Diets actually make people fat.

Only 5% of people who have reported dieting and losing weight have maintained that weight loss for 5 years. After 5 years that number decreases to 2-3%. The majority of the people who have lost weight not only gain that weight back but often gain more than they lost.

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So why can’t people maintain the weight loss?

Because that diet program(s) was  are predicated on the fact that people had have to deprive themselves to lose weight but deprivation can only last so long.  It becomes a vicious cycle of losing and gaining weight that not only hurts your body physically but damages you emotionally.  

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Have you ever felt bad about yourself for being a “failure” because you didn’t reach your goal or you ate “bad” foods? This is the exact opposite of what you set out to do which was to feel good about yourself. Eating well and depriving yourself don’t have to go hand in hand. 

 

You can eat well and enjoy all types of food. 

Tapping into your real feelings of hunger and satiety brings back your natural instinct of how much food to eat and what you enjoy. Without identifying foods as “good’ or “bad” you stop feeling as if you are good or bad for being human and eating. The goal in counseling will be to help you develop a healthy relationship with food; feel good about yourself and to achieve a healthy lifestyle without negativity and constraint.

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This program is based on the idea of “Intuitive Eating” which is based on attunement and uses the direct experiences of your body. 

Is your body experiencing hunger? Is your body comfortable full or satisfied? It’s about learning to listen to what your body is telling you. Many of us became members of The Clean Plate club when we were kids.  Our natural intuition about feelings of hunger and satiety were overridden by the direction to finish our food or being told when to eat because the clock told us it was meal time. Infants have that natural instinct, they cry when they are hungry and they stop eating when they are full. 

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Did you ever watch a toddler eat?

They take a few bites and say they are full but what happens after that?  They are directed to take a few more bites.  This begins the process of overriding their intuitive sense of fullness.  It’s parental concern that they won’t get enough nutrition that prompts them to eat more.  Provide children with good nutritious foods and they will end up getting what they need not what is perceived as their need.  As adults we often no longer can truly identify hunger and satiety like we did as children.  We eat for a variety of reasons but most not associated with true hunger.  We also often over eat but not based on true satiety.  Relearning to listen to your body will help you to naturally regulate your intake while allowing you to enjoy a variety of foods. 

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You can eat good quality foods as well as include foods typically considered indulgences. 

The trick is to find a good balance without feeling deprived.  Very often we deprive ourselves of the foods we most enjoy leading us to overindulge in that food when you feel like you need to “cheat”.  Who or what are you cheating on when you do that? How often have you eaten these foods and then said “oh what the heck?” and just continued to binge after that thinking , “well I screwed up today so I must as well just keep eating.”?  

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