Eating Rules… a Problem?

25. April 2009 by Patricia.

I don’t recommend having rules around eating for weight management.

Let’s say that you want to fit into that great dress you bought for a wedding that is a teeny bit too tight right now. You cut back to eating at most just 1200 calories per day to lose weight. You are doing great for a few days keeping to your 1200 calorie rule.  On day four, you and your family go on a long hike and you find that by early evening you have exhausted your 1200 calorie intake and feel extremely hungry. Three scenarios might occur:

1.       You scold yourself and refuse to eat even one calorie over your limit. You say to yourself, “I am on a diet!” and you go to bed ravenously hungry.

2.       You “give in” to your hunger and eat far more than your 1200 calorie limit. Next you feel like a failure and say, “I trashed my diet today. May as well eat up. I can always start dieting again tomorrow.”

3.       Given your long hike, you realize that 1200 calories simply wasn’t enough food to meet your energy needs and increased activity. You choose healthy foods and eat till you are satisfied but not full.

Which scenario have you experienced?

Imposing “mind” rules on your body is counterproductive because it sends the wrong message: We cannot make friends with our body and learn how much and when to feed it, when we don’t listen to the signals it sends us. 

For me, the only way to develop a positive relationship with food and my body is to listen to the signals it sends and not try to override those signals with rigid prescriptions.

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