Cake over Keto: Episode 6 - Letting go of wanting to lose the weight.
The societal focus on weight and weight loss is associated with unrealistic ideals that doom most people to failure. And for many, the pursuit of thinness causes more harm than good. What this means is weight loss behaviours increase food and body preoccupation, repeated cycles of weight loss and regain, distraction from the wider health determinants, reduced self-esteem, eating disorders, weight stigma and discrimination. The premise of intuitive eating / not dieting / recovering from disordered eating or an eating disorder is health does not have a size so can we shift to weight-neutral outcomes (that don’t focus on weight at all), where we see clinically relevant improvements in physical and psychological health, without the harm.
Which is all well and good but when you’ve been told for such a long time that weight IS the be all and end all…when you’ve internalised the beliefs that weight loss will bring you happiness, better health, better relationships, and life success, it’s NOT easy just to switch that thinking off.
In this episode, Mel shares two ways in which you can begin to dig deeper and explore what your desire to lose really means for you. So you can begin to let go of the need to endure dieting behaviours, without fear. She also explains how letting go of this desire can feel like grieving the loss of an actual person. Mourning the behaviours you can no longer sustain, your past body or the body you never got to have is valid!
Then hear about three amazing women who are tackling diet culture head on in Mel’s Pick N Mix! Check out their accounts, my help sheet and more from this episode below!
Resources
Exploring my past diet history help sheet – this is an approach adapted from Evelyn Tribole and Elise Resch (2017). Download the help sheet
Pick n Mix shout outs!
Mel from is a PT and kettle bell coach, helping women find mental, emotional and physical strength through all stages of menopause. No body shaming or unrealistic ideals allowed - go check out Mel’s bells!
Faye from is a real, cow loving Disney fan who shares content that reminds us of our humanity. She cracks me up and also shares the reality of recovery from an eating disorder.
Lauren from is a nutritional therapy student sharing brilliant videos and reels that challenge the diet culture BS and show how to navigate the ED voice. I don’t know how she finds the time to do these!
And something extra – In this episode I mentioned the impact of widening our visual diet. Here is a fascinating TED talk by Lillian Bussel: Stripping away negative body image. You can watch this on YouTube
