Do you feel as though you’ve been so good about your food and nutrition choices lately, but haven’t cultivated a positive relationship with food yet? Here are 5 reasons why you may not be at your balanced weight.
It can be so frustrating when you’re being really intentional about your eating habits and lifestyle choices, then not feeling or seeing the results you had in your mind. This is particularly common in the health and wellness realm.
Maybe you’ve tried every diet under the sun, taken some of your friends’ recommendations, or done some at-home research to find the best foods to eat and the best foods to avoid. Yet despite all of your efforts, the scale isn’t reflecting your hard work. And as a result, you’re left feeling frustrated, disappointed, and let down.
As a Registered Dietitian and MNM Coach, I frequently see new Mindful Nutrition Method students that have had this exact experience. There are five common reasons why they are not at their balanced weight, and today I’m sharing them with you.
Let’s chat through them together so you can determine the adjustments and changes you need to make today so you can reach your goals!
What Is Your Balanced Weight?
Before we discuss why you may not be at your balanced weight, let’s first establish what this is. You may be surprised by this, but your balanced weight isn’t determined by the number on the scale—a balanced weight encompasses far more than just weight.
Your balanced weight is the physical state at which you are embodying balanced eating habits, a mindful mindset about food, and a positive relationship to food and your body. In this balanced embodiment, you’re able to experience enjoyment with your food while prioritizing nourishment for your body by intentionally practicing balance with your food choices.
It’s where you’re mindfully eating, where you’re listening and taking intentional action related to your hunger, satiety, and satisfaction cues. It’s where you feel confident and comfortable in your own skin, where you’re freely enjoying food and drinks out with your friends, and also really enjoying a Foundational Five nourish meal. Your balanced weight may even change depending on your unique stage of life.
It’s having zero stress around food and endless confidence in yourself around your eating habits. It’s when you’re able to experience self-confidence and practice self-compassion while still making shifts and changes to your current habits and routines.
Have you reached this point on your wellness journey yet? If not, keep reading!
5 Reasons Why You’re Not At Your Balanced Weight
Your Measurement of Success Is A Numerical Value
This is the primary and most common reason why one may not yet have reached their balanced weight. When your success is determined by a number, and only a number, you’re setting yourself up to fail.
Firstly, the scale is an inaccurate, poor indicator of health. It doesn’t tell you anything about your muscle mass, your relationship with food, your daily practices, lab levels, or anything of the sort. These are the measurements of success we should be using instead!
Additionally, the number on the scale doesn’t reflect how or why you make changes. Because of this, focussing on the number on the scale often unintentionally promotes and encourages a poor body image as well as disordered eating habits.
It leads you to believe and think, “It doesn’t matter what I do or how I do it, as long as I reach this number.”. It can also perpetuate all-or-nothing thinking. If you don’t see the number on the scale that you’re looking for, you might find that you start to think to yourself, “Well, nothing I’ve done so far has worked, so why should I even bother or try anymore?”.
When the scale is your sole indicator of success, it robs you of finding your balanced weight.
You’re In An ‘all-or-nothing’ Cycle
When in the throes of an ‘all-or-nothing‘ cycle, it’s very difficult to achieve and maintain your balanced weight. And it’s extremely common to experience the all-or-nothing cycle today!
You may constantly feel like you’re either, “all-in” and being “good” with your eating habits, or staying “on track” with your diet. Or, you’re, “all-out” and ignoring nourishment, which may lead you to mindless eating and make you feel as though you’re “off track”.
This frequent, extreme fluctuation in your actions and tendencies makes it impossible to find ease and balance. You’re constantly battling yourself and your body as opposed to working with it. If you find that you’re always experiencing one extreme or the other, rather than finding a balance between the two, this may be a primary reason why you’re unable to find your balanced weight.
Guilt And Pride Dictate Your Food Choices
Do you find that you frequently feel guilty after making certain food choices? That you eat in response to feelings or emotions rather than physical hunger? Or that you’re compelled to eat certain things because you feel like you, “should”?
If this sounds familiar to you, morality and emotion may be controlling your habits around food, rather than intentional, mindful choice. When we assign labels to food such as good or bad, right or wrong, food can start to feel stressful and confusing. It can even feel as though we’re out of control around certain or all foods.
This mindset causes you to eat food that you don’t really want to eat because you think you “should”. It also causes you to avoid or restrict things that you really do want to eat because you think you “shouldn’t”. This causes a major disconnect between your inherent needs and your actions. As a result, food becomes overwhelming and difficult to navigate, which makes it extremely hard for you to find your balanced weight.
You’re Overwhelmed By Nutrition Information
There’s so much information on nutrition out there, and there are so many differing opinions. It can be so easy to feel overwhelmed and confused! If you find that you’re jumping from one diet to the other, one detox to the other, or frequently cutting food items out then adding them back in, you may be dealing with a bit of information overload.
Having the confidence to make food choices that you know are uniquely right for you allows you to reach and maintain your balanced weight. When you know exactly what needs to be on your plate or in your bowl to make you feel satiated, energized, and satisfied while also tasting good, finding your balanced weight is so much easier.
On the other hand, when you lack confidence, you’re unable to remain steadfast and strong with your habits. This tendency to waver results in a lack of consistency and maintenance, when both are key to finding a balanced weight.
You Struggle With Mindless Eating
Mindless eating may look like ignoring hunger and satiety cues, or simply not knowing what they truly feel like. It may look like eating food to check out or numb. It may also involve eating as a result of an environmental cue, heightened emotions, or unresolved stress.
When we reach for food as a result of “head hunger” rather than innate bodily cues, it can make it difficult to find our balanced weight. We’re essentially looking to food to fix something or change something that it’s not able to change, resulting in confusion and frustration. Being mindful of how you feel and addressing those emotions, hunger cues or stressors appropriately can make the process so much more easeful for you.
Find Your Balanced Weight
Take a moment to pause and reflect on what we just discussed.
Are you constantly battling with the number on the scale? Mindlessly eating? Stressed or guilty around food? Overwhelmed by nutrition information? Or constantly on and off of the ‘bandwagon’?
If so, practicing mindful, balanced eating is the best next step for you to find your balanced weight and make peace with food.
The Mindful Nutrition Method
is a transformative online live experience with live group coaching, training and course materials, and a private community. Inside we teach our students how to create balanced eating habits for life that help them be free from food and diet obsession, maintain a balanced weight, cultivate a positive relationship with food, and ultimately find joy in nourishing themselves.
Are You Feeling Stressed About Your Balanced Weight?
If so, Sign up to watch my free masterclass today. You’ll learn about #1 Habit That Keeps You Struggling With Your Weight and Relationship With Food — And How To Break Free From The Diet And Food Obsession Starting Now. It’s the perfect next step after learning about why you may not be at your balanced weight just yet.
You don’t need to stress and obsess about food. There is a better way, and yes it’s possible to cultivate a positive relationship with food! It’s all about learning and exploring your own habits in relation to tried-and-true practices that allow you to nourish yourself with ease so you can reach your goals. Join this free balanced eating masterclass to learn how.
Watch The Free Masterclass
The post 5 Reasons Why You’re Not At Your Balanced Weight appeared first on Nutrition Stripped®.
McKel (Hill) Kooienga
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