Everyone has days when they feel unhappy when they look in the mirror. It’s important to remember that bad body image days like these are normal and temporary, as difficult as it may feel at the moment. Through it all, make sure that you never equate your weight with your health.
You are allowed to want to change aspects of your body. That is, as long as you do so in a way that supports good, healthy lifestyle habits instead of harming your body or hating yourself until you reach your goal weight.
Not changing your body, or seeing slower changes, might affect your current state of mind, but making these mistakes will mess up your hormones, metabolism, energy, and health. These mistakes will eventually bring you back to square one due to the yo-yoing it causes.
Here are the biggest nutrition mistakes I’ve seen:
Avoiding your favorite foods
You may think you’re doing your body good by cutting out certain foods that are deemed bad by diet culture, like carbs and processed foods. But, ask yourself, “Could I live without eating those foods ever again?”
In fact, those restrictions might bring temporary results, but those will fade the moment those restricted foods are added back in. That rule does not in any way help you develop a better relationship with those foods or feel in control. The purpose is not to add stress to your body or invest time and effort for short-term results.
Cutting out foods will eventually lead to massive cravings, binging, and hiding when you eat— all signs of an unhealthy relationship with food.
Instead of avoiding them, try understanding your attachment to the foods you think are “bad” and start incorporating them into your meals and snacks to create balance.
Skipping meals or “fasting”
The most trendy way to fool yourself into eating fewer calories or doing a pretend-cleanse.
You might have found yourself drinking water to suppress hunger or ignoring hunger cues deliberately in order to eat less. But bodies cannot be satisfied or fooled by such practices. In fact, when hunger cues signal that it’s time to eat, it is because organs, tissues, and cells need fuel. Replacing food with water and coffee won’t nourish the body adequately, and it may backfire in the form of cravings or drastic energy loss later in the day.
Skipping meals will affect metabolism and will cause metabolic adaptation over time. Not only will it lead to stagnation or yo-yo in your weight, but it may also hinder or worsen digestion and affect your hormones.
Even though it may lead to weight loss initially, bodies adapt to eating only in condensed windows of time and it will eventually backfire. It is not a healthy or sustainable way to regulate weight.
Instead, make sure you nourish your body daily, starting with a nourishing and balanced breakfast. And if you’re always on the go, this is a great way to get in a healthy dose of nourishment.
Limiting your calorie intake
Of course, we all require a minimum amount of calories to function, otherwise known as the basal metabolism. The basal metabolism is the number of calories bodies need at rest to survive, for basic organ and cell functions.
Not only is that specific extremely difficult to determine, but it also is affected by many factors, including stress, hormones, energy levels, mental functions, and recovery needs. In addition to those basic needs, our bodies have additional mental and physical needs, which leads to additional needs that vary on a daily basis.
The calorie-in calorie-out system is over-simplified and extremely inaccurate as it ignores and diminishes crucial factors. The initial “need” to control calories comes from the feeling of lack of control around food.
But following rules and believing arbitrary numbers will not help you stabilize your hunger and satiety cues, nor will it help mold healthy eating patterns. Most of my clients deal with under-eating, not over-eating.
Instead of limiting caloric intake, tune into your hunger and satiety cues, and maintain a consistent structure of three meals with two to three snacks per day.
Using calorie trackers
Using calorie trackers indirectly leads to ignoring hunger and satiety cues. These tools trick you into feeling in control when it does not, in fact, help in shaping or adjusting eating habits or behaviors. Your body knows you better than any tracker ever will.
Remember, we aren’t robots.
Instead, work on understanding and recognizing your hunger and satiety cues to build a solid foundation for your metabolism and eating habits.
Choosing low-calorie options
Foods are often replaced with low-calorie options as a “healthy substitute” when in reality, they leave bodies hungrier (especially in the evening) and more susceptible to cravings.
Instead of finding alternative options for the foods you love, eat a combination of protein, fiber, and healthy fats. This will keep you feeling full and give your body the nourishment it needs.
Over-exercising to burn off calories
Over-exercising can actually be more damaging than being sedentary. Of course, movement is essential for long-term health, but it does require proper recovery.
Working out adds physical stress to the body – positive in proper duration and intensity, and with adequate rest. In the case of excess physical fatigue and tissue damage and lack of rest and nourishment, the body adapts. This adaptation can lead to a decrease in muscle mass, lower-quality sleep, and slower metabolism.
So instead of slamming your body into copious amounts of exercise, incorporate consistent and realistic schedules for movement. Be sure to include rest days too!
Over-controlling weekdays, cheat day weekends
Cheat days are essentially planned binges that are a direct consequence of over-restriction in the long run. When indulging in “restricted” foods is only allowed during weekends, you eat as much as possible during that time frame.
This creates an “all-or-nothing” mindset instead of listening to the body’s wants and needs because you’re anticipating restriction. It also promotes a reward-like attachment to food: the cheat days become rewards for “behaved” weekdays, and Mondays become punishments for “indulging” weekends.
Also, weekends make up almost one-third of the week. By adhering to a controlled week and cheat weekend eating pattern, you’re really only changing your lifestyle habits 70% of the time. This won’t help you build sustainable, healthy eating habits long-term.
Instead, give yourself permission to enjoy all foods and have balanced and consistent eating patterns.
Intuitive eating can help
Although these tips sound easy enough to implement, they will only make you depend on food rules, blur your body cues, and make your relationship with food toxic. It can be overwhelming to step away from trendy diets fads, change your mindset and transform your relationship with food. Intuitive eating is the best and only approach that will help you achieve real and sustainable health while respecting your body and bettering your eating patterns.
With the right intuitive eating tools and support, the transition from restriction to a healthy and stable relationship with food is easy. And not only that, but you’ll learn more about your body and how to maintain your health instead of relying on quick fixes or unstable diets.
If you’re ready to start eating intuitively, not with restrictions, shoot me an email or book a call!