How To Survive Life After Dieting!
posted on: February 19, 2017. posted in: Weight loss, Nutrition
We've had this sent to us privately...
"Hi Liam. I've briefly followed your Facebook group for about 6 months now. I'm afraid I'm one of those people that has tried every diet out there, but mainly slimming world for the last two years. I watched the program on Tuesday night that you suggested everyone to watch. It was a real eye opener. 2 years ago I was a stone and a half lighter than I am now when I started SW to get rid of those few extra pounds that were making me uncomfortable. I have now decided that it was making me unhappy, I weigh more now than when I started and I have started binging (which even at my biggest I didn't do!) My problem is, I don't really know where to start as SW in a fashion has been my way of life for so long. I have joined a gym which is a start and found a training plan. I walk my dogs everyday too. It's just the nutrition side I'm struggling with. I'm sitting here now with a notebook and pen attempting to write a meal plan. But unsure what to put on it! I don't want to eat massive portions like I did on SW but also I don't want to eat the wrong foods that are going to do me more damage. Please help!!"
It's time for another little rebel story.
I'd like you to imagine you're on a plane journey.
You're comfortable. The other passengers are comfortable. But you have a nagging feeling something isn't quite right. You then notice a few of the passengers get up, walk to the back of the plane, put on a parachute and jump out.
"Why are they jumping out?! What the hell is wrong?!" you ask.
One of the other passengers then explains to you that they've seen evidence to prove the plane is going to crash, so they're going to put on their parachute and jump out too.
She jumps. And another jumps. And another. And another.
All whilst the rest of the other passengers defend the plane, explaining how it's perfectly safe and working perfectly for them right now...
"We're flying aren't we?! What's the problem?!"
You're now faced with a dilemma.
Stay on the plane, where it feels safe, for now. Or jump out of the plane, because there's good evidence to prove it's going to crash.
As the evidence mounts, and you witness more and more people jumping from the plane, you realise that your best option is to jump out too.
You put your parachute on. You stand in the doorway. And there is the terrifying moment when you jump out of the plane, abandoning everything you've ever known, wondering whether or not your parachute is going to work.
__________
The moral of the story.
The plane is the SLIMMING INDUSTRY.
The inevitable crash is OBESITY.
The passengers are SLIMMERS.
The jumpers are REBELS.
The free fall?
Well that's obvious...
Life without rules... life without syns... life without guilt...
LIFE WITHOUT A DIET.
You've been brave and made the decision to abandon the slimming industry. To jump out of that plane because you know dieting makes you fatter.
You're now free falling, and scared, because all you've ever known are rules and syns and guilt around food. And as you're falling you're reaching out for more rules and syns and guilt around food, because they make you feel safe, strapped in, secure and in control...
Not realising that they are the cause of your binging...
Which means they are the cause of your weight gain.
You don't need silly diet rules to be in control.
You just need a parachute...
And that parachute is INTUITIVE EATING.
Understanding that "wrong foods" are a lie. There are no "wrong foods". The slimming industry has created the myth of "wrong foods that will make you fat", to keep you from jumping and keep you on their plane. To keep you binging, and keep you buying their products.
Intuitive eating is about learning that all foods are ok. All foods are allowed. No foods are a "syn" or "off plan". If you want some chocolate? Eat some chocolate! If you feel like some cake? Eat some cake! Have two slices!
Because it isn't the chocolate or the cake that does the damage...
It is the GUILT around chocolate and cake that does the damage.
I had two helpings of cake yesterday. No rules. No syns. No guilt. Because cake to me is a positive and guilt free experience! So I'm not now driven to spend the rest of the weekend binging because I've "broken my diet" or "gone off plan" or "slipped up" and eaten "wrong foods".
And because I don't binge, I don't get fat.
That is the secret the slimming industry doesn't want you to know.
There are millions of people out there who eat whatever they want, guilt free, and who eat a lot of foods that would be deemed "wrong foods". But they aren't fat, because they don't feel guilty around food and therefore don't feel driven to binge!
So my advice to you?
Don't write a meal plan just yet.
Pull your parachute first.
Put a note on your fridge that says...
"All foods are ok!"
...and start learning to relax around food. Because as all rebels know, when you relax around food, suddenly you start eating less of it.
It is our anxiety around food, and in particular our anxiety around "wrong foods", that increases our appetite, increases our binging and increases our weight gain longer term.
So step 1...
Free fall, eat what you want 😰
Step 2...
Pull your parachute and be cool 😎
Liam
[If you'd like to learn more about how we can help, please feel free to email us for a non-judgemental conversation about your weight and nutrition.]
