Maybe you don't need to lose weight? 🧐

This might not apply to you, but the majority of people who follow me are women, and the majority of those are constantly trying to lose weight.

Of course, losing weight can be good for your health, but not all the time. 

Because a lot of us grew up drowned in diet culture, we feel like, if we are not in a phase of losing some body fat, then we are not making progress with our lives.

We think that we have to diet on Monday, especially if we had fun at the weekend.

We couldn't possibly have full fat milk in our coffee.

Toast and real butter for breakfast? Why does that feel wrong?

If we didn't hit 10,000 steps, why did we get out of bed?

They are just some thoughts and behaviours that I see with a lot of women.

We place our self-worth in whether we are hitting our goals, or at least trying.

But what would your life look like if you didn't plan your days around eating as little as possible while moving as much as possible?

Would you gain more space to think, to create, to be productive in other ways?

Do you actually *need* to lose weight?

What you probably need to do is work with your body, and not against it.

If you are a small person, you will struggle to lose body fat, because you just need less calories to move around than bigger people (science brah).

This is because your body likes to keep you at a healthy body fat.

I see so many women who are getting frustrated that their progress has stalled and they realise that they will have to reduce their calories further if they want to drop more body fat.

But instead of advising that, I like to ask them why they want to lose more body fat? Would they not work with their body and aim to fuel and nourish it at that size?

I don't think anyone is ever 100% happy with their body (but that is a goal to work towards!) so there will probably not be a point on your fat loss journey that you think "ok done!".

I got as lean as I physically could for a bikini competition and it helped me realise that there is no perfect size to aim for.

When you start working with your body (and environment) and then dieting when it is suitable, not adding more stress to your day - you will get long term results that you are happy with.

If you have stressful things going on in your life or your environment, dieting is not always a good idea.

As with everything, it's about taking a bigger perspective and realising what is important and when.

You don't have to diet all the time. Or ever.

Make informed, mindful decisions.

If you need help with your mindset around this, you can sign up to The Furnace today by clicking here.

Thanks for reading,

Siobhan "Work with your body, not against it" O'Hagan