By Christie Nix, FitNix
I’ve been there.
I was out to eat with a friend trying to be social and fun, but I was really worried about what I would order. Could I resist the temptations? I was lusting after the dessert!
After a decent meal, I gave in and ordered the over abundant chocolate cake covered with ice cream and fudge. I took a quick look around to see if anyone else I knew was there. Who would see me eating such things? My friend could sense my emotions; she teased me and threatened to take a picture to post on social media. She thought it would be funny if my trainer found out.
What I didn’t know is that I was struggling with disordered eating.
Disordered eating is a disturbed and unhealthy eating pattern that can include restrictive dieting, compulsive eating or skipping meals.
At the time I was a new Figure Competitor. I had learned all about clean eating, carb manipulation, and extreme dieting for long periods of time. There were no talks about reverse dieting. There were no talks about how I would not stay stage lean forever even after all the months of work. There was no conversation about what balance could look like when it came to food choices.
I knew about the most common eating disorders, and knew I didn’t suffer from those. What I didn’t know about was Orthorexia, an obsession with foods that one considers healthy. I was obsessed with eating clean, high protein, low carb, and calorie conscious all the time!! That made going out to eat a struggle, birthday parties a struggle, date night and family times….A STRUGGLE!!
It’s a sad place to be …Not because I was focused on my training goals or even that I wanted to compete, or that eating healthy is bad. It was sad that I didn’t see then that the extreme limitations were not mentally healthy or physically possible. I needed to find balance.
I share this because my advice in this blog is coming from a place of experience. I’ve had to find this balance through another pregnancy, another competition prep, and my everyday fitness life.
How to Win Your Battle With Food
How do you find that balance between eating for your goals and eating without food obsessions?
How do you find balance between eating for an everyday fit while still making progress on your weight loss or muscle building journey?
It’s not a specific diet, I’ll tell ya that.
And it doesn’t have to include counting, measuring, or restricting.
It’s true what they say, “Diets don’t work.” Research has shown that at least one-third to two-thirds of people on diets regain more weight than they lost within four to five years, often times more.
Why?
Mindset!!
Over the years, I’ve had to train my mindset as much as my body.
I stopped dieting. I threw my “good food” vs. “bad food” mentality out the window. I embraced the beauty of life and the grandness that food can bring to that.
But, I’m also committed to my goals. I still compete in fitness competitions as a Figure Competitor, I still want to feel amazing in a swimsuit, and I still want to fit into my clothes.
I stopped putting certain foods off limits, and I also embrace how much better I feel when I eat well.
It’s a balance. And it works!!
When you get to a place of eating for your goals without feeling restricted, you remove the constant stress that comes with dieting.
I no longer binge because nothing is off limits. I no longer stress because I don’t see certain foods as bad. And I keep my everyday fit from a desire to fuel my body with mostly nutritious choices, with adjustments needed as my training goals change.
My everyday fit included an approach to my diet that was a lifestyle, not a limitation.
If you want to learn how to eat for life, in a way that creates progress without the need for perfection or extremes, the Busy Mom Gets Fit Beginner & Next Step Plans include a “diet” (not really a diet, but a lesson in how to eat well with balance) is just for you.
The Busy Mom Gets Fit team’s years of trial and error, successes and wins, and with mindset shifts included…teach you how to eat for life, while enjoying life!!
