How to work with body weight

Do you have any best guesses as to what impacts body weight? Insulin sensitivity? Genes? Something else? I find that for many women who want to increase their sense of confidence around eating, one very affirming avenue is through strengthening their understanding of what really impacts body weight. This is a different kind of education you don’t often find in the mainstream fitness and nutrition scene. Can you guess what popular eating strategy is still widely accepted as the final say on body weight? “Eat less than you expend each day.” This still has women feeling like they need to exercise more and track how much they’re eating in a day. Calories in/Calories out is a small sliver within a whole slew of variables that impact body weight. I’m even hesitant to give it that much credit. For many, it just doesn’t work. For others it seems to work… and then it doesn’t. And yet for another subset, eating less and moving more actually does work and it lasts. How do we account for these variations? First, by acknowledging that we cannot be reduced to a mere math equation. And second, by acknowledging that we are individuals and can’t be lumped into a single assumption about weight. I am trained to open to and work with as many variables working through women as possible. Don’t we deserve that much? In an effort to open your mind to possibility, here’s a short list to whet your whistle: Food quality, history of trauma, the safety of being in a certain body size, erratic eating habits, meal timing, chronic dieting, sense of freedom to say the truth, congested pathways of elimination, sense of safety in the world, chronic stressors, the state in which you eat your food, hormones, hydration, macronutrient balance, your attitude towards eating, genetics, your community/family/friends, the natural body itself…. And more… Once my clients and I have a deeper context for their eating and weight concerns both as individuals and as part of a whole system we can get some real work done! I hope you’ve found this helpful. Until next time, Laura Ready to do some beautiful work this season? Contact me here. If you liked this post, you may like: A Full Spectrum Approach to Weight