Ditching the diet and trying to eat normally again is all fine and dandy…
Until that old familiar thought comes up: “But what if I gain weight?!”
It’s screaming at you to just CUT OUT THE CARBS or else you’ll spiral out of control!
Sound familiar?
I mean, the whole reason we’re dieting, counting calories, and desperately trying to maintain some semblance of control around our food is because we’re TERRIFIED of gaining weight if we don’t micro-manage our choices.
So how do you reconcile these two opposing thoughts:
The fear of gaining weight and the desire to eat normally?
Here are 3 things I want you to remember when the fear of gaining weight pops back in your brain.
1. We are born trusting our bodies.
Each of us is born knowing how to eat.
We start our lives off knowing when we’re hungry, “hearing” when we’re full, and being able to leave food on our plate if we aren’t hungry.
We’re born with an internal guidance inside of us, wisdom that knows how to take care of ourselves.
Look at little kids. They don’t have to think about if they’re hungry. They just know. They don’t analyze if they’re full; they just get up and leave the table.
Food has its place. When something more important (like building a fort in between the couches) comes up, they get up from their meal, move on, and don’t obsess over how much they ate.
YOU have that same internal wisdom. It’s just gotten lost over the years.
(And I promise: you are NOT the exception to the rule! We are ALL are born with this sense of trust.)
Begin your day with the belief that your body knows.
Knows what to eat, how much, and when to stop.
It may take some time to hear, understand, and listen to what it’s saying, but it is there. It will guide you if you let it.
2. Your body wants to be at a natural weight.
Our bodies don’t WANT to carry around excess weight.
They want to be at a weight that is comfortable, easy, and natural to maintain.
I’m not saying your body needs or wants to be a size 2!
What I’m saying is that YOUR body has a weight that is perfect for your body. It’s as natural as breathing.
I like to think of weight loss as “releasing weight.” When you are in balance, your body will release its excess weight.
Think of animals. Nothing in nature is overweight. Each animal survives on what it needs and doesn’t carry any excess.
We are also a part of nature. And so our body’s natural state is balance.
When you’re working towards finding freedom around food, it can be terrifying to wonder if you’ll ever lose weight (or, if you lose weight, keep it off for good).
But when you make choices for HEALTH and not weight loss, you’ll naturally begin to bring your body back into balance.
3. You can’t gain 100 lbs overnight.
I used to be terrified that, after I’d binged, I’d literally wake up and be a big blimp.
Think about this logically for a second, though…
Even if you ate an entire bag of cookies, are you really going to wake up and be massively larger than the day before?
No!
Maybe we look in the mirror afterwards and think we’re fatter or feel bloated. But we literally can’t gain 100 pounds overnight.
When our “crazy brain” (as I like to call it) starts to scream and yell at us, it can help to talk rationally to it.
This is what I used to do when this fear came up.
I’d tell myself, rationally and logically, that there was NO WAY the 4 pieces of cake I’d just eaten would cause me to gain 15 pounds by tomorrow.
Being terrified of gaining weight can be a very debilitating fear.
It can hold you back, because it stems from the belief that we can’t trust ourselves and we must be controlled.
So remember these 3 tips the next time fear of weight gain pops into your head!
Tell me: is this something you struggle with?
Can you begin to incorporate one of these 3 tips into your coming week to help combat your fear?
Want to learn more?
Watch Jenn’s interview with Your Brilliance where she talks about what it takes to eat normally again.
Let us know what you think!