How To Beat The Diet Trap To Feel Proud & In Control Of Your Body

Have you ever noticed when you feel physically unwell how you experience unpleasant unwelcome feelings? In stark contrast when in great health you are more likely to have a more positive outlook which in turn attracts positive outcomes when you endeavor to achieve a goal.

In my opinion the link between mind and body is undeniable and directly influences the choices we make every day. Our thoughts are directly linked to how we feel living in our bodies and the image we have of our body. More often than not people who are happy with their bodies tend to treat them with care, whereas the opposite is common in individuals who harbor negative self-images.

Carl Jung founder of Jungian Analytical Psychotherapy said, “You can only change that which you accept. We cannot change that which we condemn, only rebel against it.”

Accepting yourself as you are right now is the first step to change. One strategy to achieving self-acceptance is by choosing a Personal Trainer who is skilled at teaching others to develop their ability for deep compassion to see the beauty behind their choices and how they are habitually learned attempts at meeting universal needs. I say universal needs because all humans are connected by the same needs, they are built into us for the purpose of supporting and serving life. From this vantage point, life serving alternatives to meeting needs come to light and the seductive power of the yo-yo diet trap, has no power.

So why are diets so popular I hear you ask?

Firstly it needs to be understood that diets are strategy to meeting a need. The need in this case is to be in control of your life and feel happy and content.

Diet Company’s know that weight loss is an emotional decision therefor are able to manipulate your emotions through clever marketing techniques because they know if they can perpetuate the belief that excess weight is the route of unhappiness then you are going to be desperate enough to try their solution without question. It might seem easy to see now as you sit using your rational mind, disconnected from how it feels to blame your unhappiness on excess weight but if you’re unhappy in your own skin this option all of a sudden becomes very seductive. Their solution lies in believing that you can separate mind from body.

If you’ve come to choose diets as a solution chances are you’ve already made this leap without realising it. Once separated the mind is able to hate the body, blaming it for its suffering, therefor wants to punish it for being ‘bad’. In this space the only option is to correct the body’s ‘badness’ by declaring war on it. Here the mind demands compliance to its will through tactics of starvation and deprivation. Initially these tactics can deliver some impressive results stimulating a rush of euphoria which is interpreted as reward for “sacrifice” and sacrifice holds great esteem in our culture.

It’s a little known fact that it’s the initial euphoria one experiences at the beginning of deprivation diets that keeps people coming back. Where diets fail long term is they fuel internal struggle and suffering. Sooner or later you can no longer suppress your needs for autonomy, triggering internal resistance and rebellion by binging. In that moment you are feeding your suppressed need for freedom and choice so the pleasure is twice as satisfying. It’s when the reality of consequence sets in that things go downhill because here we have invited guilt and shame to the party, which very few dieters manage well.

To truly understand the power that guilt and shame has over us it’s important to get clear on their meaning. Guilt comes from feeling ‘bad’ because of something you did and shame from believing you are ‘bad’ because of something you do.

I like to think of skilled Personal Trainers as coaches that help you utilise your strengths to their full potential while at the same time support you to work through your struggles in the service of developing a caring relationship with the complete you.

If your ready to rid yourself of the seductive appeal of the crash diet once and for all then think about working with a Personal Trainer skilled in helping you find your best self so you can know the joy of accepting the beauty of who you are and all the life serving choices that come with.

Put simply choosing to work with a skilled Personal Trainer is a strategy to meeting your needs for autonomy and regain control of your life so you can feel proud of who you are and where you’re going.

I am going finish by depleting my ‘quote bank’ on this one point because I absolutely love this one from Einstein. “Only when we accept our limitations can we move past them.”