s Resolution:

  1. Try a new vegetable recipe every week

  2. Make more meals at home

  3. Try a new exercise class or workout

  4. Listen to my hunger and fullness cues, stop eating when full and eat when hungry

  5. Chew my food all the way

  6. Get up and move more during the day at work

  7. Buy a standing desk

  8. Start a gratitude journal

  9. Create a self care routine (body brushing, self massage, sauna, ect.)

  10. Give myself compassion and appreciate where I am

  11. Start a stress relief practice (mediating, deep breathing, yoga, taking a lap, etc.)