Q: “I’m trying to work calories up but I don’t feel hungry. I know I need to but I am petrified to gain weight because I only feel
noticed when I’m skinny.”
Note what you said here: you fear weight gain because you only FEEL NOTICED when you’re a certain size.
The “health” I was constantly congratulated for:
-weight loss
-thinness
-self control / dieting
-exercising for calories burnt
-a lower number on the scale
-a lower number on my pants
-*looking* healthy
The health I rarely was congratulated for:
-weight gain
-acknowledging disordered eating
-quitting dieting
-exercising for body and mental health
-ditching the scale
-going up in size
-*being* healthy
External validation is like a drug. When you’re told how great you’re doing, how “healthy” you are, it feels like a high.
Internal validation is like a daily vitamin. When you tell yourself it’s ok, that your health is not defined by what you thought it was, & it feels like comfort.
Let that sink in.
Eating more food can be uncomfortable, mentally & physically. It’s a mind fxck. Especially if you struggle with digestive issues like IBD, IBS, Celiac, etc.
Especially when we’re told to eat less & do more.
The majority of my clients fall into this category. We need to reverse diet & heal before we even think about a cut.
It may take being strategic about the types of food you choose to aid in digestion, nourishment, & get those calories up so you can go on being a bada$$.
Things we work on if this is the case:
⁃ choosing lower volume foods to help get calories in if you have problems with feeling too full like adding fat butter/tallow/or bacon fat
⁃ choosing higher fat meat
⁃ choosing softer meat like seafood, ground meat, & shredded meat vs steaks & roasts
⁃ eating smaller more frequent meals, not fasting, being more active
⁃ protein shakes
Now repeat after me, WELL-FED HUMANS CHANGE THE WORLD!
