Overindulgence, Deprivation and Moderation…Listen To Your Body!

 Why do so many diets work for awhile and then we gain all the weight back if not adding a few extra pounds on top of that? The answer is we go off the diet. One of the most important things about weight loss and maintaining weight loss is adopting a healthy lifestyle. Lifestyle change, a permanent LIFESTYLE CHANGE is the ONLY way anybody is going to truly be able to lose the weight and keep it off. Now, these might seem like harsh words but it is also the harsh reality.

I am NOT saying you can’t eat your favorite candy bar ever again. The key is MODERATION! It is perfectly fine to eat a candy bar every once in a while but should we eat one everyday? Most likely not!

Diets are “Restrictive”

When we go on a “diet” we often restrict ourselves to what we CAN and CAN’T eat. So what happens when we tell ourselves we CAN’T have that piece of cake? We are depriving ourselves of some of the joys of life. Therefore, that food becomes the forbidden fruit. Eventually we give in and OVERINDULGE. Maybe we even end up eating the whole cake. Well that might be an over exaggeration but you get the point. If you find yourself overindulging too often on your favorite snack/treat try to cut back by not keeping it in the house to tempt you. Buy it only every once in a while. Each of us must learn how to eat in moderation. Eventually we will get to the point where it is not a constant temptation and we are satisfied with a reasonable amount and avoid the famished splurge.

Listen To Your Body

We were all born with the innate ability to regulate. We knew how to eat when we were hungry and stop when we were full. However, many of us have turned off the autopilot from our bodies and we overindulge too often. Therefore, the pounds continue to take residence in our bodies.

Learning to listen to our bodies again will be an important step in the journey toward a healthy weight. Eat when you are hungry and not starved/famished. Stop eating when you are satisfied/full and not stuffed. It is as simple as that.

If you want to learn more about these ideas on lifestyle change, intuitive eating, and having a healthy relationship between food, mind and body check out: http://www.intuitiveeating.com/

Implement some intuitive eating principles and share with us what happened!