I was talking with a friend of mine the other day that has been overweight for most of her life. She has never been one for “dieting” so doesn’t watch what she eats. However she was told that if she wants to lose weight she must exercise. So that is what she has been doing conscientiously for the last 5 years. She has been going to a Personal trainer at the gym 2 or 3 times a week.
But she has had no success at losing any weight! The reason is that she hates going to the gym. She is going because she should not because she wants to or enjoys it. She feels obliged to do it, to be seen to be making an effort to lose some weight. Consequently when she is at the gym her heart isn’t in it and although she tries her best she is not getting any positive results. In addition she believes that she doesn’t have to worry about what she is eating because surely if she exercises she will lose the weight regardless. Therefore she has got into negative eating habits overtime without even realising it.
She is not listening to her body and giving it what it needs with regard to nutrition and she is not listening to her heart and finding something she loves doing. Instead she is going to the gym which she really detests because she thinks it’s something she should do. It’s funny how we get into these little habits, even when what we are trying obviously isn’t working. (5 years is a long time to go to the gym without any positive results.) We continue simply because we don’t know any better or it is just too hard to try something else.
Since talking to my friend last week and asking her what she really likes doing she has “fired” her personal trainer and started swimming instead. It turns out she has always loved swimming but didn’t think it was the “right” sort of exercise to lose weight. And this is where the problem lies. We shouldn’t be exercising to lose weight. Exercising is part of a healthy, empowering way to live, but if we don’t love it well then naturally we are not going to stick at it or get any positive benefits from it.
If you want to lose weight you need to concentrate on how you are eating. This does not mean going on a diet. Diets only serve to deprive and disempower you and ensure you eat in a negative way. You need to connect with your body and give it what it needs when it needs it. This relates to food, love, comfort, exercise etc. This is where Natural Eating is so powerful. It is such a simple concept because we just listen to our body and give it what it wants when it wants it by following these four principles:
1. Eat when you are hungry
2. Eat what you want
3. Stop when you are satisfied
4. Move onto something else after eating
So if you are currently doing something you should instead of something you love, reconnect with your body and eat naturally. This will enable you to change those current negative eating habits into positive lifelong choices.