it’s my tagline; it’s what i claim i teach. i mentioned it in my recent post about michael pollan and after some inquiries for more, thought i’d share some of my thoughts with you!
many of us who have been through treatment or who work with eating disorders know what intuitive eating is. it’s the oft-written about practice of listening to and honoring the body’s hunger & fullness signs. how do i know when to eat? when you’re hungry! how do i know what to eat? what you crave! when do i stop eating? when you’re sated! so simple, but for many of us (not just those struggling with eating disorders) our hunger signals get lost in a jumble of thoughts, fears, emotions, and food rules. but i can’t eat now, it’s not six o’clock yet! and i can’t eat that sandwich, i’m on a no-bread diet! and if i take one bite i’ll want to eat the whole house!
eventually, through the practice (and, i’ve told you before, it is a practice) of body awareness, intuitive eating becomes a natural, balanced, and ingrained way of relating to your food. yay for happy meals (even if the ones i’m talking about don’t come with a little plastic toy)!
intuitive fitness works much the same way. it’s a misunderstanding (and a common one) to think that to be fit you need to push yourself through grueling workouts. it’s a misunderstanding to believe that being in shape means you run every day or can do 100 push-ups (of course, if you can do these things, and enjoy these things, there’s nothing wrong with that either!).
take a moment and ask yourself this question:
what sort of movement activities feel good to my body?
maybe even make a short list.
it might be that you genuinely love really tough workouts–there’s nothing wrong with that if you do! but if you love to swing dance, or take your dog on walks, or play in the pool with your kids, then let yourself define these activities as exercise too. and do them. when it feels good.
if we truly listen to our bodies, they indeed want to move. and if we are open to allowing them to move in the ways that feel good to us rather than what we think should feel good, we truly free-up a part of ourselves. that permissiveness is key in recovery.
and just like with intuitive eating, when we are really in tune with our bodies, we will find a balanced relationship with movement. because sitting on the couch all day every day does not, in fact, feel good. if we did this, we would suffer from low-energy, joint pain, and other ailments. likewise, constantly moving at a break-neck pace would result in overuse injuries, exhaustion, and so on. but every single body is different. every single body has different needs. your friends might do cross-fit or practice yoga or run marathons, and you might compare yourself to them, thinking you’re not doing something right because you like tennis. well, tennis, of course, is just fine. anything is fine that feels good. that you respond well to.
movement is important for overall health. so is enjoying the movement!
i’ll share this with you as an example. when i was sick, i ran. if you read my book then you already know that. i thought i liked running. at least, i liked the feeling after i ran, the feeling that it was done, and i had done it, and i didn’t have to do it again for 24 hours. but i rarely truly enjoyed it while i was actually doing it! in recovery, i discovered that i do, in fact, love to walk and to hike. i also love love love yoga (you already know this!). so now, i do these two things most of the time. and most days, i do one or the other of them. not because i feel like i have to, but because i feel so good when i do!
but that does not mean that i never run. because sometimes, i feel like it. and then i do it. does that sound overly simplified?
we talk in black and whites a lot. people will ask “do you run?” but, how do you even answer that question? well, i’m not running right now, i’m standing here in heels at this cocktail party talking to you. i have run before. i run sometimes. sometimes i don’t. the question is posed almost as if we define ourselves through these activities. do. you. run?
my answer is, when i feel like it. no limits, no rules, no self-defining moments. a forever changing woman with forever changing needs & desires. self-regulating. what a relief!
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