Nutrition – It’s All About the Practices
Celia came to me to lose weight. She had tried everything and was convinced that she would have to deprive herself of the foods and things she loved in order to reach her goal in time for a big event. She was at point A, overweight and unhappy, and she wanted to get to point B, skinny and happy. If that’s how you measured progress, she stayed at point A for a long time, months. No matter what we tried, she wasn’t losing the weight and she wasn’t feeling better about her body. She felt discouraged.
In reality, she was making amazing progress. She was a young college graduate sorting out the contradictory feelings of wanting to lose weight while at the same time not wanting to be one of “those girls” that is always dieting. We talked about these feelings. Celia kept a food journal. She noticed that certain foods gave her terrible acid reflux and started avoiding them. She ate three meals and two snacks every day and started to feel hunger again. She realized that a night of drinking with friends left her feeling drained and queasy the next day and that if she depended on others to feed her, it was hard to eat in a way that made her feel good. She learned that she really loved yoga and riding her bike and that if she didn’t eat ice cream every day, it tasted that much better when she finally did have it. She remembered that even at her lowest weight, several years ago, she still felt unhappy with her body. Very slowly, as all of this information started sinking in, Celia started to lose weight. She realized that the voice that said, “You’re so fat!” might be wrong, and that the voice that said, “I haven’t had an upset stomach in a whole month and I feel great!” might actually be more reliable. She learned that if she biked and took yoga classes and ate in a way that was easy on her stomach and stopped eating or drinking to please others, she lost weight. No dieting involved!
One day I told her that I believed everyone has a natural weight where their body wants to be, based on what they are doing. By making decisions about food and exercise that felt intuitive and good for her whole being, she was finding her natural weight. I’ll never forget the way she looked at me, smiling brightly she replied, “So that means it’s all about the practices.” I couldn’t have put it better. After that, within a few sessions, Celia confidently and proudly told me that she felt ready to stop seeing me, “I think I can do this on my own.”
So, did Celia reach point B? Yes, she lost weight and she felt better about her body. In a very subtle and powerful way, she shifted her focus from the goal to fully enjoying the practices that helped her achieve it. Biking and yoga because she loved them, eating differently because it made her stomach feel better, saying no sometimes to family and friends, not because she was dieting, but because she knew what was best for her. Mindfulness, intuition and living in the moment with no end in sight; a perpetual state of transition.
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Category: Nutrition
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