Here at EM2WL we have talked in great length before about this lifestyle being a journey, not a race. We don’t reach the end result in 21 days or 90 days, or even in a year. The path to breaking free from Diet Mentality begins with a single step forward. For CTDM Workshop Alum member Rachel Perry, the first step forward was to take a step back.
Healing During the Messy Middle
Rachel joined the Fam during our first Crushing the Diet Mentality workshop over two years ago. Eager to learn how to take control of her life again, Rachel jumped right in to the materials and began her journey. She quickly realized that she had wasted over 20 years of her life by jumping on every latest diet trend. (not including the thousands of dollars in the process) After the workshop ended, the real work was set to begin. Rachel made the decision to enter a chill phase and spent the next two years relearning how to just live life again.
Rachel recently sat down with Kiki to discuss her messy middle – that part no one sees between the before and after pictures. In her interview, Rachel discusses many of her mindset shifts that occurred over her two years in chill. Some key points they discuss in this vlog are:
Having a DEXA scan done and seeing just how much muscle she had lost from dieting
Gaining 10 pounds in a year and none of it being Fat.
Learning that the work is being done under the surface, and that you can’t see it most of the time.
Understanding what it truly means to be in a Chill phase.
Learning that diet mentality makes you track time, not behaviors.
Realizing that it is a really cool journey learning about yourself.
Appreciating that she can now have Cadbury eggs in the house months after Easter
No more GUILT!
Rachel’s journey is far from over. She shares her messy middle to encourage new members that there are people who took back their life. There are members of the Fam who understand your struggles and are here to help. And there is life after the scale.
Be sure to take a few moments and listen to this amazing conversation!
Be sure to head on over to our Online Facebook Community to see Rachel and all of the Fam who have gone through, or going through the Messy Middle
Holley has been a long time member of EM2WL and is living with chronic pain. Her struggle with an eating disorder and health issues with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome are what pushed her to seek a permanent way of eating, so she can be as healthy and as happy as she can.
Dieting and Self Esteem as a Teenager
As a child, I always weighed between 10-20 pounds more than my peers. Looking back, I was not a fat child. I was athletic, dancing 8 hours a week in addition to gym in school and active weekends. However, due to my weight, doctors were constantly encouraging me to eat less. I remember being accused of using too much dressing on my salads at age 12 and given a 2T measuring cup by my pediatrician. I was very confused. I hated salad.
Fast forward to puberty when my weight continued to climb, though again, I was not fat. Just a normal growing child with an athletic butt and thighs because I danced. I broke both of my feet one after the other when I was 14. I couldn’t carry my own lunch tray and I was paranoid of getting fat because it was all the doctors and my parents worried about when I couldn’t exercise. So I lived off of the saltine crackers I could carry in my pockets at school. That’s really when my eating disorder began. I was praised by everyone for not gaining weight while “laid up” with my broken feet, despite the fact that I used crutches and burned a TON of calories getting around.
I was forced onto the Atkins diet at age 15 as an athlete playing field hockey 6 days a week and dancing 8 hours a week. I was miserable. I cried for carbs so much that I was eventually allowed to eat a cup of unseasoned oatmeal at breakfast, half a banana at a snack, and a cup of rice with a teaspoon of soy sauce. I still cannot eat cold meat due to choking them down as a snack daily. This complicates things when it would be best for me to pack a lunch in a cooler. I just cannot. Blech!
I yoyo dieted through high school essentially as commanded by my mother. I was constantly bullied by my parents and brother for my weight. Keep in mind, though I had a large frame, I was still not fat. I was very muscular and looked like I weighed 20 lbs less than I actually did. Any time I saw a new doctor, I was told I “carry my weight well”. I always thought it was a rude comment considering they then told me to lose weight. I frequently rebelled and “binged” on chips, ice cream, and brownies. Though looking back, it wasn’t much of a binge. The worst diet I think I did was a bite diet. I only got 9 bites at lunch or dinner of the main dish, I think 5 bites of sides, and 3 of dessert. It went as terrible as you can imagine.
When I was 17, I badly injured my SI joints doing shot put and discus. I was always the strongest girl in summer boot camp type classes, so the coach recruited me for track & field. I couldn’t run much because my feet still hurt from being broken several times throughout childhood despite the fact that they were fully healed. No one believed me that they (and my hip) still hurt. I kept asking why things still hurt if they had healed but there were no answers.
Fear and Eating Disorders
When I finally got away from my family in college, I decided to go back to starving myself, which was something I did off and on to lose weight in high school when the comments got to be too much. I ate very little, got down to my lowest adult weight of 180 lbs and was a very unhealthy size 10/12. I was miserable. To make matters worse, my sophomore year of college, I broke another foot in dance class doing a triple pirouette. I was terrified of getting “fat” again. My parents told me I better not regain all the weight I’d lost, which was actually only 20 lbs. They didn’t know that.
I weighed in every morning and if I weighed the same, I could eat a little bit that day. If not, I would eat next to nothing. If I ate breakfast, it was a mini bagel and black coffee. Dinner was a cup of lettuce with 1T of oil and vinegar dressing. Eventually, I would break down and “binge” on what I now realize was a normal sized meal from Steak n Shake or fast food. I ate regularly when my parents were in town visiting. I was always hungry and learned to ignore it. During this time, I studied two instruments (voice & piano), took an extra course load every semester, and did a lot more activities than most college students. By my senior year, I was exhausted and suffering from ocular migraines daily. I also injured my left shoulder my freshman year of college. The foot pain and hip pain still continued. I was also having major problems digesting food.
When I moved back home after college, I continued searching for a diet that would work for me. I started eating slightly more regularly, but always ignored hunger and ate in a very disordered manner. I continued having problems with various joints and pain. The chiropractor I had been seeing since I was 17 didn’t have any answers for me. I saw him as regularly as I could afford in an attempt to get my body to hold itself together. I kept asking why no one else had to get their entire spine realigned when they’d held music at a concert all weekend. I just wanted to be normal.
After I got married in 2011, I was ashamed of my wedding pictures. I had regained the weight from college and a tiny bit more, but only gained a dress size because I had started weight lifting regularly. This prompted me to join a weight loss study conducted by a major university in January 2012. I was put on a 1200 calorie a day diet for 14 weeks. This was the first time in my life that I ever ate consistently. At age 25. I’m still appalled at myself! At this point, I was singing almost every night, working three different jobs seven days a week, and exercising almost every day. I weight lifted, did spin class and a few boot camp style classes. My body hurt all the time. I was experiencing symptoms of adrenal fatigue. At least one day a week, my body would shut down and I would be unable to move for a few hours. I referred to it as “crashing.” I thought it was normal for my crazy schedule.
During the weight loss study, we had to go through weekly meetings. Like food interventions almost. We were “educated” about calorie counting and “smart” food choices. In one meeting the instructor told us that we would have to count calories for the rest of our lives to keep the weight off. I knew immediately that she was wrong. If naturally skinny people didn’t track their calories, why should an overweight person? It made no sense. I was tracking on MFP and had started stumbling on EM2WL posts. I was determined to finish the study because I wanted them to learn from my struggle. Except for the long weekend when I was gone for a wedding, I stuck to the 1200 calories a day, ate about 1800 calories a day while out of town. The study included a DEXA scan at the beginning and at the end of the study. I weighed 226 lbs when I started and my lean body mass (LBM) was 117.3 lbs. I am 5’5”. I got down to 198 lbs by the end of the study and my LBM decreased to 109.7 lbs. So I lost 28 pounds and 7.6 pounds of that was muscle. I was so angry when I compared scans. People were so proud of my weight loss, but I felt like I might be dying. I could barely keep any food down. I had developed severe lactose intolerance and food aversions. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was headed from an EDNOS to orthorexia. I was terrified of processed foods, meat, dairy, gluten, potatoes, sugar, eggs, fruit…basically all food terrified me. I would often choose not to eat rather than try to figure out what I could eat that wouldn’t make me fat.
The Journey into Reset
The day the study was over I dove into a reset. I was eating vegan at the time and not too concerned with macros. After the standard 8 week reset, I did a cut. To be completely honest, I didn’t reset properly. I could not believe that I was burning over 3000 calories a day. My Fitbit and Body Media Fit didn’t account for calories burned while singing, so I know my TDEE was much higher than 3000. I only reset at about 2700, though I did occasionally eat up to 3200. I tracked every spice, drop of oil, and weighed everything. I was OBSESSED with MFP. If I ate less or more than planned at a meal, I was immediately on the app making adjustments. I felt out of control, yet I was super in control of my food intake. However, my digestive issues continued to get worse, so I walked away from EM2WL and everything. I stopped tracking. I kept exercising, completing NROL4W and taking Barre3 class regularly. I started Strong Lifts as well. While working out, I dislocated both shoulders on more than one occasion. (Overhead press is my nemesis to this day!) I still ate in a disordered manner and dabbled in a few diets, but I ate regularly. At one point, I worked with a fabulous dietician who helped me come to terms with my eating disorder and learn to eat regularly and meal plan. I had never learned how to plan a meal other than what I was hungry for. I still wasn’t eating enough, but I was eating. I gradually worked meat and some dairy back into my diet. I pretty much stopped eating processed foods because they increased my digestive problems. My gastroenterologist figured out I had severe acid reflux that probably requires surgery, but the surgery is very invasive and will have to be repeated. (I’ve still held off on that. Thank goodness new drugs come out every year that help keep it somewhat managed. To put it in perspective, I take 3-5 times the amount of acid reflux medication available in over-the-counter meds and it still doesn’t stop it. It takes me about half an hour to eat a meal because if I eat too quickly, I will puke it back up within minutes. I frequently regurgitate cold water that I just drank.)
A diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and a path to healing
Then in November 2014, I broke my foot. For the fifth time. And everything changed. My ankle had given out as I maneuvered around my living room and I heard the bone snap. I wore a giant walking cast on my left leg for 10 weeks. My hips were constantly out of alignment by 3” or more. Moving any part of my body was agony. Unfortunately, the break was in a bad spot, so it took a long time to heal. The ER nurse who put the temporary cast on me had never seen my type of bone break without an ankle injury to accompany it, yet my ankle was fine. Eventually, I was released from the boot, but had to get custom-made orthotics. The woman who measured me for them asked me if I had EDS. I said, “What’s that?” She made me write it down and look it up. She couldn’t believe no one had ever looked into that for me. She said my body moved like someone with EDS. My joints being so flexible wasn’t normal and neither was my pain. Shortly after this, my sister was diagnosed with EDS and POTS. I’ve been diagnosed by my chiropractor, but there is no doctor where I live who treats it, though my doctors have done some research and are all familiar with it now. Knowing I’ve had it has been revolutionary. I have tools and an EDS community to go to if I have questions or need to commiserate. I am one of the lucky ones since I do not have heart issues yet. And my digestive issues are nothing compared to what some EDS people deal with!
After the bone in my foot had healed, my body was a mess. My SI joint instability was so appalling I was googling long term surgical solutions. My balance was completely gone from my time in the boot and weight lifting was out of the question. I started doing Pilates to get my body back in June 2015. I slowly lost the ability to feel and use my hands regularly. I finally saw a doctor about it in December 2015. By January 2016, I learned that I had to have surgery on both wrists and elbows in order to have a chance to use my arms normally again. The nerves in my wrists were dying and the ones in my elbows were headed in that direction. I was still eating regularly and trying to focus on good nutrition for the surgeries. I ate a lot of protein to promote healing for the second surgery and it went much better than the first. I was still demonizing food groups and choosing not to eat rather than choose something that was “bad” for me.
Coming to terms with an eating disorder
After my second surgery, I joined the very first CTDM workshop in Fall 2016. It changed my life. I learned to stop demonizing foods and just make a food choice already dang it! I also confronted myself about my past treatment of my body. I forgave myself. And started to work on my confidence. I broke two ribs midway through, but I got back into EM2WL for real this time. Kiki especially helped me come to terms with the fact that just because I have a genetic condition does not mean that I cannot eventually accomplish my goals.
She also helped me realize I could set flexible goals that varied based on the state of my body each day. It’s not an all or nothing life. So I forged ahead! I got back into tracking food on my own terms. I was barely eating 100 g of protein a day when I started working on it a year and a half ago. Now I get 160-200 g easily! The workshop also helped me figure out self-care things I could do for my EDS symptoms. It is SO IMPORTANT for me to be kind to my body when it is hurting, which is every day.So every day, I do something to help myself feel better. My heating pad is my best friend. I use it every night on almost every part of my body. Giving myself that kindness has helped me accept my body where it is NOW. I treat my body on its own terms even though they can change hour to hour.
Once my ribs were healed, I started 20 Minutes to Fitness in January 2017, which is a weight lifting program using machines. Since my muscles weren’t as strong and my joints were unstable, free weights were not an option if I wanted to approach this intelligently. From November 2014 to January 2017, I lifted no weights. My only exercise was walking and Pilates starting in June 2015. I started on the leg press machine at 345 lbs. A year later of eating at maintenance, I got up to 515 lbs! My left arm was far weaker than my right since I had to quit PT after I broke my ribs. After a return to PT and hard work in Pilates and 20 Minutes to Fitness, my arms were mostly even by summer!
Learning to live life to the fullest
Also during 2017, my hips stabilized, I dislocated most of my ribs, my ribs became unstable, my right shoulder kept popping out and became unstable, I struggled with migraines, got several sinus infections, and I had really bad food poisoning. Every single time I got injured or ill, I kept eating as much protein as I could and persevering towards my goals and following EM2WL.
I completed two more CTDM Workshops and continued to learn a lot about myself! Due to my increased confidence, I went after a position as a solo church singer in November and got it! I never would have done that before EM2WL and the CTDM. Real talk, I thought I was too fat to deserve it.
For those curious about my stats, my LBM is up to 163 lbs and my body fat is 40.8%, when we last checked in November 2017. I weigh 275 lbs (probably) and wear a size 18/20. I rarely weigh myself since it’s not a number that gives me much information. I do weigh in to get Styku body scans or if I need anesthesia.
Last month, I was able to start the EM2WL Level Up Training App with some modifications since my right shoulder and left ribs still like to dislocate. Then, my right knee decided to add itself to my list of frequent dislocations, so I took a few weeks off until we could get it to stabilize. (To put EDS into perspective for those who don’t understand it, my knee dislocated when I was walking from my desk to the bathroom. I wasn’t doing anything crazy. Just walking like a person.) I am continuing to eat at maintenance. My body is constantly injured and stressed, so I don’t think cutting is for me. Plus I get hangry just thinking about it!
Throughout this whole journey, the women of the CTDM community, especially those in the workshops have been behind me 1000%. I think I would be bedridden right now if it wasn’t for Kiki, Kelly, Ichel, and Tereza! It would be so easy for me to give up. I have every reason to. I do not have a day without pain. Ever. Exhaustion is normal for me. There are some days when I can barely move. But I don’t want to live my life watching others live theirs. Strength is my friend. My strong muscles hold my joints together when my connective tissues fail to. I currently weigh the most that I have ever weighed, yet my body is more stable than it’s ever been. I am the most confident and happiest I’ve ever been. And I didn’t need to diet to achieve that.
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
Growing up I was a tomboy. I loved climbing trees, riding on snowmobiles and ice skating in Massachusetts where I was born. We moved to Tennessee when I was 10 and from then on I played softball, swam, rode bikes, took classes of some sort in the summers (dance, gymnastics, ballet). I stayed active and never thought about my weight. I remember my mother drinking Tab and keeping sugar out of the house, because she was always dieting and she encouraged my sister and I to watch our sugar intake so we didn’t get fat.
Beginning the Diet Mentality Cycle
Once I hit age 14, I was in constant competition with my best friend, trying to be the same size she was. We went on diets constantly trying to get the perfect model-size body. This was in the era of Cheryl Tiggs and Charlie’s Angels. I remember even going on ice cube diets. I was a size 7 but all I saw in the mirror was thick thighs and thick waist. I remember a friend in high school that would wear a bandana as a belt, and I envied her for that. Of course I never took into account the fact that she had a long and lean build, whereas I have a short (5’3″) athletic build. From that time on, I was always dieting.
In my 20s I started lifting light weights and doing The Firm videos after they came out. I loved what squats and pushups did for my build. My body puts on muscle fairly easily. In my later 20s I got burned out with the routine I was doing and I started running instead. I wasn’t very good at it due to asthma, but I absolutely loved pushing myself to the point where it hurt to breathe in. I did 5Ks and for awhile every Thanksgiving morning my sister and I would meet in our hometown for the Autumnfest 8K. It was crazy, usually in the 30s and one time it was in the 20s.
Finding my passion
When I turned 37 I discovered the local recreation department offered tae kwon do classes. I signed up and never looked back. It was the best of both worlds, building muscle and pushing yourself until you’re gasping for air and think you’ll pass out. I LOVED IT! 3 nights a week for 2 hours I was giving it all I had, even sparring with the men. I worked out for another hour 3 other nights in my garage with a punching bag. And I was good at it!
5 years 2 broken bones and torn ligament in my finger later, I tested for my black belt. I was in the best shape of my life. I had washboard abs, shoulder muscles that popped out and strong legs. But all this time training had really hurt my home life. I had really neglected my husband and I felt guilty. Stress took hold and I lost my appetite. For 3 months I ate very little, and my muscles were the first to exit. Needless to say, the weight started climbing at that point.
I stayed with martial arts for another 2 years but I had torn ligaments in my hip from overuse and my back always hurt. I finally realized it was not worth the pain. I took up a new hobby, watching television and spending time with my husband. I tried Weight Watchers and a couple online diet companies. None were possible for me to stick with. I was used to being able to eat anything I wanted, these diets left me starving. I tried Atkins but couldn’t live without carbs. I lost some weight with Thrive which was a plan created by a local man. He now calls it Shiboleth. It was doable but for me impossible to stick with. It limits carbs and fats too much for me and left me without energy and feeling weaker than ever.
Taking back my life
In 2012 I signed up with My Fitness Pal where I came across a group called Eat More to Weigh Less. I read all about it and found it to be very sensible. But I couldn’t stomach a reset. I mean I just wouldn’t do that. So I just watched my calories through MFP, trying to stay with 1200. I failed most days but even when I stayed on it, I couldn’t seem to lose weight. I think it’s because I had lost so much muscle, but losing my mother and menopause were major reasons also.
In 2017 I faced the fact that I needed to quit dieting and learn to accept myself the way I am. I got back into the gym a couple nights a week and did whatever I wanted. Walked, punched a bag, pushups, it didn’t matter as long as I did something. I knew exercise would help my mood and attitude more than anything else would. I also started looking at the EM2WL website and Facebook group, where I came across the announcement for the workshop in the Fall. I signed up thinking it would just be instructions for how to get started with a reset and how to move through the phases. Boy was I wrong! (But for the better!) It was about the mental game and learning to love yourself as you are now. I really needed that. It was also about creating a path that will work for you, which is exactly what I needed.
Breaking free from Diet Mentality
I am now in my first cut phase. It hasn’t been easy because we’re just coming off the holidays and I’ve probably been in the maintenance phase as much as I’ve been in the cut phase, but I know now how to analyze what I’ve done and I know I can change the rules to make them work for me. I’m also using the EM2WL Workout app to work out and I absolutely love it! It’s the guidance I need. I’m definitely increasing my strength. My clothes are starting to loosen up slightly around the waist. I haven’t weighed myself and I don’t know that I will. If I’m building muscle, which I’m sure I am, then the weight won’t go down. But I will measure in a month or so and I do think I’ll like what I see!
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This question we get asked the most by fam in our Online Community – “When can I switch phases?” It’s a question most members don’t want to hear the actual answer to. So before we dive into this post, consider what phase you are currently in, and whether you think you should be moving on to the next phase. This is especially important if you just recently switched into your current phase or think you can springboard from one phase to the next.
When you think it’s time – it’s not
In any given phase, the need to move on to the next one as fast as possible is reminiscent of our diet mentality ways. Jumping full speed ahead without any consideration of whether the steps needed right now are even mastered is usually the downfall for many. If you are constantly saying “I’m ready, what’s next?” it’s guaranteed you have not mastered your current phase. If you are content in your phase, happy to not move on and just stay where you are, then generally it’s time to move on.
When you decide to sit in a certain phase, you need to give 100% to the processes in that phase. That means if you are in a Reset phase, you are consistent. Calories are always being hit, macros are spot on, workouts are consistent and challenging. If you want to move to a Cut, but haven’t mastered these, then Cut will not go the way you want it to. Then this adds more time to your journey by trying a Reset again. This applies to all phases – even a Chill!
By asking “what else?” during your phase, you aren’t truly understanding and taking into consideration what change is needed. Think of each phase as a chapter in a math text; if you can’t understand the principles in chapter 1, you are certainly going to fail by chapter 10. Spend the time and truly dig deep and understand what each phase requires of you and master each and every step needed.
Diet mentality has pushed the boundaries of how long fat loss should take in the journey. It has forced us to believe that quick fixes, instant results and massive scale losses are required almost immediately for us to consider ourselves a success. Believing this, dieters tend to feel like they have failed if they don’t attain a drastic transformation in unrealistic time frames.
Love where you are right now
Easy thought, right? Dieters frequently go on quick fixes in order to achieve a look from their past (or in their head). They believe that happiness lies in when they could wear a size 6 instead of a 14. However, many forget just how hard it was to be that size 6, or how unhappy and critical they were of themselves at that time. When we take a look back, sometimes the struggles are forgotten. What was eliminated from your life in order to be a size 6? Where you really happy back then, or were you still looking further into the past for happiness?
The need for quick fixes or the crash diets is a red flag that you’re struggling with the diet mentality (DM), making it nearly impossible to love yourself in THIS moment. DM makes you believe that you have to be a certain size in order to be happy with yourself – therefore we find ourselves “rushing” the process (read: quick fixing) to get to the happier times.
For many of us, loving yourself where you are right now comes way too late in life. Think about how many times you’ve skipped doing something, because you felt you had to be smaller or thinner.
How many parties have you chosen not go to because you’re larger than before?
How many pictures did you not allow to be taken because you didn’t want this reminder of what you looked like?
How often have you stared in the mirror and hated the woman looking back at you every morning?
At some point, you have to realize that what you are seeking, has nothing to do with how you look, but rather how you want to feel about yourself. When that blindspot is finally uncovered and the mental shift takes place, we can start to move forward and enjoy who we are right now, even if we aren’t the size we originally wanted to be. That’s when the rest just comes to you, and you can really work on what is important.
Your body can’t go where your mind won’t go
DM is obsessed with a time frame. Time is something we feel like we can control, yet it’s speed that kills our progress every single time. This is not a fast journey and it takes time to allow the natural progression of things to happen. By allowing the longer journey, you can slowly uncover what it is you are really looking for in your life and chances are it has nothing to do with what pant size you wear.
You can be happy with yourself as you are now, and still be a work in progress.
Here at EM2WL we have talked in great length before about this lifestyle being a journey, not a race. We don’t reach the end result in 21 days or 90 days, or even in a year. The path to breaking free from Diet Mentality begins with a single step forward. For CTDM Workshop Alum member Rachel Perry, the first step forward was to take a step back.
Holley has been a long time member of EM2WL and is living with chronic pain. Her struggle with an eating disorder and health issues with
Fear and Eating Disorders
The Journey into Reset
Learning to live life to the fullest
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?
Beginning the Diet Mentality Cycle
Your body can’t go where your mind won’t go
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