Can Eating Intuitively Lead to Weight Gain?

“Can Eating Intuitively lead to weight gain?” Was a question I received from one of our students after completing the Healthy Weight Loss and Eating Intuitively Certificate.

The short answer is “yes”… but read on to discover how to coach your clients (or yourself) on how not to gain weight.

Let’s start with weight management basics that you will need to become familiar with - portion sizes and calories. Just because something is a healthy whole food does not mean it is calorie free. A tidy example of this is concept is nuts/nut butters. They are a whole food; contain protein, fat, and fiber and lots of vitamins and minerals that your BodyMind need. They are also high in calories. A ¼ cup (think small handful) of nuts contains between 180-220 calories. Familiarizing yourself with appropriate portion sizes and calories of the foods you eat is part of a successful weight management lifestyle.

What else is important? Eating Intuitively is not just about choosing whole real foods. As you will learn in our unique holistic courses developing awareness of thought patterns that keep your or your client stuck in a less than healthy lifestyle is KEY for behavior change.

As we emphasize in all of our courses you must discover the whole person. What else is possibly sabotaging one’s weight loss/maintenance goals? Are you able to recognize and respect your bodies signals for hunger and satiety? What are your sleep patterns like? What is your stress level? Do you have an exercise routine?

Lack of sleep quality and quantity does physiologically increase your appetite through the dysregulation of 2 key appetite regulating hormones: ghrelin and leptin.

Chronic stress means chronically high levels of the hormone cortisol in your body which disrupts your bodies ability to regulate blood sugar levels – increasing cravings for fat, sugar, and salt. Additionally, when one is chronically stressed one’s ability to make choices grounded in self-care and self-compassion is drastically decreased.

Developing an exercise routine is also important. Find out how you like to move your body and commit to do it- start small and set achievable goals. Moving in a way that you enjoy will boost your self-esteem and confidence; allow you to blow off some stress; AND it burns calories AND builds muscle. Muscle is metabolically active 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

We are all multi-faceted human beings. We should be treated as such. When we become aware of our beautiful complex selves and are enabled to act from a place of holistic self-awareness… wonderful life changes will happen.

PEACE xoxo Jennifer