Have you ever heard of a Diet Recovery Coach? Or a Weight Neutral Coach? If not- you’re probably scratching your head wondering what the heck I’m even talking about. Or why I decided to become certified as both.
My relationship with food and body has had more ups and downs than the Scream Machine at Six Flags. Sadly my story isn’t a unique one. After learning early on that “smaller is better” I spent decades of my life trying to shrink my own body.
I tried everything I could think of to fight the chaos in my head. Therapy, support groups, nutritional counseling. Even going to treatment for an eating disorder. Three times. But still I struggled. Fighting my body. And fighting the obsessions in my head.
Changing your perspective
It took a radical shift in perspective to finally begin to heal from decades of fighting my body and myself. To reach a point in life where I can enjoy food, live my life freely, and reconnect with my authentic self.
Finally free from the prison of food/body hell, I decided I wanted to help others.
Learning about diet culture and how fat phobia is a social just issue lit a fire in my belly to help create much needed change in today’s world.
Living in a Diet Culture
We live in a world that’s literally obsessed with getting and staying thin. It seems like everyone I know is on a diet. So, what’s the problem? Why would someone devote their entire profession to helping people STOP dieting?
It turns out there are lots of reasons.
Human beings are meant to grow into diverse sizes, shapes, and colors. Yet, today’s world has pathologized a certain size and shape of body. Thinness is valued and praised in our society and rewarded with social power. Conversely, anyone who doesn’t meet the unrealistic thin ideal is judged, punished, and devalued.
It’s no wonder we believe the lie: we must be thin in order to be happy, to be loved, and worthy.
Diet culture brainwashes us to believe that the answer to “fatness” is to go on a diet. To try harder to control our food. The current rhetoric blames an individual for being in a larger body despite decades of research that dieting doesn’t work.
The Blame Game
When diets fail, we blame ourselves. We ignore the fact that genetics, environment, socio-economic status, stress, trauma, race, access to health care, and many other factors all play a role in our weight and body shape and size.
What we eat is only a small fraction of what determines our body size.
Dieting fails at least 95% of the time. And it comes at a huge price. In fact, studies consistently show dieting is the biggest predictor of weight gain. What else can dieting predict? Eating disorders. Weight cycling. Binging. To name just a few. Even people who are “successful” at dieting are actually at risk for even bigger problems. Some of these complications include: bone loss, malnutrition, and cardiac events. Here’s another thing to consider. Most “successful dieters” actually meet criteria for clinical eating disorders.
Doctors and other professionals prescribe diets without ever considering:
- Diets have a 95% chance of failing
- Dieting comes with a long list of side effects
Can you imagine a doctor prescribing any medication with a 95% chance of failing AND a long list of dangerous side effects? No- because that would be unethical. Yet, time and time again, the FIRST thing doctors recommend to anyone outside of their narrow definition of a “healthy weight” is a diet.
What IS a Diet Recovery / Weight Neutral Coach?
A Diet Recovery / Weight Neutral Coach helps people let go of dieting. So they can finally stop trying to control the size and shape of their bodies. Breaking free from the status quo of our culture can be really difficult.
Many people reach a point in their lives when they realize dieting and trying to control their bodies is not serving them. They experience negative consequences of dieting. And yet, it is still difficult to let go of.
Why is this?
Put simply- it’s because we’re not actually addicted to foods. Not to sugar, not to carbs, not to donuts, not to cake. No– the thing that most people are addicted to is dieting. To trying to control our food and our bodies. When we focus on shrinking our bodies, we feel a false sense of control over our lives. Unfortunately this grasping for control only causes more problems in our lives.
Letting go of dieting is the answer to finding peace with food and body. In today’s world, letting go of dieting is tough. When we live in a culture where dieting is the norm, it’s counter culture to reject the lie that dieting will fix everything in our lives. Rejecting diet mentality takes education. Persistence. Support. Encouragement. Insight. Learning new skills. And a total shift in mindset. But it is possible and it is SO worth the work!
As a Diet Recovery / Weight Netural Coach, I want to help you!
How Do You Know if a Diet Recovery / Weight Neutral Coach is Right for You?
If you’re someone who:
- thinks about food from morning til night
- feels shame any time you walk by a mirror
- can’t focus on conversations at meals because you’re obsessing about food
- has a closet full of sizes you don’t fit into
- leaves the table still hungry but can’t stop eating once the kids are in bed
- is exhausted from dieting for decades
- stopped eating disorder behaviors but still hates your body & obsesses over food
- is ashamed of your struggles with food because you “know better” but can’t seem to change your behaviors
- puts weight loss above hanging out with family and friends
- feels panicked by “normal” activities like grocery shopping, eating out, or going to parties where there is food
- is in recovery from an eating disorder but feel like one misstep and you’re going to lose it all
- never felt “sick enough” to get help with your food issues because you were never “thin enough”
- feels like you’re addicted to food and can’t stop eating once you start
then you’re in the right place and Diet Recovery / Weight Neutral Coaching may be just what you need to heal from your food and body struggles.
If you’d like to stop hating your reflection, make peace with your body, and feel calm around food…. it may be time to check into Diet Recovery / Weight Neutral Coaching. It’s possible to live a life free of obsessing about every single bite you eat. A life where you don’t feel like food is in control. Where you’re present, connected, and free.
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