I was out to lunch last week with a friend who was complaining that she gained 4 pounds and blamed it on the fact that she stopped counting calories, and in her opinion, fell off the proverbial wagon. She’d been logging her food religiously, and then, as she put it, “All hell broke loose.”
One of the luxuries of never counting calories is that you’ll never hear me proclaim, "I fell off the wagon!" like she did. In fact, I haven’t said that in years. I used to say it all the time and every time I did, there went another piece of my self-esteem, adding to my already diminished feeling of self-worth.
Not being able to follow a diet meant more failure coupled with feelings of despair, which never made me feel any good anyways. So why do it?
I see so many women struggle with this concept, and it's because they’ve been conditioned to believe that there's only one way to lose weight, which is by following strict meal plans and exercise routines befitting an Olympic athlete.
And the truth is that’s so not true!
NEWSFLASH: You’re not an athlete, unless of course, you are. I actually do have friends who are athletes, but they've been that way their whole lives. They're not trying to become one in their 40's. Your average woman isn’t inclined to run a 5-minute mile or ski the Alps anyways, therefore the average woman is YOU.
I talk to women all the time who belabor the fact that they’re not exercising enough, and when I tell them not to, they're shocked. But it's with good reason! Women's bodies take a beating from all the stress they're under between work, kids, housekeeping, cooking, PTA meetings, and just plain trying to make everyone happy that they don’t technically have the strength that working out requires.
In which case I don't recommend it. You have to rebuild your body before you can work out!
It all comes from within. Strengthening your mind and gut are a great place to start, because when you feel mentally strong paired with feeling physically stronger, the task of exercising isn't so intimidating.
But another reason is simply because we’re women. By our very nature, we’re not hardwired to kick ass – ours or anyone else’s! Feminine energy likes to be nurtured and pampered, not kicked or shoved, and certainly not deprived of our favorite foods that so often happens when we cut calories.
When we grow up in a rigid environment, or work in one, it makes sense that it doesn’t feel right to you. You're out of your element and wind up like a hamster in a cage, spinning your wheels, without ever really understanding why.
Yet now's your chance!
Sometimes I can barely get through a conversation with someone before she breaks down into tears over how stressed out she is, overwhelmed, and hopeless about how she feels and how fat she is. To compound matters, she condemns herself for not eating right or exercising enough when it makes perfect sense to me why not.
It all stems from trying to do it all, when in reality, no one can do it all.
[bctt tweet=”When you allow yourself the simple pleasure of slowing down and relaxing a little, magic happens.”] Your body starts to respond in ways you’re not used to and you never have to guess about what's right to eat and what's not, or even how much. One of the biggest fallacies that's taught by the diet industry is that you don’t know enough about your own body to know what it wants, when truth be told, you know more than anyone does.
You’ve just been told otherwise long enough to not know it anymore.
It’s never too late to rediscover the mind-body connection that lives in all of us and let go of outdated beliefs that keep you dependent on other people's beliefs about right and wrong when it comes to weight. I never count calories, and I never fall off the wagon.
So what makes me different than you? It's the fact that I found that out about myself, and you haven't yet.
I never push myself at the gym, especially if I don’t want to work out. If I want to do something else, I do, and I never use the words “cheat, good, or bad” when I talk about food. I DO dance around naked sometimes because I've learned to love my body, and when I pass a mirror I say "Thank you!" to myself for having the courage to change.
And I’m not fat.
If you never diet, you’ll never fall off the wagon either, and you'll never wind up having conversations that make you feel like a failure. Less than 1% of the population loses weight permanently by dieting anyways. Wouldn't you rather be in the 99% that do?
If your old ways aren't working, it's time for a change for you too. Forcing yourself to do things contrary to your natural instincts is a recipe for disaster, while understanding why the old ways you've tried before didn't really work is the first step to guaranteeing a different outcome.
When you finally free yourself from doing things everyone else's way, and do it your way instead, natural weight loss comes easily, and you'll never experience the guilt of falling off the wagon ever again – like me.
I'd never trade that feeling for the world!
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Angela Min
elli is an author, speaker and founder of Angela Minelli International, a heart-based global business serving purpose-driven everyday women and entrepreneurs whose self-image and weight issues are inhibiting their confidence and blocking them from pursuing their life’s passion.
Angela's joy is in taking a stand for women who are living less than ideal lives, stopped by fear and doubt, which prevents them from stepping into their innate power and delivering their God-given genius to the world. Her coaching programs and products are designed for women with busy lifestyles yet allow for powerful transformation to take place within a small segment of time.
As a natural health practitioner and digestive health specialist, Angela specializes in helping people overcome weight and energy issues through holistic, non-invasive protocols that address the root cause of their conditions, including adrenal fatigue, candida, thyroid disorders, and more.
Explore the ideals that are the cornerstone of her work at angelaminelli.com.