The #1 Worry Women Have When Starting With Intuitive Eating

Starting something new is never easy, especially when it has to do with changing our behaviors and habits. This is because first of all, we humans, don't like change. We love our routines and everything that's familiar. That's completely natural.

On top of that, it's hard for us to change from one moment to the next. But often we want to change our behaviors and habits that we've been doing for years and years. So of course, it's scary.

As you've found this blog post, I assume that you're thinking about eating intuitively.

Maybe you're tired after trying diet after diet only to never be able to succeed or you just lost touch with your body's natural cues and your intuition.

No matter what, you're in the right place. Today you'll learn more about one of the biggest, if not THE BIGGEST, worry women tend to have at the beginning of their journey to food freedom.

So what is that worry? It's being scared to gain weight.

The reason why women fear weight gain when starting with intuitive eating

Intuitive eating is about allowing all foods in. It's about listening to your body's natural cues meaning you'll eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full and you'll eat whatever you feel like eating.

That is exactly why many women are so scared to gain weight. I used to be the same. After all, true diet culture, we've learned that certain foods are bad, that we're only worthy when we're skinny, etc.

So let me tell you, those are all lies. Diet companies make us believe certain things so that they can make money. They tell us we have to go on certain diets, restrict ourselves because only then we'll be worthy.

For years I used to believe that too, that I'm only enough and happy once I'm skinny. That is the exact reason why so many women hesitate to start with intuitive eating.

We want to dive into intuitive eating because we're tired of chronic dieting.

It's normal to be scared to end up right back where you were, feeling unhappy, miserable, unhealthy, obsessed with food, and unworthy.

We were let to believe that we have to eat a certain way, move a certain way but have you ever asked yourself what you actually want?

Through intuitive eating, we learn to reconnect to ourselves and our bodies. We learn to honor its needs because it's only our body who can tell us what is best for it. Diet companies don't know your body, they don't know your needs.

So yeah, I get it! It's weird that after so many years of restriction you're suddenly allowed to eat everything you want.

You might be scared to only eat all the cookies, chocolate, and pizzas which in the end will lead to weight gain.

Before diving deeper into what happens with your weight when starting to eat intuitively, I want to add that yes, at the beginning you might eat more "unhealthy" foods.

BUT as intuitive eating is all about honoring what makes your body feel good, you'll MOST PROBABLY end up feeling exhausted, sluggish, and drained if you'd solely eat junk food all the time.

Hence, you'll end up choosing healthier alternatives.

What happens with your weight when you start to eat intuitively

When you stop to restrict and deprive yourself, there a number of things that may happen that can contribute to weight gain:

1. You may overeat certain foods beyond your fullness level.

That is COMPLETELY NORMAL.

Why? You haven't allowed yourself to eat those foods for years probably, your brain has been experiencing constant scarcity. So it's only natural for your brain to trigger you to overeat because it doesn't know when it will get this food again. Your intense cravings for those foods will normalize themselves after a while as long as you don't go back to restricting yourself.

2. Your metabolism is not functioning correctly.

What does that mean? Well, dieting leads to a lower metabolic rate.

It messes up with your metabolism. Through diets, your body most often isn't getting enough nutrients, let alone enough calories to function at its best. Plus, when you restrict yourself, your body is experiencing it as a proper famine.

It doesn't know you're deliberately underfeeding it. All it does in those moments is focusing on keeping you alive.

That's also the exact reason why so many regain the weight that we've initially lost through restriction.

3. You start enjoying food again!!

You no longer have to listen to meal plans, count calories, and follow any rules that are telling you what to eat and what not to eat.

You start choosing foods based on what you're craving and what you truly want to eat in those moments. So yes, this might lead to weight gain because you may be eating more than usual because you're finally savoring foods again that have been off-limits for too long.

What Actually Matters

We women, we don't like to hear that we may gain weight. But here's the thing, you might gain weight as it's your body's way to recover from all the restrictions. Your body just wants to be healthier and finally function properly again.

I get it, it's hard to face the truth. It's hard to accept that you might gain weight.

BUT ask yourself, would you rather be at a slightly higher weight and happy, confident, and fulfilled?

Or, would you want to be at a lower weight, feeling drained, unworthy, and struggling every day to keep yourself there?

Think about all the positive changes that could happen after making peace with food and getting rid of diets:

• You'll have much more energy because your body gets enough fuel.
• You'll have a lot more time to do the things you enjoy doing.
• You'll so much happier because you'll finally find it from within
• You'll be more social again.
• Simply, you'll be SO MUCH HAPPIER.

Want to break free from emotional eating but don't want to go on this journey alone? Book your FREE 30-min Manifesting Food Freedom Strategy Session with me right here. Or download the free pdf guide that gives you the step-by-step roadmap to heal from emotional eating.