If you’re struggling with your weight or have a history of yo-yo dieting, then intuitive eating may be able to help. Find out what it is and how it can help you reach your goals!
Intuitive Eating: What is it, and How Can It Help You?
I’m just going to put it out there. If you want to lose fat, you have to be in a caloric deficit. How do you know if you’re in a deficit eating intuitively? Is intuitive eating good for weight loss? Will intuitive eating make me fat? Can intuitive eating work? There’s so much confusion around intuitive eating and its purpose. We tend to see many questions and misinterpretations about intuitive eating and when to use it in our journey. We often see this happen when someone says, “will intuitive eating work for me?”; usually, there’s something behind that word “work .”
First and foremost, if you want to know if intuitive eating will work for you, you want to ask yourself that question. What do I mean by work? Are you using it for binge episodes, to lose weight, or go on a journey of self-love? There are so many different reasons why people head down the path of intuitive eating that it’s crucial to understand what intuitive eating is and what it isn’t.
I have found that when asked, “Is intuitive eating going to work for me?”, usually they are referring to a weight loss technique. With Eat More 2 Weigh Less, when I’m referring to intuitive eating, it’s typically for someone in the “Chill Phase” or the metabolism reset phase. Those are the main two times that I would recommend that somebody venture into intuitive eating. The reason for that is that although there are five phases of EM2WL, typically three of those, you’re keeping a tight rein on what you are eating. When you’re tracking your food and keeping a tighter rein on what you’re eating, it’s a little bit harder to eat intuitively because you may want to eat something that will not fit in your calories or macros.
Who Can Benefit From Intuitive Eating?
If you … Are Healing From A Diet Mentality.
The best time to use intuitive eating is when you are trying to heal from a diet mentality. Diet Mentality is when someone is constantly thinking that getting smaller and being thinner will solve all of their problems – a thought process that has infiltrated and cultivated our society, even now. If you’re of that mindset, then that’s when intuitive eating could be a path you should set out on, to become okay with the fact that getting smaller is not the absolute solution to all problems. Diet mentality tells us that there’s this quick and easy solution to something that has been plaguing us for our entire lives. “Try this 2 week, 30-day, 90-day diet and lose X amount of pounds!” When you start constantly chasing after all of these fad diets and thinking that you can solve weight loss issues overnight, that leads to this constant feeling of shame and failure when you don’t succeed in a diet when in actuality, most diets are failing you.
If you … Struggle with Binge Eating.
Another instance where intuitive eating would be an amazing route to go on is if you struggle with binge eating. This typically carries over from dieting because we often don’t realize that restriction typically begets binging. You see people constantly trying to like stick to this perfect way of eating, constantly restricting calories, removing things from your diet that you actually like and enjoy, or just eating too little food. It’s going to work until it doesn’t, and then when it doesn’t. So when you’re constantly struggling with these binges, whether it’s a binge-purge cycle in the traditional sense of actually purging the food manually or a purge where you eat a lot of food and then you’re trying to burn it all off with exercise. There’s also restricting yourself so much that it leads to an all-out binge. So if you’re stuck in that cycle, that’s when intuitive eating can help because one of the biggest benefits is learning how to honor your hunger cues.
If you … Categorize Your Food In Extremes.
The third reason why intuitive eating would work for someone is to help them understand that every food serves a purpose. One of the things that we don’t tend to realize when it comes to dieting, is that we start to slowly categorize food. We’re trying to fit things into a very tight window of opportunity or a tight amount of calories, points, or whatever the case may be. You start looking at something with a lot of points versus a few points, high calorie versus low calorie, high carbs, and low carbs, constantly swinging in these extremes of high and low. So we start to develop this good and bad philosophy about food. Anything with a high amount of calories, fats, carbs, points, or whatever the demon ingredient is of the year is, we label as bad. Lower amounts we look at as good. When we start to live in this good and bad food mindset it puts us in this good/bad position regarding our behaviors. We begin to think that we are good when we undereat and bad when we overeat, eat foods that we love, or things considered “unhealthy”.
Intuitive eating can work wonders for you as you begin to cultivate this mindset around the fact that something can be healthy and high calorie/fat and can be good for you but be on the “bad list,” simply because it’s good for you mentally. Some foods’ entire purpose is to light up your taste pallet and make you happy. Sometimes the purpose is just happiness for that moment or taking a bite and truly savoring how something feels versus bypassing taste to hit some data point. This also means accepting that health and weight loss are not always synonymous.
The fitness industry often tells us that losing weight is the epitome of health but that isn’t always true. There are health benefits to losing weight, but there are also health repercussions to getting too lean as well. We look at women in the media and magazines who are doing fitness competitions, then doing photo shoots right after those fitness competitions that appear in our Instagram feed or magazines. And because they’re gracing the cover of a “Health Magazine,” we cannot mentally detach those images from what’s happening and understand that person was most likely at their leanest they’ve been all year. That physique may have been something that they’ve been working towards for three, six, nine months. and at the peak of that leanness, they were the unhealthiest that they had been all that year. They are now seeing negative repercussions of it, like not having their period anymore and losing essential body fat that their body needs. Most know this and plan to put back on their essential fat after the competition and go off and live happily ever after. However, we will continue striving for that image of them that we see in the magazine.
Having that intuitive eating period helps you see things for what they are. Learning to step away from the diet mentality, honor your hunger cues, get away from the good versus bad mentality, and learn to love yourself, right where you are. Loving yourself is crucial. It doesn’t matter if you’re a size 2 or 22, you can hate yourself and hate your body, just the same. When we step away from the thinking that size will magically make us accept ourselves, then true healing can begin. Even if all the commercials are saying the opposite and telling us that once we get to XYZ size, we love ourselves again. That is never going to happen. So if you don’t love yourself as you are, it will not magically happen when you get to be another size.
It’s one thing to have a goal for the sake of having a goal and achieving things that you thought you couldn’t. However, thinking that the goal of losing weight is going to solve a bigger, deeper problem is that is when we need to take a step back and do more of the inner work to find out what we’re seeking.
With that being said, if any of the reasons above are you then I highly recommended going down a path of intuitive eating or taking a chill phase, as we call it. Let that phase do what it is intended to do.
What if I told you?… You don’t need to eat low carb, workout for hours a day, spend your weekend meal prepping, or even miss out on eating donuts with your kids. Did you know that you CAN lose weight WITHOUT cutting out the foods you love?
How to Lose Weight WITHOUT Cutting out the Foods you Love
In this Youtube video, we are throwing back to my interview with Amber of Biceps After Babies (@biceps.after.babies on IG !) as she speaks ALL about how she created a body she loves WITHOUT giving up the foods she loves!
In this chat, you’ll discover, how YOU can also be an example that ALL foods can fit into your diet and that you can eat the food you love while seeing the progress you want to see (rather than taking breaks from your progress to “enjoy life”).
If you…
Eat “healthy” but don’t see the scale go down.
Are overwhelmed with the thought of getting started counting macros.
Feel “stuck” or “frustrated” in your fat loss journey.
Start the day with such good intentions but then end it with a carton of ice cream and guilt.
It doesn’t have to be this way….
You CAN find food freedom AND finally make progress on your fat loss goals… …without having to cut out ice cream or pizza.
(Got a friend who is struggling, removing everything from their diet, and seeing no progress? Share it with them!)
And Great News!!!
My friend, Amber Brueseke from Biceps After Babies, will be holding a FREE 5 Days to a Fitter You Challenge starting March 21, 2022. Trust me, you will love it!
Want to get fitter WITHOUT misery? Nothing restrictive. Nothing off-limits. 100% customized to the body you want? THIS CHALLENGE IS FOR YOU! Daily Emails, Daily Training, and ALL recorded – so get in it, get on it, and invite a friend!
So you’re trying eat better, but the weight isn’t coming off? You’re not alone. Here’s why “healthy eating” alone doesn’t work for weight loss.
The Truth About Healthy Eating
Getting healthy does not guarantee weight loss, and thinking that way may be getting in the way of you reaching your physique goals.
I know that for many ladies – weight loss and the journey to become more “healthy and fit” coincide. And the line is often blurred, with so many “health” foods, gadgets, and supplements being marketed as a magic solution to make you fit, trim and lean. But the thing is, those things are not one in the same. So here’s a few things to consider if you want to be healthy and lose weight.
Weight Loss Basics Still Matter
Most of us have expressed the desire to be more fit and healthy as if they’re the same. We tend to assume that being healthy and losing weight are the same goal and, depending upon the information you consume, that thought is likely being confirmed.
Maybe you’ve experienced going to the doctor and constantly hearing about how you need to lose a little bit more weight to help solve some problems that you have in an area that has nothing to do with weight loss, like a knee issue, back pain, or fertility. We’ve often heard that if we lose weight, it will help. And while losing weight does affect blood markers, that does not mean that getting healthy and losing weight are the same.
Think about it.
There are so many loving, caring moms out there, who only eat organic foods. Some grow their own vegetables, and even grind their own grains, almonds, etc to make bread and other whole grain or gluten-free products. Yet they rarely lose weight, and many are gaining! This may even describe you, a person doing alllll the healthy things, but not seeing the scale move the way you want it to. This is because a healthy diet does not automatically equate to weight loss.
Many ladies assume that as long as they eat clean, healthy, or organic, that calories don’t count. The reality is that you may see beneficial health improvements from an extremely healthy diet, but not see physique changes. This is because gaining or losing of fat and muscle require either a surplus or deficit of calories:
If you are trying to lose weight and are eating an excess of calories, even if those are the most amazing healthy organic calories, they’re still going to cause weight gain. If you are eating maintenance level calories of the most nutritious foods on the planet, you are still eating maintenance level and will stay the way you are. If you’re eating less food, you will probably see the scale go down or some weight shredded off, even if it’s “junk” food.
If you want to be healthy and lose fat, you need to eat healthy at a calorie deficit. If you’re going to gain muscle and be healthy,
you will have to increase those same healthy calories, to put yourself in a caloric surplus. If you’re someone who is on the fence – you want to lose a little bit of fat but eating super healthy foods isn’t all that important to you – good news! you still can lose weight and not be eating 100% healthy, clean and organic.
That’s why it’s essential to know both ends of the spectrum. The reality is, it doesn’t matter how healthy you are if you’re eating too many calories, and it doesn’t matter how unhealthy you are if you’re eating fewer calories. You will probably still lose some weight, whether or not that is a healthy weight that you’re losing.
So if you can find a healthy medium where you’re doing both, that will be the best-case scenario mainly because you are tailoring it to yourself. You can be “kind of” healthy, hitting your macronutrient level by eating a sufficient amount of treats, even if those things are what somebody else might consider junk food.
As long as you’re hitting the amount of protein and fiber your body needs and hitting the calorie level for your specific goal, then you can still see progress. This should give you both hope and a reality check!
Getting “Fit” vs Getting Lean
The second thing that I would say to consider when we’re thinking about being healthy is that being fit is not the same as being leaner or thinner. As I said in the first point, someone can be unhealthy and underweight. So assuming that because someone is skinnier than you means they are healthy is just not the case.
If you are taking excellent care of your health and body, working out consistently, eating healthy foods like whole grains, vegetables, and high protein, you are a healthy person even if your weight does not reflect that. On the contrary, some people are not exercising, not eating the healthy foods, getting insufficient protein, and not correctly fueling their body; even if they are underweight, that does not mean that they’re healthy. Knowing this allows us to have the freedom on our journey to do what it is that we set out to do.
How does this relate to your goals?
Well, if fat loss is your goal, understand that exercises that are “heart-healthy,” high endurance, or make you feel good may not actually be related to your goal of a physique change.
Your endurance may improve, but endurance and fat loss are not the same. Having a “healthy” heart does not automatically equal a smaller body size. So if you’re attempting to lose some fat, you may need to adapt the style of exercising accordingly. This means specifically executing fat loss behaviors, such as hitting a certain amount of protein, eating a certain amount of calories, doing some strength training workouts (your best friend when you’re trying to lose fat because it helps you hold on to muscle mass and keep your metabolism nice and high), and sometimes – limiting cardio for periods of time.
Sure…If you’re only looking to be healthy, then that means you can do whatever exercise makes you feel good. Get your heart pumping and get those endorphins…
Just remember, endorphins don’t cause weight loss.
So..what do you really want?
When you start to see fit/lean and healthy/weight loss as separate entities, you can begin creating the goals that you want, knowing what to expect from the actions that you’re taking. If you’re looking to lean out, then it’s about understanding what the basics of fat loss entail and making sure that those are incorporated, regardless of your health goals.
You can have a health goal, and you can have a fat loss goal. Just make sure that the actions and expectations align. That means you should not be upset when you eat healthily, exercise a lot, and see physique changes. Don’t say, “I just want to be healthy again,” when you mean “I just want to be the size that I was.”
Remember that your journey has different seasons, and each phase brings something new.
When you are in a muscle-building phase, you are looking to build muscle. You’re not necessarily looking for fat loss.
When you’re in a fat loss phase, you’re not looking to build muscle. You’re looking to lose fat and hopefully hold on to some of the muscles that you had.
There’s also the Chill phase when you’re not looking for anything. You’re not paying attention to what you eat. It’s a time to relax, be more intuitive, and have some mental freedom from tracking food all.the.time. BUT…that means you’re not expecting fat loss. You’re not expecting muscle gain. You’re not expecting anything. You’re just taking life as it comes because your focus is on mental clarity, relaxation, and not having to log everything.
It may seem nitpick-y to spell the differences of these phases out, but when you’re working your butt off to get results, it helps to make sure that you are getting the terminology right to express what you are looking for.
The terminology you uses indicates where your mindset is, and can be a huge indicator of why you’re not seeing the progress you want. So don’t be afraid to sit with the question “what do I REALLY want” and answer it unapologetically – even if it’s “unpopular.” I get it, we live in a society right now where either side of the fence can be looked at as horrible. One community is shouting, “Love yourself the way that you are, don’t ever try and change anything.” But then another community is telling you to change everything about yourself because “You suck, you’re fat. You don’t belong in this society.” The person who wants to enjoy life and not be concerned over their weight is shamed for being “unhealthy”, while someone else who wants change how they look is made to feel bad about it.
I see so many ladies don’t want to admit their actual goals, for fear of being excommunicated from the self-love community, or health-shamed.
Find your happy medium! What are your standards of beauty? Own it, even if it’s unpopular with another crowd. You’re going to be 100% unhappy if you’re in one camp shouting “Rah, rah!” when what you REALLY want is the results of another camp.
If you want to lose fat, there is no shame in that. If you are pleased where you are and want to be healthy, there is no shame in that.
There are some warning signs that your diet plan may not be working. Find out what these red flags look like so you can make an informed decision about whether or not to start a new (or keep following your current) diet plan.
Red Flags In Dieting
If you’re looking online, scrolling social media, or browsing diet books in the store, make sure that you always look for these red flags.
Is it Restricting?
The key to permanent weight loss is a sustainable and long-term style of eating. If a diet removes your favorite foods, it will be challenging to keep up the behaviors. Remember, weight management and keeping the weight off is more important than losing it. Whatever you do to lose fat, needs to be something you can stick to going forward. So make sure that diet that you’re considering allows you to eat foods that you love. If it’s doesn’t, you will not be able to be consistent with it. This means that even if you do lose the weight, you will not be able to keep it off because once you start adding back in the good stuff, the weight will pile right back on.
So if the diet you’re considering removes everything that you ever loved in life, that’s red flag #1. Right off the bat you know that that is not going to be a sustainable weight loss plan for you. Weight loss is not the issue. Weight management is. Keeping the weight off is the goal.
If it’s not something that you can stick with long-term, keep looking.
Is it Flexible?
Does it allow you to be flexible? So maybe even if it does cut back on certain things or it’s reducing things that perhaps you do genuinely want to reduce, or help you to eat less of certain things. Is there a flexibility aspect to it?
If you go off track, is it over?
It should not be all or nothing. If it does not allow you to be flexible (read: it doesn’t let you eat cake at your son’s birthday or have that glass of wine when you’re out with your husband or eat something for a special occasion) – that is a huge red flag. If you go “off plan” and experience feelings such as, “Oh well, I blew my diet!,” that is Diet Mentality and whatever you’re doing is probably not sustainable.
Along those same lines, if you have to have cheat days or days where you’re allowed to go off the rails, then you may need to rethink it. If Monday through Friday your diet is “perfect,” but on Saturday and Sunday, you’re binging enough that it ultimately outweighs what you did Monday through Friday, then it was pointless.
We’re often dieting, and we don’t realize that that’s what’s creating the binges. You end up in this nasty restriction cycle because you feel so bad that you binged that you start your diet Monday again, and you’re super strict again, and you can only hold out for so long, which goes right back to number one – if you’re not eating the foods you love, then it’s not sustainable. If it’s not flexible, then it’s not sustainable.
Is it Realistic?
If it promises a certain amount of weight loss, like “10 pounds in 10 days” or “lose 30 pounds in X amount of time” to anyone who does the diet – those are not individual results. This means that it probably not realistic for you. When you fall into the trap of assuming you can get these types of results, you’ll end up discouraged or trying to force something that may be unnatural to occur within a certain amount of time.
No one can guarantee you any amount of weight loss in a certain amount of time. Your dieting results will always need to have some individualism. If you’re a new dieter, you may lose all the weight quickly, but if you’re someone who has dieted over and over, then you likely have a much slower metabolism – which means it may take you a long time before you reach your goal.
You need to know that the diet that allows you to be consistent is always the diet that wins, period. The perfect diet that can’t stick to is never going to outweigh the imperfect diet that you can adhere to consistently. So you want to find something that you can do consistently, even if it just means that you’re just taking baby steps and saying, “Okay, I’m going to add in a few more servings of vegetables until it is a habit.” Once you have it, then you add on the next thing. Find some way to make it more flexible, including the things you love, and ensure that you’re not on-again or off-again.
Conclusion
Whatever it is, make sure that the lifestyle that you’re choosing when you’re flipping through the books, when you’re looking through the internet, when somebody’s telling you to try the newest thing. Bring up those three red flags.
The whole point is don’t focus so much on weight loss. Focus on maintaining the weight loss because there are 105 things you can do to get the weight off. You can chop off a limb and lose weight, but that does not mean that it is healthy for you. Losing weight is not the issue. The point is that you need to be able to keep it off. So, you have to find something that you can do consistently. It has to be flexible. It has to include the foods that you love.
Maybe you’re thinking; “that’s too easy” or “that will take too long!” We believe we need to punish ourselves for losing fat. You don’t have to give up the foods you love; stay flexible and don’t fall for anything telling you that you’re going to lose a set amount of weight at a set amount of time. The time will pass anyway, so why not use it to take steps toward permanent (rather than fleeting) results. Just take baby steps, build those habits and watch your body slowly transform in a way that lasts.
Although it’s common at the start of our journey, overcomplicating the process can stop us from progressing at all.
Overcomplicating the Basics
Overcomplicating is a procrastination tool for many of us – a way to avoid doing what we know we should be doing. Although society seems to place entirely too much value on more complicated tools, systems, and tactics for reaching goals, we tend to miss the obvious downside to having such values…
If the process is too confusing, we risk giving up before even starting. We spin our wheels, knowing what needs to be done, but refusing to actually start until we have “all the steps.” The ability to call yourself out when overcomplicating is crucial. In most cases, it’s not a matter of doing everything we need to, it is a matter of doing the first thing we need to do… starting now.
Instead of trying to envision exactly how everything will look when you can execute each step perfectly, put whatever step you CAN do, into action – now.
For instance, many dieters will refuse to begin a workout routine because they have no gym membership. Or they will say a focus on protein is impossible because of their budget. Or that they need to research and read every little detail before knowing what to do.
Stop.
Or rather…START!
Right now. With the information you have. The ability to just BEGIN lies with you. Work with what you have right now, rather than spend another month worrying about every possible piece of the puzzle that you can’t control in this moment. You do not need a gym membership to be active. An extra $100 in your grocery budget to eat more protein is not mandatory. You do not need to read every last article on building muscle. Do not allow analysis paralysis to cripple you from moving forward. Walk in the direction you want to go in, with the info you have in this moment.
Call yourself out when you let too many thoughts take over.
Stop overcomplicating things that don’t need to be complicated.
Concentrate on mastering the basics and being consistent in them. Work on getting your calories up, getting your protein up and moving your body more. Any progress forward in these areas are a projection forward. Increasing protein by just 15 grams a day is progress. Using bodyweight exercises, exercise videos, or get a set of dumbbells/barbells to workout at home until you can get that gym membership. Look for the little things you can add to help propel you forward. The time will pass anyway – so let it pass while you keep moving forward, making each day a success in it’s own right.
Allow yourself to be open to new ideas and new ways of thinking. You do not need to have every little detail worked out before you start. Just Start!
What was your life like before EM2WL? (meaning past dieting history, crash diets, starving, cardio, scale watcher, clothes hoarder etc)
Before EM2WL: Wow! I can’t remember a day where I was wasn’t trying to lose weight. The thought of losing weight started at 10, in 5th grade, when we took a physical test in P.E. and the teachers put all of us on scales to weigh our pre-adolescent bodies. They wrote my weight down on a piece of paper, folded it up so I won’t see it, as if I would be ashamed of my weight. As I was putting the shameful number in my book bag, there were many of my classmates coming to me to see what my weight was, as if to say, ‘I’m not as fat as Sawanda, let’s see how much she weighs” I do remember it being 100-something, I think 125, but I was so ashamed, I don’t remember.
That started the fat shaming in my mind, therefore others felt the need to do the same – including my mother, who once told me to stop eating and run around the block 30 times! It was meant to be a joke, but, I internalized it as I’m eating too much and I need to watch what I was eating because I’m getting too fat. I tried it all. You name it, I’ve done it. I’ve taken appetite suppressant pills, fat burning pills, I’ve been to the weight watchers meetings and get on the scale to weigh myself weekly (although truth be told, I was weighing myself daily to see how I can manipulate the weight watchers scale and make it look like I’m losing instead of gaining). I was the cardio queen, especially when I started running. I could run 45 minutes straight.Oh how I loved how the weight was melting off, but I just didn’t like how my body was looking. I was chasing this perfect number to live my life and finally be happy. Little did I know, I was ruining my health, all in the name of weight loss.
How did you find EM2WL?I was the moderator of my own fitness group. I’d lost over 60 pounds by eating, literally, 1100-1200 calories a day and 6 days a week of cardio sessions. When a social media associate asked me if I’d heard of EM2WL, I wasn’t trying to hear it, especially when I used the scooby calculator and it stated that my TDEE was over 2000! WHAAAT? I could eat 2000 and still lose weight? IMPOSSIBLE! The science in my mind was always, eat less – move more, so hearing that I had to eat more just made no sense to me at all. I moved on, thinking that’s crazy talk and I will not be a part of that type of nonsense.
The Diet Mentality Shift
What made you join the workshop? One year after hearing about EM2WL, I started to gain all the weight that I’d lost. I couldn’t understand why when I was still using the eat less-move more method: still eating 1200 calories, and now trying to get in another cardio session during the day. Two sessions a day, which was hard for me to accomplish, but if I was going to stop this weight gain, I was willing to do it. During that time of decision, I stumbled upon the advertisement for the beta workshop, CTDM. The ad stated, “Why your diet is not working anymore!” and it resonated with me. YES! Why is it not working anymore? I needed to know so I can take back control of this weight gain and start losing weight again! Little did I know, this workshop was going to change my life forever.
How did your perspective change after the workshop? Everything I thought I knew about weight loss, was turned on its head! After the first week in the workshop, I realized that I had to totally empty my head with what I “thought” I knew and be open minded to what I’m learning. And it was a LOT of learning. Fat loss is way different from weight loss; eating more is so important to my health; Weight lifting is Queen; protein is more important than I really thought; consistency really is key; focus on ONE behavior at a time instead of focusing on “weight loss” results and GET OFF THAT DARN SCALE!
How did your life change? OMG, my life changed for the better! I have not lost a single pound, yet I’m happier than I’ve ever been! I gained weight, I gained muscle, I gained true health, I gained a sense of self-love, even for my body! Gaining weight is not the end of the world, nor is it a bad thing! Mental health is part of good health, and with this new lifestyle, I am not stressed out like I used to on diets. The neverending cycle of losing weight and trying to keep it off is so exhausting. With this new lifestyle, I can actually LIVE MY LIFE without the focus of irrelevant numbers (mainly weight and size). I LOVE weights! Cardio is about once a week now and I’m not afraid to eat anything and everything! Because I’m not on a diet, I can now start to trust myself and what makes ME feel good about myself and my body. Intuitive eating really is a thing – LOL! I really CAN trust myself!
The path to Healing from Diet Mentality
What are some of the biggest changes that has happened in your life now due to this shift in mentality?
Everyone who sees me and doesn’t understand this new lifestyle, they think I’ve “fallen off” or have stopped paying attention to my health all together. It’s honestly not my job for anyone else to understand (not anymore) But I can tell you, I’ve done more for my health in one year than I have in the 20+ years I was dieting!What I know for sure is, gaining weight is not a BAD thing nor is it the end of the world. My metabolism is close to normal again! My hair has stopped falling out, my gums are not bleeding, my nails are strong, my tongue is pink again, the mental fog has lifted and my emotional swings are fewer than before!
I don’t “wait” for this perfect weight, nor this perfect size or number, to live my life- thanks to just eating what I want and when I want it! I’m enjoying my life, as I go out on dates, hang out with my friends, enjoy ALL foods with my son, without limiting his enjoyment and I’m truly taking care of ME, inside and out! I buy clothes that fit me now and I don’t have to look and feel frumpy just because I’m heavier than before. I am living a true life and it just gets better and better each year as I learn more and more about my EM2WL lifestyle!
What advice could you give to someone who is just finding EM2WL right now?
If you’re finding EM2WL right now, you might be mentally tired of going through the yo yo diets and weight loss. The first thing I can suggest is this: This is NOT another DIET, so you cannot come in with a diet mentality.I know you may not know what other mentality there is, especially if you’ve been on a diets as long as I have, so the second suggestion is to have an open mind to what is shared with you. This information is going to literally BLOW YOUR MIND! There’s information you may heard of, but never implemented out of fear. YES, there will be blindspots. You will “think” you’re prepared for this kind of change, but you will find very fast, that this diet mentality is so much bigger than you think. It’s part of our society, even part of our DNA (generations of dieters), so my third suggestion is, stay close to the EM2WL/CTDM online community!They are EVERYWHERE (IG, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, etc..) and it’s important you link up to all their social media. Seriously. If you’re ready to change your life, it’s time to emerge yourself in this kind of thinking. It’s almost like your armor, your shield when dealing with an ENTIRE DIET MENTALITY SOCIETY! If you’re really ready for a total transformation, I do suggest you invest in the CTDM! Talk about a GAMECHANGER!
Sawanda is an EM2WL member and is frequently seen in our Online Community sharing her insight and wisdom on diet mentality. She has kindly agreed to talk about her journey
Although it’s common at the start of our journey, overcomplicating the process can stop us from progressing at all.
Right now. With the information you have. The ability to just BEGIN lies with you. Work with what you have right now, rather than spend another month worrying about every possible piece of the puzzle that you can’t control in this moment. You do not need a gym membership to be active. An extra $100 in your grocery budget to eat more protein is not mandatory. You do not need to read every last article on building muscle. Do not allow analysis paralysis to cripple you from moving forward. Walk in the direction you want to go in, with the info you have in this moment.
What was your life like before EM2WL? (meaning past dieting history, crash diets, starving, cardio, scale watcher, clothes hoarder etc)
What made you join the workshop? One year after hearing about EM2WL, I started to gain all the weight that I’d lost. I couldn’t understand why when I was still using the eat less-move more method: still eating 1200 calories, and now trying to get in another cardio session during the day. Two sessions a day, which was hard for me to accomplish, but if I was going to stop this weight gain, I was willing to do it. During that time of decision, I stumbled upon the advertisement for the beta 
What are some of the biggest changes that has happened in your life now due to this shift in mentality?
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