Hint – its not dieting! @Nutrition_with_Lillia
You’ve probably figured by now that it’s not a pill you’ve seen advertised on Instagram or the low fat, low sugar ‘diet’ food you’ve seen in the supermarket. It’s not about diet clubs and it’s also not about starving yourself!
The secret to weight loss is individual
It could be: balancing your hormones, addressing your thyroid health, fasting, exercise, prioritising good sleep, or it could be eating a plant-based wholefoods foods whilst walking more and practising yoga.
The biggest challenge, is there is no one solution that works for everyone.
You may have spent a significant amount of time in slimming clubs, which disclaimer alert: have most probably taught you to eat all the wrong things. Losing weight is not about ‘cheating’ the diet. In fact, throw away the word ‘diet’, right now!
The solution lies in making small changes regularly, that gradually build up until you have lifelong lasting changes.
And yes, you can loose weight naturally, without calorie counting
Eating the way I show my clients, has them naturally wanting to eat the foods that will love and nourish their body, rather than deciding to seek solace or punishment in a bag of Haribos.
What the slimming clubs miss is the vital mindset element of weight loss. Part of that is prioritising self-care. This is one of the real secrets for losing weight, and here’s why.
If you are an emotional eater, no ‘diet’ in the world is going to help you deal with what the REAL issue is – your wonky relationship with food. You need to rewire your food brain, because emotional eating or binge eating are major causes of diet failure but, unless you get to the root of the problem, you are destined to yo-yo diet.
Self-care is recognising that only YOU can make yourself happy. Not your relationship, work or what you eat and drink. It is about having dedicate time EVERY DAY, just for your own enjoyment.
Nourishment isn’t just about the food we eat
Your mind and soul need nourishment too. Not only will you be more fun to be around, you will also have greater reserves to deal with the stresses of everyday life.
The importance of self-care doesn’t end there. When you dedicate a small amount of time each day for your own happiness, there is less need to reach for the chocolate biscuits or glass of wine.
I’m guessing you are like many of my clients – you are so time poor that rewarding yourself with treat foods like cake, biscuits and alcohol is the easiest way to show yourself some self-love.
My experience in running a nutrition clinic, is that so little of WHY you eat WHAT you eat has to do with nourishing your body. The far greater part is to do with how you feel about yourself and about life in general. Eating half a packet of chocolate biscuits is much easier than figuring out what you really need, which might be how to de-stress, feel loved, properly relax or even just how to get better sleep.
I hope you get what I am saying conceptually, but just understanding won’t give you the benefits. You need to take action. Are you doing AT LEAST three things EVERY DAY just because they make you happy? Probably not?
Self-care is a skill, a discipline and a habit that needs to be formed.
And it is so easy to do (which is why we often don’t do it).
My challenge to you this week: make a list of at least 20 things (even really frivolous things) that you LOVE to do just because they delight you and do at least 3 of them a day. Some take hardly any time; some take a little longer. You don’t have to spend long for this to be effective. Make sure you write them down and make a list.
For example your self-care could be:
- 10 mins meditation
- Painting your nails
- Having a cup of tea in the garden
- Smelling some flowers
- Journaling
- Reading
- Yoga
- Walking
- Cooking
- Listening to a podcast
- Going to be half an hour earlier
- Having a bath
- Going for a drive
- Diffusing essential oils or lighting a candle
- Writing down 5 things you’re grateful for
- Wearing an outfit that makes you feel good
- Learning something new
- Listening to music
- Cuddling a pet
- Spending time in nature
- For more ideas click here
You will need to keep your list somewhere handy so it is easy to turn to for inspiration.
I promise you that making this commitment to care for yourself, your life will be greatly improved.