Weight – Here’s the truth…
If you’re worried about your weight, you are NOT living your hopes and dreams. Your energy is being leached out by the internal message: “I’m not enough,” “There’s something wrong with me,” or “How do I fix myself.” If you are carrying extra weight on your body, you may be also sending yourself negative internal messages almost constantly that’s keeping you trapped and away from more important health issues.
Weight is a byproduct of imbalance in your body. It’s that simple. It’s not what you eat or how much you exercise. It is a deeper issue in your health that is keeping you from losing that stubborn weight. Your body is trying to protect itself and hold onto fat and give you the message for more calories.
Every day, sometimes all day, I see women who are on a diet, cleansing, doing Paleo or killing themselves at the gym. They are obsessed. When I begin to talk about how hormones can affect their weight, including adrenal fatigue, thyroid issues or how the flow of their periods can tell them about their health, I’m often met with a sigh. It seems almost easier to worry about having a kale salad instead of fixing their leaky gut. I TOTALLY GET IT. I’ve lived that way for almost 50 years. But now I know the truth about weight gain.
Ladies, if you are moderately stressed, you are in flight or fight. Even if it’s mild and consistent stress, you are in a Sympathetic (stressed) state. You will not digest properly because your body thinks it’s under attack. You will be bloated, you will be constipated, you will be unhappy. You will keep the weight.
If you are not sleeping and your body does not go into repair mode…you will not lose weight. You must allow the body to go into a PARA-SYMPATHETIC state in order to have the body cleanse all organs at night (going through the Circadian Cleansing Cycle). This is a key component of weight loss. The body must perceive that everything is okay and that you can rest deeply.
If you are focusing on the perfection of your food intake, it’s like worrying about putting premium gas into a car with the engine light on. You must address your lifestyle and health issues if you want to lose weight. You must look at your LIFESTYLE – how you are eating, spending your time, love relationships, family, etc. and take the focus off the perfection of what you put in your mouth.
Where to start…?
There are many ways to review the cadence of your life, but where I like to start is with my morning routine. If things have gotten off track and life begins to spin wildly, I have to come back to center by looking at how I construct my days.
How you start your day is important. How do you want the beginning of your day to look like? What if it’s having your morning beverage and sitting on the couch or in bed and listening to positive affirmations on You Tube or listening to meditation music, calming your body before things take off.
Eat whatever makes you feel good. Protein, carbs…it doesn’t matter. If you’re putting it into a calm body, it will digest just fine. Before leaving your house, maybe writing in a journal for 10 minutes about your thoughts or prayers. Put them on paper or in your computer and take some deep breaths to bring your cortisol down. Take a different route to work to keep your brain interested and maybe have a small ritual when you get to work. I say a prayer and ask for guidance and put essential oils on my heart. Because I have a tendency to have anxiety and worry, consistency in a daily routine keeps my nervous system calm and I’m not rushing into my day. Try your version of a new, calmer morning routine for a week and I guarantee, you’ll be less bloated and less stressed by the weekend.
Also, look at the end of your day rituals before going to bed, like asking for guidance in your dreams from the universe, prayer, letting go and taking some deep breaths. Anything to tell the body that you’re in charge and that stress will not win.
Other considerations when it comes to releasing weight:
Get sunshine. Vitamin D is important to your immune function and we cannot be well without it in our body. So, leave your office with its fake lights and fake air and go outside for break. This will also start regulating your hormones so you get your period at the exact same time every month.
Eat Consistently. If you are hungry at night, you are not eating enough during the day or the body is so stressed, it’s telling you to eat calories. It’s important to get into balance so you eat the same time everyday. This is KEY to weight loss! Ground Hog Day eating!
Cleansing. You know Colonics get the gunk out so you can get back on track. Do a series of 3 every once in a while to detox the Liver. We, as a culture, now know how important this is and how unnatural we are living. Help it get what it needs. One a week for 3 weeks while you get the rest of your health in order is a healthy goal.
Napping. Rest during the day and allow the body to relax into chill mode. It’s a beautiful thing to just lie down after work at home and do nothing – even if it’s just 20 minutes!
If you’re in a period of stress in your life, do less, not more. Step back from intense exercise and focus on bringing down your nervous system. This will help you in the long run so you don’t put on more weight.
On a personal note, I have struggled with weight my whole life, as many of us women have and I’ve realized how much energy and self-love it has cost me over the years. This past year I finally got my health together and made some changes. I noticed that whenever I was on vacation, I could eat whatever I wanted – I never held back and I would lose weight every time. I understood that it wasn’t what I was eating, but how I was eating – without stress!
After fixing a few hormonal (Thyroid issues) I was having, I decided to do an experiment and eat without stress in my daily life. Now, every night, my guy and I make a lovely meal and sit together by candlelight without music or TV. After a year, I’ve maintained my ideal weight without trying, without exercising, without any conversation about carbs or protein. Just finding rhythm in my life has completely taken the thought of weight out of my life and I can’t believe how free I am of that burden and how wrong I had made myself.
So, look at your life, how are you feeling overall? Try and create more time to relax and tell the body it’s okay. If you have health issues, clear them up and make sure sunshine, love, joy and happiness are your focus and not your weight. Once you let it go, you will be free to be okay with who you are.