As a diet survivor, you’ve learned that attuned eating is the antidote to dieting. But how attuned are you when it comes to moving your body? Do you exercise too much, not enough, or just the right amount for your body and your lifestyle?
If you’re like most diet survivors, at some point exercise was part of the diet mentality for you: a way to burn up calories and lose weight. Exercise may have felt like punishment for eating “bad” foods or for not having the right body size. When you worked out you felt like you were in control, and when you stopped, you probably felt guilty.
The key to attuned exercising is to [private_membership circle]unhook physical activity from weight loss, a daunting task for many! Instead, check in with your body and notice what it has to teach you. Does your body want to move more? Less? Focus on what – if anything – makes exercise caretaking and/or empowering for you. Is it flexibility? Endurance? Strength?
Some people find there’s joy in moving their body, while for others exercise is a way to take care of their health and well-being. In either case, try to make the best match(es) in choosing what you’ll do. Are you a team sports kind of person? Do you like the mindfulness that comes with yoga? Do the dances in a high energy Zumba class invigorate you? Does a walk or bike ride that gets you in touch with nature do the trick? Do you find that the swimming pool beckons? Or does walking on a treadmill – perhaps with music for your IPod or a TV show – give you an efficient way to get your body the movement it craves?
If it turns out that no kind of exercise gives you pleasure, does it feel worth it because of how your body feels afterwards? (Sort of like not wanting to do the laundry, but being really glad to have clean clothes!)
We encourage you to experiment with tuning into your body and trying out different ways to move it. Notice how you feel before, during, and after. And it’s not a race – go at a pace that honors your body’s needs. There’s no doubt that exercise does support physical and emotional health – and that’s true regardless of whether any weight is lost as a side effect of physical activity.
______________________________
Eat well! Live well! Be well! Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel, are co-authors of The Diet Survivor’s Handbook, Beyond a Shadow of a Diet www.dietsurvivors.com Chicago Center for Overcoming Overeating: 847.267.1200
[/private_membership circle]
