For way too many years, women have been fully immersed and absorbed in Diet Mentality, Diet Culture, and Society’s Thin Ideal. It has been shoved down our throats from every direction we turn. The grocery store, radio, TV, movies, coffee shops, magazines and more. It is no wonder women don’t feel good about themselves. Now, as we navigate a global pandemic and the COVID weight gain that might come with it, we’re facing even greater challenges.
But there is a way out of this cycle, and I found it when I went back to school. I was assigned the books Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating on the first day of my Eating Disorder Graduate program.
I was excited to be diving into a different way of thinking. For over 40 years I had been living and teaching what I knew, and what I knew was the Eat Less and Exercise More weight loss formula. Diet and restrict how and what you eat AND exercise longer, harder and more if you want to lose weight or change the shape of your body.
I had Anorexia Nervosa at age 12, was drinking TAB at 16, and spent the next 35 years on and off different diets. I exercised for hours a day, but never felt thin enough. Over and over again, I would feel like a failure. So, in turn I would binge on food.
It wasn’t until my body physically started to break down, that I pushed the pause button to ask the question, why isn’t anything I try ever working? There has to be a better way.
Enter Intuitive Eating.
Last month Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch released their new, 25th – anniversary edition of this foundational book that originally was published in 1995 (the year my second daughter was born.) When I read it in 2014, it changed the trajectory of my life. Not only that, it also motivated and inspired me to start sharing this new way of eating and thinking.
Intuitive eating (I.E.) has gotten a lot of media and social media attention over the past several months. We are in the midst of a time where both women and men’s relationships with food are even more unhealthy and detrimental to their overall well-being than normal due to the pandemic’s role in causing weight gain for many.
How common is COVID weight gain?
In May, a poll from WebMD, 85% of those polled had added body fat and gained weight ranging from 4 to 21 pounds. Two of the biggest reasons for the increase in weight have been from stress eating and lack of movement.
Schedules have been turned upside down, gyms have closed, and stress has shot through the roof. So, it’s no wonder many people have gained weight.
On top of this, society’s diet industries have jumped on the opportunity. And yet the research is clear on dieting: They don’t and can’t work!
95% of diets fail. PERIOD.
In today’s blog, we tackle three much better ways to deal with the stress, lack of exercise and weight gain…
Three BETTER Ways to Tackle COVID Weight Gain
1. Lower stress through self-care.
Stress is one of the biggest contributors to weight gain.
When our bodies (or minds) are stressed, we release a stress hormone known as cortisol.
Cortisol is the body’s fight/flight response mechanism. It actually signals the body to hold onto fat.
This comes from our genetic heritage of feast and famine. It was in times of famine where this cortisol came into play. Its only job was to help us survive. It was released in famine and signaled to the body to hold onto fat and lower metabolism so we could live longer. Makes sense, right?
So, as we dive into what we can do about the COVID weight gain, lowering our stress level is our first step.
Taking time for you is a way to lower your stress level. It allows you the opportunity to fill your cup, take a pause, relax, and reset. It is an act of selflessness.
If I take care of me, I have more energy, alertness, awareness, compassion, and focus to help take care of you.
What do you do that relaxes, calms you down, or makes you laugh? Maybe you’d like to take a yoga class or read a book. Or maybe it is coloring, painting, or journaling? Listening to music? Meditation?
So, step one to tackling the COVID-15 is to create your own Self Care Tool Box, and then use it every day.
2. Move MORE
Lack of exercise has hit our society in a way that no-one ever expected. Yoga Studios, Gyms, Pools, playgrounds, beaches, and trails were shut down due to the pandemic. It left many people with no place to go to exercise.
Did you know we can impact our metabolism by just increasing the amount we move during the day?
This kind of movement can actually impact your metabolism more than twice as much as a single exercise bout.
Think about it for a minute.
When we exercise, we take maybe 30 minutes to an hour out of our day. Then we proceed to sit the rest of the day. Up to 10-12 hours or more.
What if we added more movement into that 10-12 hour part of the day?
Get up to walk around the house for 2-3 minutes every hour, put on a song, and dance a couple of times a day, head outside to take a 5-10 minute walk after meals? Stand up to do a 5-minute stretch routine to loosen up your muscles.
These are all NON-EXERCISE ACTIVITIES that can make a bigger impact than you think on your heart, lungs, circulation, and metabolism.
Check out other ways to move your body and think about exercise HERE.
3. Think about eating more intuitively.
Our last way to tackle this time of COVID weight gain, stress, and uncertainty is to start tuning in closer to what your body really needs in terms of fuel.
Instead of searching for a diet to restrict and fail at, why not start listening to yourself and really asking your body what it wants and needs?
So many of us turn to food when we are bored, stressed, sad, angry, tired, or lonely. If we can identify when we are truly hungry vs. when we are feeling other emotions, we can help ourselves fulfill the real need.
Learning to tune into our bodies’ physical hunger and fullness cues can be a great place to start.
This is what Intuitive Eating is all about.
It does not restrict foods, it asks you to just start to become aware of how foods make you feel, how they taste, how your body responds to them, and even why you eat when you do. We have a series of blogs here to learn more about Intuitive Eating.
Try these two to start:
What the Heck is Intuitive Eating Anyway?
Intuitive Eating 101 with the NYSER Method
If you are looking for more support or help on your journey to tackling COVID weight gain, click here to schedule a complimentary Body Joyful Breakthrough Session.
If you enjoyed this article, you won’t want to miss these either:
Benefits to a Playful Approach to Exercise
Journaling to Boost Your Mood
9 Steps to Ultimate Self-Acceptance
