When I was growing up, I remember being told many times that “I didn’t have the right body to be an athlete” as well as what I could and couldn’t eat. Until I started learning about mindfulness, I didn’t realise how these messages had been stored in my subconscious. Fortunately, over the years I have learnt skills to deal with these messages from the external world, untangle from them and reconnect my inner wisdom. What I hadn’t realised was how these messages had interfered with my life.
What is Dieting Behaviour?
Before I start, I just want to clarify, I didn’t use the word dieting when I was growing up and becoming an athlete. I did start to use it after I finished sport though as I “tried” to follow a points system after gaining weight when I finished my sporting career. What I have now realised through my years of study and my training to becoming an intuitive eating professional, I had been dieting when I was younger. I discovered this as the word diet means –
- “a special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.” ~ Google and Oxford Dictionaries
- “food and drink regularly provided or consumed” and “a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one’s weight” ~ Merriam-Webster
- “a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person’s physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease” ~ Dictionary.com
Growing up, I had been dieting because I –
- was judging foods as good and bad,
- followed a plan to try and lose body fat to decrease my skinfolds,,
- weighed myself frequently and tried to get to a certain skin old measure as an athlete, and
- knew how much I needed to exercise if I ate a chocolate bar.
Yes, I learnt these dieting behaviours growing up and they transformed in to my lack of body acceptance and self-loathing. However, please know, I share this with compassion and am not blaming anyone (I am about living above the line and taking responsibility for your life). I can see now though, these “dieting behaviours” had interfered with my life.
How Dieting Interfered With My Life
The above dieting behaviours interfered with my life in a variety of ways. Some of these include –
- physically – being disconnected from my hunger and fullness signals, missing menses and weight gain,
- socially – worrying about what other people thought about my body and my eating behaviours. Also my beliefs about my body and self-loathing interfered with my relationships,
- mentally – I had strict rules about eating and didn’t trust my body, and
- behaviourally – I ate more when I was stressed and exercised to burn calories (not for enjoyment).
Subsequently, I needed to learn a different way of living with my body. Fortunately, I have leant that now and will continue to practise these skills. Yes, it is an ongoing adventure of life mastery!
Over to You…
Has Dieting Interfered With Your Life? Feel free to share any questions or comments below.
If you are ready to reclaim your courage and take the next step towards freedom and opening your heart, why not join our Toolkit?
Leave A Response