Okay so we’re making this the final blog on healthy and sustainable lifestyle change without hating yourself and the process, BUT this isn’t the end, it’s the beginning and we’re sharing some tips today that you can get to work on right now to change your relationship with food because my mission for you is that you never have to go on a ‘diet’ again. We have spoken about the damaging nature of diet culture and already implemented some ways in which we can help ourselves and also those around us – today there’s more.
First up I wanted to chat about that ‘all or nothing’ approach that so many of us implement, but also that so many of us tell ourselves that’s all we can manage. I have lost count of the number of times that clients have told me – ‘the problem is, I’m just an all or nothing person’. Let’s stop right there. That is a self-fulfilling prophecy and doesn’t have to be the way. If you keep telling yourself that then what chance are you giving yourself to do otherwise? I bet, at some point in your life, you have only eaten one biscuit when the packet came round – perhaps the packet only did the rounds once at your parents’ house or you were flying out the door and just grabbed one? That time you only ate one biscuit – so you CAN do it, right? It’s tricky when they’re readily available but it’s doable. So, let’s firstly stop telling ourselves that we can’t…we can. I know it’s tricky but I’m here to support you.
An all or nothing cycle with food or exercise or both is miserable and unsustainable. We have all been sucked into a trap whereby we are trying to be ‘perfect’, trying to eat nothing but ‘clean’ foods (that phrase can get out too!) and working out HARD…too hard. It works well for a few days until we can’t maintain that ‘perfection’ any longer and end up throwing the towel in on the whole thing because ‘we can’t be perfect so what’s the point’ and promising ourselves that we will start again at the turn of the week. I can’t think of anything more illogical than one small thing having to give, so giving up everything that might be making positive moves until the following week for your health and wellbeing. I do understand how easy it is, however, to get sucked into that trap. What would be far more preferable is if we could find ourselves a middle ground, a ‘good enough’ for where your life is at, at this moment in time – THAT is where the magic lies, THAT is where sustainable results lie. Have a think, what might that look like for you? I want to help you to make it effortless.
Once we have set some habits that work for you, within your lifestyle, that are going to help you to achieve your goals, physical activity and nutrition wise we might need to tweak your goals themselves slightly. Are they realistic while still allowing you to enjoy the lifestyle and the foods that you love? Or is the payoff worth it so that you can still go for coffee with a friend, a glass of wine on a Saturday and enjoy takeaway night with the family? Do your expectations line up with your priorities? Once we have those expectations nailed and accept what is and isn’t possible within your boundaries, we can live and happier life and know that we are achieving what works for us, without feeling like we need to achieve the goals we think we ‘should’ have that society has told us is what we should all look, perform and feel like.
Next and last up for now, I implore you to STOP watching and consuming media, be it online through social media or certain suspect websites or on the television or otherwise, that makes you feel less than fabulous about yourself – that includes your local PT that is using progress photos to show everyone how fabulous they are at their job. You can find out how I feel about that in the previous blog!! Perhaps we could follow social media accounts that celebrate women’s bodies for what they can do!? Then and only then, can we start feeling empowered to apply that to ourselves.
Ladies, I hope, so much, that you can level up and be kind to yourself and feel the difference that makes to both your physical and mental wellbeing. If you want to make this change and don’t feel empowered enough to do so just yet then I am here for you, just an email away – annalouisecoaching@outlook.com. Even if it’s just a chat, you know where I am.
Peace and love for now, A x