7 lies the diet industry tells us:
1⃣You’ll be happy if you lose weight.
2⃣All you need to do to lose weight is diet and exercise.
3⃣ Dieting is healthy.
4⃣ You’ll be more confident if you lose weight.
5⃣ Dieting means you’re “taking care of yourself.”
6⃣ Thin people live longer.
7⃣ You’ll feel better in a bikini if you lose weight for summer. . . I was not healthy, mentally, physically or spiritually when I was doing all the fitness stuff you see on Instagram. I didn’t sleep, my digestion was out of wack, my brain was foggy, and I was so drained not only from exercising and restricting, but also from the inner battle of an eating disorder. . . Look, I know what it’s like to feel pressured by society to lose weight, but just remember that they have their own agenda and YOUR 👏FREEDOM 👏 IS 👏 MORE 👏 IMPORTANT 👏 . . So don’t let anyone manipulate you into sacrificing your health & happiness for weight loss and disguising it as “fitness” or “self-care.” . . FREEDOM is about making decisions for you and your body without being oppressed by diet culture. . . Disclaimer: I’m not saying there’s no healthy way to work on your actual fitness, but please please please be conscientious about WHY and HOW you’re doing it 🙏
When I was in the fitness industry and sharing only #fitspo on IG, I spent soooo much time trying to make myself look “fitter” in photos…poses, angles, butt selfies, sucking in, arching my back, holding my breath, flexing, editing shadows, and the list goes on.
The funny thing is, I was friends with many fitness competitors and models and I’d WATCH them photoshop their pics, but when I’d see the same EDITED photo on my feed I’d still compare my body to theirs and feel unworthy (knowing full well that it was photoshopped)!!
We admire people who look a certain way on their Instagram photos, but half (most) of the time that’s not even reality.
I mentioned before how I only see one body type doing things like traveling and yoga as if “Insta-worthy” activities are only reserved for one size 😒 Especially on the explore page, it drives me crazy! 😤
In a world where everything has to be manipulated to fit society’s beauty ideals I think we all could benefit from more natural-ness, more #selflove, and more diversity 💕
And how much better would life be if we just embraced our bodies and showed up as our REAL selves and empowered others to do the same??? 🙌
Have you ever compared yourself to someone online? I’d love to hear your experience if you can relate ♥️
So I stumbled upon one of my old blog posts from back when I was trying to be a health blogger and I wrote: “Similar to beauty, a perfect meal is in the eye of the beEATER.” I actually LOL’ed 🤣 Even my past, health-blogger self was hinting at the #antidiet lifestyle! 😉
I felt a moment of diet mentality when this thought slipped into my head: “omg I need to watch what I eat so I can slim down a bit before Bali.” 😳 Immediately I felt anxious, stressed and most importantly, unworthy. Although I snapped out of it really fast, I learned something in that moment 👉 thinking about restricting has the same effects as actually restricting. Your brain can snap into feast or famine mode from just the thought that there might not be enough food. If you ever struggle with binge eating, bulimia, and/or chronic dieting, keep this in mind and notice what triggers you to restrict. Something I like to do is ask myself questions like… Why do I feel the need to be smaller? What happened last time I restricted? Will I be truly happy and fulfilled if I go back to dieting?
I always told myself that when I achieved X weight, I’d finally be happy & free. . . So then after endless dieting, exercising, and restricting in every way, I finally weighed X. . . And guess what? I still didn’t feel happy nor free. . . In fact, I felt worse than before. Why? . . Because when you look outside yourself for happiness and freedom, it’s NEVER enough. You never feel worthy enough or pretty enough or accomplished enough. . . When I finally said ENOUGH, when I decided that I AM enough, I finally felt happy & free. . . I went from seeking validation outside to developing my worth from within; from chasing an unrealistic beauty ideal to chasing my dreams; from hoping others would love me to loving myself 💕 . . From surviving to THRIVING 🤗 . . Have you ever worked so hard to achieve something only to find yourself feeling empty at the end? I’d love to hear your experience ♥