How I Lost Weight Practicing Food Freedom

(Need to catch up or not sure what this whole Food Freedom concept is about? Click here for all of my previous posts!)

If there’s anything I love doing, it’s talking about the elephant in the room. It’s my form of an adrenaline rush, I suppose 😉 And as I’m sure you’ve noticed, weight is always one of those taboo topics for some reason.

I already seem to find myself in a unique place in the “wellness world” – somewhere in-between those who adhere to a diet/restricted lifestyle of sorts and those who are die hard Intuitive Eating/HAES supporters. Let me just say, mad love and props to them all. I believe that they are serving their communities in the way that they feel called to, and this is me doing the same with my point of view.

The other day I posted my first Transformation Tuesday photo on my Instagram Story, and WOW, it got such an overwhelming response. I guess this is something you guys would like to see more of…? Anyway, here’s an exact screenshot of it:

The captions on there are the cliffs notes version of how Food Freedom (paired with weight training – more on that below) led me to naturally and truly unintentionally lose about 10-15 pounds (if I had to guess, because I don’t weigh myself). But in this blog post I want go into more detail of what that has looked like in my life personally. I dabbled in this topic in my post about Food Freedom + Fitness Goals Coexisting, but now I want to dive even deeper specifically into the topic of weight.

Before I go on, I want to me clear that this is *my* personal experience. I can’t promise that Food Freedom will have the same effect on you because I don’t know your history, genetics, etc. You might even be someone who needs to gain weight. But my goal here is to provide a real life example of how giving up on dieting doesn’t mean suddenly gaining unwanted weight, and that it’s possible to practice Food Freedom AND feel good in your own skin. 

I know it seems so counterintuitive, but for me breaking up with all dieting and restrictions is what allowed me to lose some stubborn weight and keep it off with ease. Here’s how.

I stopped wanting/trying to lose weight.

YOU MUST START HERE. YOU MUST START HERE. I’M SAYING IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK. It’s super annoying…I know. And to be honest it can/will be difficult to undo the hardwiring of always wanting to lose those “last 5 pounds.” But this is one of those ironic, backwards things in life where it happens when you stop looking for it. But like, you have you genuinely get there in your heart and mind.

The bottom line is this: you have to want your freedom (and joy, peace, contentment around food and in life) more than you want to lose weight. It might take time for you to get there. For me it took years, but once I finally got stubborn about choosing Food Freedom there was no going back. I wanted to live life to the fullest more than I wanted to look a certain way, so a new level of body acceptance was a natural result of that.

Practically speaking, I suggest reading both Intuitive Eating and Food Freedom Forever. For me, these two books combined helped me find my personal “method” of beginning my Food Freedom journey. And it was definitely a JOURNEY – full of highs and lows and everything in between. There were 3598275 times I thought “this is crap, I’m going back to restricted eating,” and that will probably happen to you to. But please, please, PLEASE…stick it out. Give yourself and your body time to adjust, and then add some even more time. TRUST THE PROCESS.

I switched my go-to workouts from cardio to weight/resistance training.

For so many years, I saw/heard everyone and their mom talk about how their bodies transformed from weight & resistance training. I followed those gals on YouTube and Instagram and thought “wow, good for them!” but never actually believed that anything other than burning 500 a pop per workout would get me to my fitness/weight goal. I would dabble in strength training here and there, but after a few weeks of not seeing results (lazy AF, haha) I’d give up and go back to that instant gratification of an intense cardio sweat session.

In November 2017 – just 6 months ago – I don’t know what came over me, but I got a new wave of stubbornness and decided to give the whole weight training thing a try, and actually stick to it this time. But not only that – I simultaneously gave up my extreme cardio habit. I essentially traded in one for the other, almost as an experiment of sorts. I didn’t tell myself I could never do cardio again, but I just wanted to see what would happen. That whole “if you want something you’ve never had, do something you’ve never done” sort of thing.

Here’s what happened. At first I didn’t notice a ton of results physically, but I also didn’t gain weight from giving up intense cardio. So that was cool. I also noticed that I was just way less stressed overall. Also cool. Then after about 2 months, I started to notice muscle definition that I had never before seen in my body, and that was when I became hooked. It was/is so exciting to see the (minimal) work I put into my body actually show visible results.

So now my fitness routine looks like this (it’s literally so simple):

• weight/resistance training 2-3 times a week, lifting as heavy as I possibly can
• I walk everywhere/often, about 2 miles on a slow day and 5-6 on a busier day
• I take fitness classes (Pilates, SoulCycle, or boxing) about twice a month, but mostly for fun

For me personally, I’m convinced that weight training is the perfect combination with Food Freedom because 1) my increased muscle has resulted in an increased metabolism 2) I’ve removed the frequent stress that cardio was putting on my body, allowing my body to just start doing its thing.

Food Freedom doesn’t mean eating junk food 24/7.

I know I know, bummer right? Unfortunately Food Freedom isn’t this magic tool that let’s you eat an entire cake for breakfast with no effect on your body. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Having Food Freedom is all about knowing yourself – how your body, mind and emotions react to different foods and ending up with your “happy place” style of eating.

I’m not going to sit over here and be that girl who is like “I eat pizza and pasta every day and don’t gain weight!” That’s not the truth, and any of those Instagram models who make you feel that way are probably lying. The truth is that I eat quite healthy about 4 days out of the week. Over the past few months that has naturally evolved into a bit of a plant-based diet – tons of vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and minimal meat/dairy/alcohol. And then typically on the weekends (or most of the times when I’m dining out) I eat and drink whatever I want. Here’s some more on what Food Freedom Looks Like In My Life.

Food Freedom is going to force you out of that “all or nothing” thinking that is probably engrained in your mind from dieting/restricting, and that’s how you’re going to learn what true balance is. I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again – that might take a lot of time and trial & error – this isn’t going to be a quick fix. But eventually you’ll get into your groove and find your Food Freedom Happy Place, and it will be worth every struggle (and even every pound you might gain in the process).

The not-so-secret secret is portion control.

Once again…bummer, right? This is another thing I’m going to be straight up with you about – when you see me eating off of big plates of pasta at restaurants like Scarpetta (bae), I’m usually not eating the entire thing. Sure, sometimes I am. But usually I’m sharing with my friends or simply stopping when I’m full (what a concept, ha).

But here’s the thing about portion control – I could only start truly practicing it once I allowed myself to have complete Food Freedom. When I eat smaller portions, it’s not because I’m forcing myself to. It’s because I’m truly just done eating! When you remove all rules and restrictions from food, it stops having that all-or-nothing power over you. When I’m eating a burger, I’m not thinking “omg this is the last time I can ever eat a burger, I had better eat the entire thing!” I’m thinking, “this is a damn good burger, I’m going to savor every single bite.” And the experience ends there because I also realize that it’s just food. I could eat that entire burger right then and there if I wanted to, or I know that I can go back to that restaurant next week and order it again.

Once again, this might be a process for you. At first you might overeat when you start practicing Food Freedom, and that’s okay. Remember step one ^. Trust your body and trust yourself that as time goes on, the food will lose its “power,” and you’re going to naturally adjust accordingly. I NEVER thought I was someone who could be satisfied with less than an entire portion, but believe me when I say that once you let go of your restrictions and just let the process happen, you’ll start surprising yourself in more ways that you would’ve ever thought.

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I’d love to learn more of your thoughts on this. If you haven’t yet, be sure to join the Food & Fitness Freedom Group on Facebook where we’re building an amazing community of likeminded gals discussing all sorts of topics!

Please note that I am NOT a health/medical/mental expert, and this is just my own experience/opinions. Please seek a professional before making any changes to your health routine.

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You might also like:
I Stand For Food Freedom
What Food Freedom Looks Like In My Life
The Best Part Of Dieting
Practicing Food Freedom During The Holidays & Special Occasions
Can Food Freedom and Health/Fitness Goals Coexist?
What I Learned When I Stopped Dieting
Maintaining Your Food Freedom When You Want To Give Up