Have you ever felt frustrated when you stepped on the scale and saw a weight change? Weight fluctuations are normal- between hours, days, months and years! Today I am going to tell you how to cope with weight change and intuitive eating. And that means weight loss, weight gain or even no change- weight maintenance!
If you’re reading this right now and want to know WHAT weight changes will happen when you start intuitive eating- will it be loss, gain or maintenance- hop over to this blog post. I talk all about how to understand what might happen to your weight when you live with No Food Rules. Take a read real fast then come back and finish this one!
How To Cope With Weight Change and Intuitive Eating Tip #1
Give Your Body Permission
Firstly, tell yourself, right now, out loud “I give my body permission to change.” Like I said, your body can experience weight fluctuations between hours, days, months, years, decades, etc! Did you know that the average adult’s weight can fluctuate even more than 5lbs per day?! Set the expectation for your brain that your body is going to change.
Even if you are at your set point weight (learn more about that topic here) your body will STILL change. Some days we may retain water, some weeks we may bloat (Hello PMS!) and some days we may just eat more and that causes our tummies to be more full. Set the expectation that your body will change. This will help reduce the psychological effects that seeing those changes can cause if you aren’t expecting them, meaning: anxiety, stress and straight up PANIC. Instead, give your body permission and expect it.
Tip #2
Ditch The Scale
I can’t stress this second one enough. Ditch. The. Scale. SERIOUSLY. Remember when I said your weight can fluctuate more than 5lbs per day? The scale doesn’t take the reasons for the weight changes into consideration when it displays that number. So, while you might see the number go up or down, do you really know why that happened? Was it that you have or haven’t pooped yet for the day? Just being honest! Are you overly hydrated or dehydrate? Maybe your body just NEEDED it. Weight gain is NOT bad. Sometimes our body needs some extra energy reserves.
When you use the scale you are really following an arbitrary number that isn’t actually serving you. Instead, DITCH. THE. SCALE. Focus on how your body feels, not a number. Doing that will allow to cope with weight change and intuitive eating.
Tip #3
Find Support
Find others who are focusing on body positivity, too. Surround yourself with support for body positivity. This means:
- Doing a social media “detox” of anyone who makes you feel self-conscious, inferior, etc.
- Having one or more girlfriends, (or guyfriends!), health care professionals, etc. that you can count on to life your spirits if you’re feeling “blah” about weight changes
- Be your OWN support, too! I always say to my clients “Talk to yourself like a friend or your 99 year old self would” Would they care about weight changes? NOPE!
Tip #4
Body Appreciation
To be honest, I don’t expect everyone to look in the mirror and LOVE the way that their body looks all of the time. I mean, I SURE don’t. BUT, I can always appreciate everything that my body does for me. Make a list in your journal (something I TOTALLY recommend you start doing!) of reasons you appreciate your body. Re-write this list any time you’re struggling with how to cope with weight change and intuitive eating.
Tip #5
Separate Your Worth
You are SO much more than your body. But, sometimes it can be hard to remember that when you’re struggling in your relationship with food and you body. I mean, that can feel all consuming, right?! Take a second, right now, and think of all of the things that make you YOU. Are you kind? Smart? Funny? Driven? Compassionate? Guess what. NONE of those are impacted by your weight. Just like you made a list of things you appreciate about your body, do the same for this list of characteristics that make you YOU. Then, re-write any time you need a little boost!
There you have it. My top 5 tips on how to cope with weight change and intuitive eating. These tips have not only helped me handle weight fluctuations but have helped my clients be cope with weight change and intuitive eating, too. Learning to become okay with weight changes is KEY in living a No Food Rules lifestyle. You can snag my full roadmap (which includes more on how to cope with weight change and intuitive eating ) on how to live a life with No Food Rules in my free e-book here!
Which of these five tips do you feel will be the most helpful to you- or maybe the hardest one to implement!? Let me know in the comments and how I can help support you as you learn to be okay with weight changes! Cause you, girlfriend, are SO much more than just a body.
XOXO
-Colleen
Want more posts like this? You might like these:
Deb Forcht says
This blog about Coping With Weight Change & Intuitive Eating.
has helped me enormously, is a very good topic. What product helped me lose weight, I recommend you see here: https://s96.me/fit (or click on the name).
Kiss you All!
Liliane says
Thank you for this post! I tend to overeat even though my BMI is low. I have fears about IE because for me it leads to weight loss, which people then treat me like I am undereating. I also used to under eat on purpose, so loosing weight triggers those thoughts : p . I like this post about weight fluctuations and will try to focus on the characteristics about myself that do not change, and realize that I am not trapped by how my body looks to me or others.
Colleen says
Sometimes we need to offer our bodies food regardless of our hunger cues- I call this practical hunger. It can help avoid loss!