Shifting your focus to health, not fat loss …

For many women who are fed up of the noise around fat loss, or who struggle with it, this can be a super helpful shift in perspective that actually results in the outcome that they were hoping for when pursuing a diet, without the negative effect on their body image that can come from measuring, weighing and checking their bodies for regularly.

For women I work with, the most long-lasting shifts lifestyle shifts come for them when they transition from a ‘diet’ to a ‘health’ mentality. When they stop the focus being solely on what they look like, and move to focusing on how they feel mentally and physically, not to mention socially, emotionally and spiritually, we see deep rooted change that lasts.

So, what does this actually mean in practice?

First off, we need to stop seeing the body and mind as separate and instead recognise that they are inescapably, permanently and indescribably linked. This can mean a million things to a million different people.

It can mean letting go of control and perfection, recognising that neither can exist as no situation will ever be perfect and your body and physique isn’t meant to be controlled or micro managed. Your body, it’s composition and how it looks will fluctuate based on your current circumstances. If you’re post partum, grieving, burnt out, your body will reflect that. It’s not supposed to look a particular way all the time. It will change.

It also means that you have to learn to stop talking to yourself like you don’t matter. Your body hears what you say and will respond accordingly. If you hate on yourself, you’re not going to be successful in treating your body with respect and kindness.

Beginning to view yourself with respect can take time and practice. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it certainly won’t happen just because you want it to. Developing self respect takes intentional action, daily.

By focusing on health as one of our core values we can make these intentional daily actions without force. Health helps us to draw in on the benefits of how we feel now, how we’ll feel tonight and tomorrow, plus how our actions will benefit our future self.

Another sign of a healthful life would be balance, or the balancing of all the factors involved in your life- family, work, social, exercise, rest, spirituality included. I can’t say that balance is permanent or there’s ever a perfect end place on this one… but it’s more to do with having the psychological flexibility to acknowledge that this quest for equilibrium is going to be constant, it’s going to change often and it’s never ever fixed.

On a personal level, I have struggled with balanced a lot historically and have recently acknowledged that it’s a part of me that will always need work. Take this weekend for instance, I realised I have not been resting enough so need to swing my pendulum more in that direction and I’m taking an extra rest day from training today. Balance needs work, it doesn’t happen automatically. Many of the women I work with struggle with work life balance and I help them carve out a more balanced approach to this by helping them incorporate and carve out time for them.

Another facet of balance can be seen in nutrition. Adopting a more ‘healthy eating’ style approach to what you eat is more sustainable and maintainable than doing a juice cleanse, removing food groups or following the latest fad online. It’s not sexy, and actually sounds so boring as everyone is searching for the next quick fix when it comes to what we eat. But, if we take a deep breath and a step back, we all know is good for us, broadly. Of course, some of us need a bit more guidance or have become confused by all the noise surrounding what is good/bad for us. But that’s fine. I mean, so many of us are eating so differently from the way that would help us feel good, it’s perhaps helpful to have reminders on this one. So, by healthy eating I’m talking vegetables, whole foods, reducing ultra processed foods, and including less nutrient dense foods (commonly known as ‘treats’) in moderation. No one likes the concept of moderation anymore because I think it’s probably just a bit too hard. Balance is harder for most if us than strict rules and rigidness. But it’s actually maintainable, which is the difference.

When it comes back to health, we all know movement is good for us. But if we we think we have to move our bodies for our 'diets’ to work then we can encounter psychological resistance in actually getting moving. Diet culture has indoctrinated so many of us with the idea that we must exercise to ‘earn’ or ‘burn’ food, and a shift to health and moving for our mental and physical health is going to mean that an individual becomes more intrinsically motivated. Looking for endorphins to help us get a natural high is a much longer lasting and better quality motivation than simply moving to earn/ burn food.

Moving more for health, and making more healthful nutrition decisions will have an impact on your body composition, and will help your body composition to settle at a level that reflects your current situation and mindset. So, whilst many of my client don’t pursue intentional fat loss, we usually we see a significant change in body composition that includes fat loss.

Developing a more ‘healthful’ approach to life extends far beyond what you eat, and I encourage clients to not see their health and fitness in isolation to their life but as a part of it that enhances all the other areas.

So, this could mean a focus on sleep. Recognising that no-one, not even you, can function at their best after 3 hours of scrolling whilst binge watching Netflix before bed. It might mean developing a bit of a wind down routine, or heading upstairs 15 minutes earlier, or laying your workout clothes out before bed so you get out for a walk or do some exercise when you wake up. Getting enough sleep has a huge impact on our cognitive function, and our appetite regulation, so if you’re looking to reduce your hunger levels or break through some brain fog, this health focused action could be one for you.

Ultimately, ‘Healthy’ isn’t an end point or a destination, it’s a decision we make daily. Health looks different for everyone, which is why I like to use the term ‘healthful’ when it comes to decisions and intentional actions my clients take. Taking a ‘towards health’ approach means considering what steps ‘towards’ a more healthful life you could make. For example, steps towards more wholefoods and colour in what you eat, towards more human connection, towards more respect, towards calm, towards balance, towards self compassion, more life, more joy and more feeling.

If you’re interested in finding out more about living a more intentionally healthful life through my 1-1 Coaching, I’d love to hear from you. You can drop me an email at beth@movemehappy.me or DM me on Instagram to chat more.