How to navigate weight gain and feel comfortable with body changes.
Let’s start by saying weight gain is normal.
Is it more complex than calories in calories out? Definitely! Is it something to be ashamed of? Absolutely not.
Weight gain can happen as a result of many factors; ageing, hormonal shifts, stress, and also valuing other aspects of life over body weight such as quality family time, career goals and mental health.
Let’s think of an example - you are kicking career goals and really focused on work which means you don’t have as much time to go grocery shopping and meal plan, so you end up getting easy takeaway lunches or what I see most commonly with my clients - you skip lunch altogether, only to find hunger consumes you when you get home and you eat half the house. You compensate this by going to the gym 6 days a week, combined with high stress of wanting to perform at your best + not fuelling your body with the right foods, your body is running in fight or flight and you feel sluggish despite doing “all the right things”.
Social media makes it look easy to have “the perfect” body, but reality is — it’s usually a nightmare to maintain.
We unfortunately live in a world where weight gain is so heavily criticised and riddled with feelings of shame and unworthiness. I thought i’d share a few things that have helped me come to terms with my own weight gain over the years, and a reminder; your weight doesn’t define who you are. My heart goes out to your if your feeling body dissatisfaction and I want you to know you are not alone, and hopefully this can help move you to feeling body neutral if not positive about your new bod.
No-one will be talking about your body weight at your funeral - how big or small you are has no effect on your relationships with loved ones.
Focus on healthy habits > weight loss. Motivation and willpower are useless if your body weight isn’t changing, but healthy habits make a difference independent of your body weight.
Adequate sleep, reducing stress, diverse plant foods and whole foods, sufficient protein, healthy fats and carbohydrates, healthy social relationships, optimising gut health, getting joyful movement in daily/ a few times a week all contribute to your health and longevity — independent of weight changes.
Focus on the basics: are you doing regular poos? This may look different for each person but generally at least once a day is optimal. Are you staying hydrated? This looks like 1.5-2L of water daily. Are you sleeping 7-9hrs a night? Last one may be hard with little ones but if you don’t have kiddos or your kiddos are sleeping through but you are not, it’s time to make an effort to sleep well.
It is not your job to stay small to make others feel comfortable.
When you stop making weight loss your main/ sole focus, you make space for so many varied and beautiful life moments.
95% of diets fail. There is no restrictive diet that is successful beyond 5 years - meaning 95% of folks who lose weight on a diet have put on all weight (and most of the time more) back on within 5 years. This is true even for some people who have had bariatric surgery. This is a TRILLION dollar industry - the diet industry do not care about your health.
Wellness products including supplements, teas, gummies, powders and more cannot replace a holistic approach that takes into consideration your meals, movement, sleep, stress, relationship with food and social relationships.
I’m going to take a moment to elaborate on healthy habits here: these are habits that we KNOW positively impact health regardless of body weight - these are core fundamentals to focus on:
Balanced, plant rich and fibre rich diet with some animal proteins. Plant rich = whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices.
Cultural foods: not all cultures eat the Mediterranean Diet! Althought the Med Diet is great anti-inflammatory, balanced approach, if you are from a certain culture, adding your cultural foods is imperative to having a healthy relationship with food.
Make movement FUN - it doesnt have to look like weight training OR yoga, paddle boarding OR running - you can have a little bit of everything. If you find something you enjoy, it will make it SO much easier to continue regularly. Exercise has so many benefits beyond weight management - longevity, improved bone density, positive effect on mental health and sleep to name a few.
Drinking enough water - stay hydrated folks, especially when in those warm summer months — Take a water bottle out with you and aim for 2L daily.
Don’t drink too much alcohol and don’t smoke - pretty self explanatory!
If you are feeling body dysphoria or think you might be struggling with disordered eating you can check out The Butterfly Foundation for support, call them here, or consider speaking to your GP about a mental health care plan.
Of course, if you’d like to work on your relationship with food and work with me, you can book an appointment here or send me an email. I won’t offer a new diet fad or a strict routine but I will listen, I won’t judge and I can offer solutions beyond just moderation and calories in vs calories out.
Ellie x