Welcome to How to Love Your Body - on today’s episode we are going to be talking about how we practice wellness without the focus on weight/ how we practice wellness without the obsession. We share a lot on this topic because it’s the core foundation of our coaching and we thought it would be helpful to share specific examples in our lives - this is how we naturally live now - so we wanted to give some ideas to you or help you get a better understanding of what this wellness without the focus on weight could look like.

A key pillar of having wellness without the obsession is separating weight and wellness, a great way to start doing this is to grab our free 33 page workbook called Separating Weight and Wellness. You can get this at bit.ly/wwworkbook

The main point of this is that your health does not = your weight. 

A little content warning:  we do want to share that this episode is more focused on wellness - you may be in a place to hear this or you may find yourself not ready - either way it’s okay!

So here we go, here’s a mini look into how WE practice WWTO regarding food and movement: this isn't all that WWTO is but its an area we know many people are curious about:

 

The focus: Prioritizing feeling good for all things - Prioritizing feeling good after eating, as much as I prioritize allowing all food. 

Of course all food is allowed and it’s a priority but also - I want to feel good in my body so I make that just as an important priority. 

 

EXAMPLE: Ordered Chinese food and asked myself why it feels easy to stop when I feel satisfied when it never did before. I don't equate food with weight and I truly value enjoying food. That means BOTH eating what I want and feeling good while and after eating it - it is much less enjoyable if I eat too much.

The way to do this without feeling restriction is truly allowing all food, getting rid of the weight focus and valuing pleasure as a part of wellness!

Not the focus: Never eating the Chinese because of the weight. 

The focus: According to what is happening in my life - that’s how I choose to move my body or not move. Choosing from a place of what I enjoy. Typically take a walk every morning with my daughters in the stroller. Great for mental health to get outside and enjoy the sun/ fresh air (unless there is too much smoke/ too hot). Feels good in my body. I also have a peloton - definitely a quarantine purchase. It’s great to use when I feel like it - anywhere from 10-30 min depending on how I feel. If it’s too hot or any other reason I skip it until I feel like it. Not the focus: Choosing exercise that I think will make me lose weight. Doing a workout because I want to lose weight, not because I actually like doing it. Using movement as a punishment or trying to undo eating a “cheat meal.”The focus: If I’m actually hungry I eat  “real” food as in even if chocolate sounds good I’ll eat food and then have chocolate. - Just a bunch of chocolate to fill me up never feels good - this allows me to still eat the chocolate and feel good. And of course I’m choosing “real” food that I want to eat that satisfies me. Not the focus: Wanting chocolate and saying no I can’t have it and try to distract myself with something else that I don’t want to eat.

The focus: Choosing to eat nutritious food that I actually enjoy (if you hate kale don’t ever eat kale, maybe you love spinach?) AND making it actually taste good (satisfaction!). Ex. Roasting veggies in the oven with olive oil (enough of it!) and seasoning. Adding “all the things” to your salads - yes, like cheese, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, avocado, full fat dressing etc etc) - Adding butters and sauces -  spice it up! Whatever you enjoy - adding some cheese to your broccoli doesn’t reduce the amount of nutrition. It only adds satisfaction, pleasure, and enjoyment (if that’s what you enjoy) Not the focus: Eating as bland as possible to avoid extra calories and fat to try and control/ shift your body size.

The focus: Everything I d