Here is the best thing I've ever done for my relationship with food

Have something more important to focus on

I want to preface this with:

I thought long and hard about sharing this and I want to be clear this is just my experience and I am certainly not suggesting it’s as simple as this for everyone.

For some it runs deeper than just lacking a bit of purpose and misplaced self worth but for many it’s simply that. And the reason I want to share this is for the people that people could save themselves years of over analysing themselves and staying stuck.

With that said… here is the article:

I’m a woman (if you had not noticed) and a personal trainer (again, likely not news to you). This combination places a lot of pressure (often self imposed) on appearance. Specifically being ‘in shape’.

What starts as a positive pursuit can become obsessive, restrictive, disordered & very negative.

This isn’t unique to women in the fitness industry. It’s pretty universal and unfortunately I would hazard a guess that more women do suffer with body image issues, a poor relationship with food & disordered eating tendencies than don’t.

For this reason I wanted to share the only thing that ever worked for me and it’s probably the exact opposite of how most people would deal with it.

Setting bigger and more important goals.

I realised that the obsession with how I look, how lean I was, the exact foods I ate each day would hold me back form achieving these and THAT is what motivated me to change.

I think one of the issues for many women is they don’t fully want to change. They may feel the discomfort of body image issues and the restriction of a preoccupation with food but it’s not quite enough to motivate change.

The missing piece (at least for me) was a positive reason to change. Not just to avoid discomfort but to achieve something MORE. Without that it simply wasn’t exciting enough.

Humans are driven by purpose. Which means that in order to be motivated to change, especially when the change is hard, you need to find a purpose behind it.

Reducing the amount of mental capacity you use thinking about food and body image allows you to focus that energy, time & brain power elsewhere and enables you to achieve something monumental.

Pause for a second here and think about the amount of time & energy you spend obsessing over your body or diet. Now imagine that was focused towards a more positive pursuit.

Unstoppable.

This realisation was the catalyst for change for me and I hope it will be for you.

Here’s why it works:

When you change your focus you naturally think less about the food/ body image preoccupation.

It’s a lot like getting over an ex. It feels all consuming. It feels like you will never wake up every day and not think about that person. You probably can’t even imagine it. And you likely won’t be able to pin point the day it happens. But slowly over time you stop thinking about them because you start thinking about other things. There will come a point when they barely cross your mind.

The same is true for body image or food issues. It might feel like you’ll never get over it. That it will always be there but it doesn’t have to be that way.

This advice is universal to getting over your ex & your food/ body image issues: Distract yourself with some bigger goals.

.. and I don’t mean physical or performance goals I mean LIFE goals.

Start asking big questions…

What do you want to be remembered for?
What simultaneously scares you & excites you?
When are you your best self?
Start craving approval from your future self - What would they be proud of?

Now realise that to achieve these goals you need to show up at your best and in order to do that you need to manage yourself this includes managing your mind. You are your thoughts in many respects. And often not immediately but slowly & surely reducing the amount of energy you put in to overthinking food choices, scrutinising your body and the insane pressure you put on yourself to look a certain way.
When you have a bigger purpose this starts to become less and less important.

Take home:

Often the best thing you can do for your relationship with food & body image is to set some bigger goals and find a higher purpose.

This leads to a combination of perspective, inspiration & motivation to change.

If you found this useful please pass it on to someone else who might.
Want to work with me to set some big goals & find some purpose?
click here.

As ever, thank you for your time & attention!

ESG x