For many of us who are caught in the diet cycle, by the time we realize it’s a trap, we can’t even figure out where it came from? Diets and dissatisfaction with our body have become a way of life and we rarely stop to think where this insidious snare came from? This makes our lives very difficult when it comes to breaking up with diets because until we know HOW the diet cycle began in our lives, we cannot break it.

For most women I have worked with the cycle began before they even really remember. It was almost a way of life from the start. The feelings of self-loathing can start in early childhood with friends or family members thinking you are ‘chubby’ or talking constantly about ‘puppy fat’. Perhaps a parent or grandparent would use food to show love instead of affection so you associate food with love? This is one of the strongest and most common associations I have come across when working with clients. Perhaps a parent or older sibling was ‘always on a diet’ and you learnt that this is what people do in order to be ‘healthy’ and ‘fit in’?  Many people learned to associate overeating and dieting as a means of control in an environment where they have felt helpless.

Wherever your association with dieting began, it is essential to get to the root of it so that you can start to unpick the stitches as it were. Understanding what caused the thought process and how it occurred is crucial to your success.

Once you have established where this thought process began, you can start to pinpoint trigger situations, trigger people and even begin to challenge your negative thoughts about yourself. If you know WHY you think you aren’t good enough as you are then you can approach everything from a different perspective. For example, if you learned that you have to be ‘skinny’ to be happy or loved then you can challenge those thoughts by finding examples of people who are happy and loved who aren’t skinny. WHO made you feel this way or what situation did you find yourself in where being skinny was the answer? If you have enjoyed temporary success on any diet then did it make you happy? Could there be something else, other than being ‘skinny’ that could be causing your unhappiness?

By getting to the source of our self-dissatisfaction we are laying the ground work  for self acceptance. Imagine accepting who you are as you are right now? Once we can do that, being healthy becomes more than just a diet but a lifestyle we can stick to forever because we realize that we are more than what we do or do not eat. Our body is worthy of respect as are we as individuals. Once we stop dieting and see our body for what it is, then we can fuel it and not starve it, respect it and not hate it. Respect for ourselves is one of the best ways to deeply want to be healthy for our health rather than for a number on a scale. We can learn to be healthy for ourselves and not for others! This is where the real work really begins, not in the gym or on the plate.

I love to hear about your experiences so if you feel like getting in touch then I would love to hear from you!

As always, drop me comment below, plus don’t forget to join my private Facebook Group if you haven’t done so already……and remember The Full-Bodied Evolution Members Club has a wealth of materials and a growing community of like-minded people to help you on your weight loss journey! Plus, you can always find me on both Instagram and Pinterest for more lifestyle food and fitness tips!

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