I want you to think back to 2011. What were you doing a decade ago? I was unhappy with different aspects of my life, feeling restless, and starting to think I should do something else. It took me two years, but in 2013 I changed my career and haven't looked back since. If you have an inkling that something isn't quite right in your life but are getting stuck on the road to making that change, this is the episode for you.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Get Out Of the Information Overload Stage You Should:
Finding Your Intuitive Eating Sweet Spot
When making a change in your life, big or small, there is a tendency to get caught up in the learning phase. Often we don't want to jump into something until we feel 100% ready, but the truth is that if you wait to feel completely ready, you will be waiting forever.
Diet culture tells us to outsource our health decisions which creates a ‘one size fits all’ approach to our bodies. This is simply not the case, and intuitive eating encourages you to find the sweet spot between those external values and your own body's attunement. While information can help you prepare for this next phase of your life, it is important to remember that you need to find the middle ground between preparing and actually taking action.
The 6 Stages of Change
Consuming information makes us feel like we are doing something when it is really aiding us in procrastinating on making the change we are contemplating. There are six stages of change, and it is important to be honest with yourself about what stage you are at and remember that after every speed bump comes a new cycle.
Doing your research is great. But when you are able to take the information you have gathered and challenge yourself to take action, that is where the real magic happens. Intuitive eating is a combination of active learning and experiential learning, and it's up to you to get out there and do the thing.
What stage of change do you feel that you are at with your relationship with food? Let me know in the comments on the episode page.
In This Episode
Quotes
“There are so many places that you can get stuck, and one of them is information overload.” (2:02)
“How can we find that middle ground? How can we find the overlap? That is really why putting intuitive eating principles into practice is so important, because it helps to combat only loading yourself with information.” (13:22)
“Where are you at with your own relationship with food and coming to a kinder place that isn’t so ‘all or nothing’? I want you to think about that.” (21:48)
“At the end of the day, you can read the book, you can read the workbook, you can listen to all of the podcasts, you can read all the anti-diet books, you can do all of that. And some things may change...but intuitive eating by its very nature is an active experiential process.” (24:42)
“Give yourself grace, it is a process. If you feel like you are going to wait until you are 100% ready, you are going to be waiting forever.” (30:28)
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Related Episodes
LTYB 304: What is Gentle Nutrition? (Intuitive Eating Principle 10)
LTYB 257: Taking A Good Look At Your Relationship With Food with Rachel Dash-Dougherty
There is a big difference between feeling positive about your body and the body positivity movement, but it can be a very nuanced topic to understand. While diet culture is part of a more extensive set of oppressive systems to people with marginalized identities, the body positivity movement has moved so far away from how it started. Social justice and body positivity are heavily intersected, and it takes some time to unpack just how deeply that runs in our society.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Understand The Difference Between Body Positivity and the Body Positivity Movement, You Should:
The Difference Between Body Positivity and Systemic Oppression
The body positivity movement has started to center around people who don’t represent the individuals that this movement was really created by and for. Although originally created for people in marginalized bodies, we have seen a change in the ‘face’ of body positivity shifting away from marginalized bodies and towards others that are co-opting the movement.
While it is still totally possible and common for people in straighter size bodies to dislike their bodies and relationships with food, it is not the same as experiencing the kind of systemic discrimination and oppression that people in larger bodies experience every single day.
What You Can Do To Stop the Co-Opting
There is still judgment for people in larger bodies who embrace the body positivity movement in the same way that people in non-marginalized bodies do. By being clearer and discerning with the terms that we use on social media and in real life, we can stop the systematic oppression found in the body positivity movement and start including the people who might not look like you.
With some learning, some listening, and some questioning, you can start to peel back the layers of the body positivity onion and understand the time and place of these hard things.
How are you going to dig deeper into the differences between body positivity, fatphobia, and the systemic oppression of marginalized bodies? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.
In This Episode
Quotes
“It is kind of important to bring up this idea of co-opting, and how it removes the emphasis away from the people or the concepts that it was really designed to support.” (7:52)
“You start to see that predominantly thin, white, young, cisgender people who are being featured as the ‘faces’ of body positivity. And that is so different from the origins of the fat acceptance movement.” (15:46)
“What I am trying to say in this episode is that yes, you may have negative feelings about your body. Even if your body is very thin, you may still have body dysmorphia, you could still have an eating disorder, you could still have disordered eating, you could still not like your body. But it’s still not the same as experiencing the kind of systemic discrimination and oppression that people in larger bodies experience every single day.” (19:10)
“There is a difference between feeling bad about your body and experiencing systemic discrimination.” (22:23)
“I don’t want you to just listen to me; I want you to really go seek out and follow and listen to people who are in larger bodies as a start.” (27:44)
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Fearing The Black Body by Sabrina Strings
Fat Is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach
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Related Episodes
LTYB 313: How To Stop a Bad Body Image Day in Its Tracks with Brianna Campos
LTYB 320: Why You Can’t Shame Yourself Into Changing Your Body
LTYB 302: Finding Joy & Acceptance in Fitness for Every Body with Kanoa Greene
Are you feeling shameful around your body and trying to use that shame as a motivator to make changes? I have some bad news for you; it is not going to work. Shame not only has a profoundly negative impact on our mental health, but it is also harmful to how we see ourselves as people and our ability to make long-lasting change.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Stop Shaming Yourself Or Letting Others Shame You, You Should:
Why Shame Doesn’t Work
Shame comes from a very internalized place of believing that you are inherently flawed. Shame is different from guilt, which is a contextualized feeling about something you did rather than who you are.
Shame is scientifically proven to be a debilitating emotion that can come from external and internal narratives that are systematically pushed upon us. Shame, especially when it comes from the outside, negatively impacts how we see ourselves as people, and makes us hide, get smaller, and remove ourselves.
How To Create Sustainable Change
Shaming yourself or hating yourself into change simply does not work and can greatly impact how you see yourself and others. Social media and the patriarchy are only exacerbating this issue, which is why it is essential to treat yourself with kindness and approach change in a way that feels good to you.
Instead of operating from a place of shame, challenge yourself to create change in a way that feels sustainable and good. Block that body-shaming Instagram account, stop engaging with ‘concern trollers’, and get curious about where your thoughts are coming from. When you have patience with yourself and stop linking your self-worth to your body size or shape, real change can happen.
Are you ready to stop using shame as a motivator, only to end up feeling worse about yourself? Share how you are going to tweak your mindset away from shame with me in the comments section of the episode page.
In This Episode
Quotes
“Shame is a normal human experience, but this chronically feeling shameful can be really harmful for our health, especially the mental health aspect of our overall health.” (14:30)
“That was so powerful, and really put it into perspective of why shaming people for their bodies does damage, and why shame for ourselves is really something to investigate and heal if it is persistent.” (16:47)
“Guilt may be more powerful in terms of helping us make change, and maybe less harmful to us if we are really able to make things right. But shame, especially when it comes from other people, is so damaging to us, and it can be really harmful to our health, really harmful to our mental state, and really harmful to how we see ourselves as people.” (20:59)
“Thoughts affect feelings and feelings drive our actions. So if you feel guilty, or shameful or shitty, generally speaking, how do you act or react? It is typically not going to be a change you feel really great about.” (30:24)
“Getting clear about a motivator in your life that is coming from a place of expansiveness, possibility, curiosity, growth, and transformation is far more powerful than hating yourself into change.” (34:59)
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The Scientific Underpinnings and Impacts of Shame
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Related Episodes
LTYB 318: How Diet Culture Fails Us
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When you think about diet culture, do you think about how it has affected your relationship with fitness? Often times we focus on how diet culture impacts our relationship with food, but it also has a profound effect on our connection to exercise and fitness.
The fitspo mentality promotes a narrow ideal that is widely unachievable, keeps us stuck in the patriarchal system of having to prove our worth, and harms us by taking us further away from listening to our bodies.
Key Takeaways
If You Are Ready To See Fitspo Die You Should:
The Real Meaning of Fitness
Dan John defines fitness as your ability to do a task. That’s it. Nothing about the way you look, the amount of muscle you have, or your ability to look like the ‘fit’ people you see on Instagram.
Society has adopted coded language around fitness that seeks to limit and control a woman’s ability to show up in a certain way when it comes to fitness. In reality, you can include movement in your life in a way that is healthy for you right now and has no connection to the way you look. Your relationship with exercise should bring you satisfaction and make you feel good in your here and now body without the pressure of intentional weight-loss or body changes.
How Fitspo Harms Us
Fitspo harms us in more ways than one. Firstly, it promotes a narrow and privileged version of a certain ‘look’. It also promotes a ‘no days off’ mentality, that scares us into believing that if we rest, we are not worthy, are not strong, or are going to lose our gains. This is simply not true and keeps us stuck in the mentality of proving our worth and exercising solely to change the way our bodies look.
One of the biggest ways fitspo harms us is by preventing us from listening to our bodies. Your body will tell you if it needs rest and if it is enjoying the type of movement you are engaging with. While getting to know your body in the physical exercise capacity is very personal and takes time, listening to your body’s signals is the only way that you are going to get over the fitspo mentality.
Are you ready to embrace a version of fitness that is accessible, inclusive, and doesn’t focus on changing your body? Share how you are embracing movement for the sake of movement and rejecting the fitspo life in the comments section of the episode page.
In This Episode
Quotes
“Diet culture doesn’t just impact your relationship with food, it also has a prevalent impact on how we see fitness talked about, displayed, and some of the mentalities that are related to fitness.” (3:01)
“Dan John says fitness is your ability to do a task, so right there, your ability to do a task, your ability to complete a specific physical task typically is what fitness really is. And yet we as a society constantly reduce fitness to a look.” (7:49)
“If you are pursuing a specific type of fitness because there is a promise of a specific aesthetic look, is that actually 1) realistic for your body type? And 2) is it actually really bringing you a sense of fulfillment?” (12:45)
“It’s worth thinking about how pushing through and saying ‘I can’t take any days off, I am not allowed a rest day if I take a rest day I’m lazy, I’m a loser, I’m a slacker, I’m going to lose all of my progress’, how does that mentality keep us from really tuning in and listening to our bodies?” (24:00)
“The other way that fitspo harms us is it takes the emphasis off all of the other reasons why exercise can be fun and beneficial that have really nothing to do with weight loss or body size control.” (28:55)
Featured on the Show
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I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!
Related Episodes
LTYB 318: How Diet Culture Fails Us
LTYB 302: Finding Joy & Acceptance in Fitness for Every Body with Kanoa Greene
LTYB 295: Changing The Way You View Fitness with Simone Tchouke