Maybe you don’t buy into diet companies false promises of magical confidence and acceptance anymore, but you know that people you know do. We can’t always avoid our friends and family. And it can be hard not to want to join in on being connected with others as they get ready to try to “get more fit” aka lose weight. Just because “everybody” is doing it come January doesn’t mean you have to.
So what are we to do as the first of the year Dieting Season has begun?
Here are 5 ways to stay focused on your recovery and your intentions to be free of body hatred and diet talk:
1) Keep up with your self-care practices and boundaries. If you have to be around certain people less at meal times for a while to maintain your recovery, then it really is something for you to consider doing.
2) Have a list of how you want to feel instead of the anxious that worrying about food can bring up.
For example: I want to feel at ease with my food choices so I will plan ahead to be satisfied, not deprived.
3) Remember that dieting has a 95% failure rate. People gain weight back without 2-5 years. All that deprivation for a short lived, temporary sense of acceptability, compliments and control.
4) You are on a journey to be free from the roller coaster of worrying about your food and body that will make it past March or June or whenever people’s body rebel against the diet. Every time you challenge your diet beliefs, you are one neuron in your brain closer to it being reality.
5) Thankfully, things will die down soon, and people will remember that there are still bills to pay, relationships to maintain and life to live. People will stop talking about their diets and food as the new-ness wears off.
Not joining in on the diet festivities can be hard. The longer you feel the benefits of attuned eating (eating what you want without worry about your weight, enjoying eating out without guilt, moving to feel great vs because you feel like you have, just to name a few benefits) the less you will feel you will be missing out on anything the diet claims to give you. You will have the energy to focus on what you are grateful for in your life and set your sites on what you hope for in the coming year that are of lasting value.
If you have other strategies for coping with others’ diet concerns, please share below.
My greatest intention for you in 2014 is for this to be the best year you have had with being an attuned eater and loving your body and for that freedom to grow!
Much Love
Tracy
