Written by: Jill Yeiter, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
You want to stop dieting and ditch the scale so you can improve your relationship with food and your body, but are not sure where to start. Perhaps you have information overload or you simply don’t trust yourself. This article can be helpful if you’d like a fresh perspective on “healthy weight.”
A bit of background…
I’m a Wellness Coach with a Bachelor’s in Lifestyle Management and over a decade of experience helping people feel better in their bodies. I became certified as an Intuitive Eating Coach so I could help others heal their relationship with food and their bodies. I have a deep understanding of the painful emotions that can surface when you feel disconnected from yourself and Intuitive Eating is one way to bring yourself back into alignment.
How do I stop dieting?
Giving up diet culture requires a fundamental paradigm shift to stop looking outside of yourself and following food rules. If you are ready to stop dieting you are…
Serious about making sustainable changes
Ready to heal your relationship with food and your body
Willing to prioritize wellness over body weight
Committed to ongoing self-care
Able to look inward and self-assess
Capable of enjoying the journey
What is Intuitive Eating?
Intuitive Eating is a paradigm, not a diet, that can help you heal your relationship with food and your body. It is grounded in self-care and based on 10 guiding principles designed to help you listen inward so that you can make choices in alignment with your body and unique set of circumstances. A few of these principles include honoring your hunger, making peace with food, and coping with your emotions without using food.
What is “healthy weight”?
First, let’s introduce a few definitions of “healthy weight”. A very clinical and objective definition, according to the Center for Disease Control classifies weight according to Body Mass Index or BMI, which is a height-to-weight ratio. My much more subjective and personal definition is, “A body shape and size I can maintain with ease when consistently engaging in sustainable habits related to food, movement, stress management, etc.” I encourage you to take the time to consider what your own unique definition of healthy weight is.
What’s the relationship between Intuitive Eating and “healthy weight”?
Intuitive Eating is grounded in self-care, so it will never prioritize a number on the scale over the sustainability of your health habits. Intuitive Eating recognizes that health comes in many individual shapes and sizes.
Weight is multifaceted and only one aspect of health.
Body weight is influenced by many factors, including food, culture, beliefs, movement, mindset, stress, physiology, environment, and more, and is only one objective piece of data related to your health. You can positively influence your health in so many ways that are more positive than focusing on the number on the scale, such as managing your stress, getting regular movement, and eating in ways that nourish your body and soul.
What’s your food story?
It can also be quite helpful to get better acquainted with your own story about food. Below are a few journaling prompts to explore…
What is your very first memory of food?
What was the food culture like in your family growing up?
What are some of the things you say to yourself about food?
How does all this affect the way you feel about food and your body?
What would an ideal day in your food life look like?
All You Need to Know
Intuitive Eating is a paradigm that can help you heal your relationship with food and your body. Healthy weight has many definitions, and it can help to create your own. Intuitive Eating is grounded in self-care and does not prioritize weight over health. Weight is multifaceted and only one aspect of health. It can help to explore your own food story.
Call To Action
If you’d like help, I’m a healthy weight Coach and can be reached at healwithjill.com or learn more in my free masterclass, Ditch the Scale.
Jill Yeiter, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Jill Yeiter is a Wellness Coach with a Bachelor's in Lifestyle management and two decades of experience helping others improve their health. She has expertise in Workplace Wellness, Pilates, Intuitive Eating, and more. She currently runs an online business, Heal With Jill, and offers a variety of free resources in addition to her paid coaching services.
