Can you recall a time in your life where you really felt you were showing up in the world as your true self – “living your best life” like Oprah says? (ugh, why does she have to have such great one liners and make such poor choices when it comes to investing in the diet industry?!)
Diet culture has us believing that pursuing weight loss or striving for our ideal body is the action we need to be taking in order to live our best lives.
But I wonder if that is rings true for you when you reflect back on your weight loss attempts? Did you really, deep down, feel you were living your best life during those times?
If I think about the number one thing my clients come to me about, it is that they are feeling exhausted by how much of their day, week, month, year is spent obsessing about food and their body. All of the physical and mental effort they are putting in to achieving the body they want has left them with little time and space to live and enjoy their lives.
The pressure to take up less space often leads not to a smaller body, but a smaller life.
As Naomi Wolf said (I am packing in the quotes, aren’t I?!),
A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.
In other words, while we are busy trying to become (or stay) thin, we are distracted from engaging in the things that really matter.
I invite you to imagine then what might be different in your life if you were to let go of dieting or pursuing weight loss.
What might you be creating space for?
Below are some ideas.
letting go of the pursuit of weight loss creates space for:
- more of your brain and body that can be spent on creative or intellectual pursuits;
- welcoming and engaging in personal development;
- deepening connection with people who are important in your life, or making new connections;
- more time to pursue hobbies;
- time, energy, resources to find the things that will truly make a positive difference to your health and wellbeing;
- being present in all aspects of your life;
- helping dismantle diet culture (this one is a bit of a selfish request on my part!!)
what could you be creating space for in your life if you were to let go of the pursuit of weight loss?
Hi! My name is Nina.
I’m a Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor taking the ‘diet’ out of Dietitian. I am here to help you reject diet culture, tune into your body’s own inner wisdom about how to truly nourish yourself and ultimately feel good eating™ 
Loved reading this post! You said exactly what people stuck in the dieting cycle need to hear. Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you so much Kara, being able to interrupt that diet cycle can be a game changer.
I’m 65 years old, and have spent a good part of my life (and money) on trying to lose wight. Looking back, although my weight has had its ups and downs, I am almost exactly the same weight and shape as I was 50 years ago. My feet are the same size too and I still look my Gran and my Mum. I take it from this that, this is how I am. I am sad to think how much time I have wasted agonising over my perceived problem, time which could have been so much more creatively spent.
Thank you so much for sharing your story Christine. It is really hard to do that type of reflection and acknowledge what you have given up/wasted/missed out on – I think that is sometimes why people keep persisting – they don’t want all of that effort, time and money to have been in vain. I hope you are enjoying finding your creativity now.