By Sarah Glunz, MS, CNS, LDN
Your body is amazing exactly as it is right now. Those arms have moved furniture to your new home and may have carried babies and puppies. Those legs have taken you on walks with friends and danced to your favorite songs. Your heart beats all day long without you telling it to, speeding up when you watch a scary movie and slowing down when you are cuddling with your favorite person or pet. Our bodies deserve awards every day for all they do, or at the very least they deserve to be taken care of.
For some of us taking care of our bodies may include the desire for weight loss. That’s a personal decision and one only you can make. If you’ve made that decision, it’s important to know that this journey doesn’t have to be challenging, restrictive, or demeaning. It’s possible to enjoy the process and let it empower you to take better care of that amazing body of yours. Here are 6 ways to create a more positive weight loss experience.
Experiment
Trying something new is a wonderful way to develop the right eating and movement plan for you — plus it keeps things a bit more exciting and helps to avoid long-term plateaus. How do you feel when you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet? What gives you more sustained energy in the morning – eggs or oatmeal? Does yoga or ballroom dancing feel better for your body right now? You won’t know what feels best for your body and mind unless you experiment.
Reframe ‘bad’ days
Weight loss doesn’t have to feel like you’re punishing yourself. It’s self-care discovering what is best for your body and mind. And having a day when you eat so much candy you feel sick to your stomach isn’t a failure. It’s an opportunity to learn more about yourself. Instead of beating yourself up ask why you ate that much candy. Was there anything you could have done differently? Could you have planned a lunch that included protein? Gotten more sleep last night? Taken a brisk walk? After the self-reflection, let it go.
Focus on more than just food and exercise
We often get so caught up in avoiding certain foods or beating ourselves up for not exercising that we forget to look at our day-to-day lifestyle. Healthy weight management is holistic and should include an assessment of things like sleep habits and stress management. Poor sleep and chronic stress can impact your ability for weight loss and sometimes can even cause weight gain.
Use multiple measures of success
Stop obsessing over what the scale says. It’s only one small way of assessing how you’re doing and it’s not always reliable. When we feel the scale isn’t reflecting our good habits, we tend to minimize them. Weight fluctuates for lots of reasons and it’s not typically because you’ve gained fat, especially from day to day. Other assessments like how you’re feeling, how your clothes fit, your fitness level, and changes in your health (when’s the last time you checked your blood pressure?), can offer more positive ways of measuring success.
Set reasonable expectations for yourself
If your sister’s strawberry pie is your favorite dessert in the world and she’s serving it at a family dinner, plan on eating the pie. Don’t torture yourself by trying not to eat it. Eat a balanced dinner, savor the pie, and be grateful your sister made it. If you also want to take a walk because the weather is beautiful and you love fresh air, that’s great, but you don’t have to exercise because you ate the pie.
Incorporate foods you are excited about
Speaking of strawberries, have you had them in peak season? Nothing beats that sweetness and juiciness! Add them to oatmeal or a salad and you may find yourself looking forward to that meal. Is chocolate your favorite food? Add some to your protein smoothie or your peanut butter toast. Can’t live without pasta? Then eat pasta, doing your best to balance it with protein and veggies. Make each meal and snack something to look forward to.
Sarah Glunz, MS, CNS, LDN has been a nutritionist for over 15 years but is still working on consistently taking good care of her body. She does her best to practice self-care while working at Savory, playing backyard sports with her family, and living her best mid-life. She writes regularly for Savoryonline.
