Body image and reasons for the Whole30?

[kew]

I've been reading some stuff online about good and not-so-good reasons to want to lose weight and get fit, and I was interested in 'taking the temperature' of some women on the forum about whether success with the Whole30 -- just sticking to the program, not #s of lbs or inches lost -- has had any effect on how much you think/worry about your appearance, whether in clothes or not.

These are a couple of the pieces that got me thinking, if you are curious. (I thought they were interesting, but your mileage may vary.)

http://www.huffingto..._b_1524706.html

http://www.beautyred...pocalypse-2012/

http://www.beautyred...obesity-crisis/

[Derval]

I just read the first one so far and found it very interesting. Melissa & Dallas also wrote a blog post about the fitspiration trend. I don't agree it's as bad as thinspo, at least it's about getting fit & strong rather than slowly starving.

Check out the "uplifting quote for the day" I posted, I think youll like it!

Thanks for food for thought!

[Megan Claydon]

In my experience, the whole 30 helped change the way I view food and my relationship with it. I understand what foods I'm emotional with (chocolate), which foods make me feel crummy, and all of the amazing foods that make me feel healthy. Once I found this understanding, it allowed me to tackle my issues with body image in a whole new way.

For example, if my focus on food and exercise is health...then that's the image and condition I seek of my body. As opposed to focusing on the perfect marco nutrient profile, how little I can get away with eating, or how hard I push in a workout and then expect to look lean and cut. For me, as long as I was striving to find this "perfect" diet, I was expecting perfection in my body.

Whole 30 has given me the freedom to eat as my body truly wishes to eat. Poor food choices no longer control my next food choice. That's empowering.

[Aberrantatavia]

I agree with Megan, the whole 30 has changed my perspectives about food and my choices, and it's incredibly empowering.

I read this a little while ago and decided to think about it a bit before I answered. Im not an incredibly fit person at this point in my life, and I'm working towards changing that, but more than that, I have grown to be more cranky and less content and confident in general over the last year or so. Probably a lot of reasons for that but partly because I wasn't working towards healthy goals, so my mindset was screwed up. I was on a hamster wheel and going nowhere. When you do that you just look tired and unhealthy no matter what you do and what your body looks like in a bikini.

To answer your direct question, doing the whole 30 program hasn't made me think any more or less about my appearance than I did Pre whole 30. What I've been able to bring back into focus is striving for good health in my whole life, including my relationship with food. And this has certainly had an effect on how I view myself, inside and out.

[Monica P]

Very interesting. I too have only read the first link. But it did make me think. I started the entire journey---I switched to eating Paleo about 1 1/2 years ago and am just on Day2 of Whole30--to lose weight yes. But also to get in better shape. I did and do this for a number of reasons: 1) My dad passed away 2 1/2 years ago. His mind was there until the end but his health wasn't. The truly sucky part was that it wasn't a disease, it wasn't cancer, it wasn't something you'd expect him to die of. He had gout. Not saying he died of gout but that was usually what he was being treated for. He wouldn't change his diet no matter what. I don't want that for me. So I'm changing the way I eat. 2) My mother has dementia. Her mother had it. I don't want it. If I do get it, then I get it but I want to do what I can--control the chemicals going into my body that can cause this disease--to avoid it. 3) I have a now-4 year old. I didn't and don't want her seeing mommy have to struggle to stand up from the floor. I want to be able to chase her. 4) Probably a bit of the thinspiration/fitsporation. While the logical part of my brain knows that that is marketing and it is (I wouldn't go buy the stuff because of the ads) part of me wants a very fit body. I'm trying to reach in and determine if I'm making too much of the fitness portion and the body image. I do at times shudder because I still have a gut or my arms are flabby. So I'm struggling here (hadn't thought of it until reading the article) with am I doing the exercise portion for me? so I can be healthy and chase after said daughter? Or am I doing it to get the six pack abs? I will say that while I want the gut gone, I won't be heartbroken if I don't have the firm stomach.

I will agree with Melissa that the paleo diet (hate that word) and potentially Whole30 has had an effect on how I view myself.

Sorry so long.

[kew]

Thanks for those responses!

On a related subject, I had a small epiphany today -- related to going for a swim, by myself, in the first bikini I have worn in 20+ years. After, I said to myself. "I am not a 19 year old underwear model. And that's okay. I am a 43 yr old associate professor, mother of two, and wife. I want to be able to do both my paid job and my job as mom/wife/household manager as full-time jobs, and I get anxious about the fact that I can't. I have a long history of emotional eating. I have more dimples and bulges than I am happy with. But when I look in the mirror -- when I really look -- I also see some sweet curves. And I see some muscles in my shoulders, arms, and even legs. I see a scar from a breast biopsy, and another one from box jumps, and another one from the unwanted c-sections that made me feel like a total failure as a woman but brought me my lovely son and my lovely daughter. I see some laugh lines -- and some worry lines. And I can damn well wear a bikini, now that I finally want to!"

I cannot say that I am done with body hate. I think that will be a long struggle, probably a life-long one. But I think I am ready to act like I am done, instead of waiting for that time in the ever-receding future when I will finally think I look objectively good, and can lay that hate to rest. Now, I am learning that this hate will never go away, unless I practice, actively practice, bidding it good riddance!

[Derval]

Love it kew!

[Laura B]

I could say a lot about this topic, but I will try to keep it short. Body image--rather a positive body image--is something I am consistently working on. I was running myself into the ground before I found the W30. My personal trainer who was an experienced bodybuilder set me down a path to a perfect body, or so I hoped. I followed everything he said and was never totally happy with my body. I have come to realize that I may never be totally happy with my outward appearance but I also understand that I have zero control over how I look.

The W30 taught me that I need to eat and I should eat things I like when I want. I shouldn't be counting arbitrary macro nutrients and calories--I should eat until I feel full, and then eat again when I am legitimately hungry. My relationship with food isn't "fixed", but it is miles ahead of where it was. I plan to use a few W30s a year to keep myself in check and to truly learn about my body as it relates to nourishment.

As far as how I feel about my outward appearance, well that is a daily battle. I am learning to look at myself each day and love myself. It is so important to love yourself and all of yourself because you are inescapable. I love to be active and see how I can grow, so CrossFit is a natural fit for me. I got there with only the intention of doing things that scare me (which is pretty much everyday!) and then leaving with a sense of achievement. I am not going to a gym to stare at myself in the mirror for 45 minutes working on a muscle group with an intent to change how it looks. I am going to a warehouse to move things and jump around to be better than I was yesterday.

My CrossFit Affiliate is running a nutrition challenge this month, and I will not be participating. They are having a dunk truck come to test body fat % and other things and I told our head coach I wasn't doing it because things like that make me neurotic and I really just don't care. He was happy to hear that I didn't care about my weight, but he still didn't understand that measurements just aren't important to me. I am doing my 2nd W30 beginning 10/15 for myself, it happens to overlap on the nutrition challenge, but if I have some kind of competitive aspect associated with my eating habits and activity level, I will lose it.

Kew--I know how you feel. It makes me sad that women are so inclined to hate their bodies. Without our bodies we wouldn't be here. I hope that you can practice loving yourself everyday and remove the hate from your mind. I know it is a work in progress as I am still working on it daily.

[kew]

I am learning to look at myself each day and love myself. It is so important to love yourself and all of yourself because you are inescapable.

Very well said, Laura B! Thanks for your thoughts.

I like Crossfit too, for much the same reasons. My box has no mirrors at all, which can be a bit rough in terms of checking out your form, but is much more of a great relief: I get to focus on pushing myself to my limits and not worry about catching sight of myself looking flabby or inelegant. I still spend way too much energy worrying about how I stack up with the other women there, who is faster, stronger, etc, and that's a futile comparison, but I almost always leave with a good feeling of both exhaustion and achievement.

[MtnRunner]

I've fought with body image issues and eating disorders for most of my life. I found when I started focusing on "performance", like in the gym or a 10K or a bike race, and how I feel, my views of food started changing. I started viewing it as fuel. However the more competitive I got the more I focused on how fast I could get and then I would just eat whatever to keep going. Well the poor choices I feel are catching up with me and I can feel them more as I've gotten more in tune with my body.

Now I'm trying to find more balance and make myself healthier especially as I get into my 30's. I don't want to be fighting with my body in 10 years because frankly I'm tired of it already. Focusing on eating whole, non-packaged foods and how I'm feeling has really been eye-opening. We are not meant to eat things that come in a package, no one is! Staying off the scale is refreshing. And as long as I feel good and can do the things I want to do I am a happy camper.

I think eating this way changes you if you are doing it for the right reasons. I want be able to walk and ride my bike to work for 20 more years, I don't want to get cancer from some weird additives in some protein bar I was told was good for me, and I want to be an example to others to do the same. Find your reasons and have that be your motivation to keep going.

[paleolala]

Feeling quite inspired after reading all your contributions. I'm on Day 1 of my first W30 - and I've got lots to work through. My relationships with food and exercise, my own body and body image more broadly really need a serious once over. I've come into this planning to reset all these things, starting with my sugar cravings, allergies and crazy hormones, but losing a few kgs is definitely on my mind. I'm hoping it is more a byproduct than a goal as I go through. I was second guessing the "stay off the scales" thing, but even just today I can feel myself wanting to jump back on after my starting weigh in this morning, so I know I need to stay well away.

Just reading through some of the links kew listed at the start of the thread was really interesting too. I know I'm guilty of idolising the fitspo ideal, and I think it is definitely dangerous. Although, I think the physical outcome can be a good goals or motivator sometimes, if you don't let it go too far - in the same way fitting into your old jeans, running a certain distance or hitting a crossfit pb can be a motivator.

For me, it gets dangerous when it become the only goal, or when you forget to focus on what else you're achieving - what else your body is capable of. Or when you forget that the images you see of so-called "perfect bodies" are not applicable to everyone. It doesn't matter how thin I get (healthily or unhealthily), with my boobs and hips I'm never going to look like a bikini model. But if I can challenge my body to reach its full potential, I'm hoping I'll be satisfied and comfortable in my skin in a different, but better way.

[Aberrantatavia]

Welcome to the community!

I looked back at this and it's interesting, I posted to it several months ago, and I can see some things that I've held fast to and some things I've let slide that I shouldn't have. I'm heading into my first whole 100 tomorrow.

You mention being satisfied, which I've always thought was a great word. I used this word when prompting my children to think about how they live their lives and what priorities they establish. I actually posted a thread titled "pleasure vs Satisfaction" that you might want to check out. I don't know how to link to it with my iPad, sorry. It's in the Off Track/Staying on Track forum.

Good luck with your journey!

[Jenn35]

I'm so glad I found this thread. My new year's resolution is to comprehensively improve my self-confidence. I'm going to take better care of myself both physically and mentally. Over the two years, due to a dramatic weight gain, I've allowed my thoughts to become more and more negative. At some point, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I'm taking the no scale rule seriously. Since I moved, I don't even have one, and I'm not going to purchase one. I'd be very happy to lose weight, but I absolutely know that is going to happen I change my eating, so I'm not going to stress about it. One of the biggest draws of the Whole30, for myself, is a reset. I need to reset my eating habits and my thinking habits, and together I hope to gain a whole new perspective on my body.

[Alicia Jaybird]

I grew up going up and down in terms of body image, including some disturbing disordered eating behavior ages 11-13 and not so great body image thereafter. The time I felt the best about my body was when I was rowing in high school, because I knew just how much my body was capable of. Of course, my nutritional philosophy at that point was "I should be able to eat whatever I want, I do crew!" As an adult, I fit the SAD and chronic cardio believer stereotype to a T. I was definitely overweight but had pretty much accepted that no amount of calorie counting or exercise seemed to prevent me from gaining weight. It was frustrating and disappointing.

When I started eating Paleo about 18 months ago, I realized that a lot of negative things I had taken for granted about my health--chronic congestion and regular sinus infections, indigestion and bloating, etc.--were not normal. I had gotten used to feeling pretty crummy overall, and it took months of Paleo eating and feeling so much better to realize that I'd been sick all along. I found it fascinating that when I had tried to lose weight eating SAD and exercising, I would just gain weight instead, but while embracing Paleo, I steadily and healthfully lost weight.

The Whole30 and generally clean Paleo eating have saved my relationship with food--which is wonderful, because I love to cook, eat, and try new foods! I love looking at a colorful plate of food that will give me tons of energy, I love being able to eat "whatever I want" (within the Paleo framework with a little off-roading), and I love seeing the way my body composition has changed in the mirror. I don't think it's perfect or that I'd fit into the "thinspo" or "fitspo" ideal, but I'm overjoyed with the way I'm eating and feeling. So in sum...the Whole30 makes me happy because it's like a month of showing love and gratitude to the only body I'll ever have.

[SouthernBeth]

Love this thread. I'm a teacher and I told some of my students that my husband and I started W30 and they said, 'But Miss, you're so skinny already!!' for the record, I'm not 'so skinny', I'm totally average. But I told them it isn't about being skinny, it's about being healthy and feeling good about what is going into my body. Happy to see so many other women on the same wavelength! I'm on Day 3 and though I'm craving some milk in my coffee and maybe some frosting, but other than that, I feel really good. Can't wait to see how week 4 feels!

[Zoodles]

Wow it's amazing how many of us have been fighting the same issues re body image etc! I've hated my body for most of my adult life, have tried every diet known to the human race. For the last few years I've counted calories like a maniac, battled serious binge eating and allowed the number on the scale every morning to dictate whether I have a good or bad day.

I did my first whole30 in October, I didn't really lose any weight but the amazing thing is - I. Don't. Care. Not a bit! I couldn't care less about my weight, my cellulite, my wobbly bits. It's just not important anymore, I think because I don't feel sluggish and slow and weighed down so I don't feel "fat" anymore. I never expected Whole30 to have this effect but it's been so unbelievably liberating!

[Jackolantern]

the Whole30 makes me happy because it's like a month of showing love and gratitude to the only body I'll ever have.

You just perfectly described my goal for the Whole 30. Thanks.

[Linda Dellatto Ford]

I am starting my first Whole 30 tomorrow. I've been an athlete for a long time and will be 50 this year and feel that this way of eating will keep me competitive. I think the reason so many woman have body image issues is because the foods we have been eating in the standard American diet make us feel sluggish and depressed. As some of the ladies already stated, once your get through a Whole30, you don't care how you look because you are so HAPPY and healthy...I am blessed to have many wonderful women runners as friends, and even though they can be tough on themselves, having a performance goal and feeling accomplished after completing a hard race only contrubutes to their lives. However, we are all different, and trusting what makes us feel good or not, is our own personal decision. You are the best expert on you. I cannot wait to take this jouney with all of you!

[chelle81!]

I'm so glad I found this thread. My new year's resolution is to comprehensively improve my self-confidence. I'm going to take better care of myself both physically and mentally. Over the two years, due to a dramatic weight gain, I've allowed my thoughts to become more and more negative. At some point, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I'm taking the no scale rule seriously. Since I moved, I don't even have one, and I'm not going to purchase one. I'd be very happy to lose weight, but I absolutely know that is going to happen I change my eating, so I'm not going to stress about it. One of the biggest draws of the Whole30, for myself, is a reset. I need to reset my eating habits and my thinking habits, and together I hope to gain a whole new perspective on my body.

it's like you took the words right out of my mouth! i'm doing a few other things to help improve my self-confidence/image/esteem, but this is the first food related step that i'm taking and i'm only taking it because the book spoke right to me in so many aspects! now if i could just get rid of this urge to binge - i recognize why i want to binge (lonely/bored/sad), but at this moment in time awareness isn't helping ... so i'm on here instead of going to the grocery store for a jar of icing

[Rosieelli]

Welcome Linda, I just started 4 days ago and have been feeling great

[HealingWithin]

The topic of body image is a serious passion of mine (and what I've built my career around) and can say that looking for weight loss to change how you feel about your body is typically a losing game - at least for the long term. At my heighest weight I was 220lbs (5'2) and did all the diets. I didn't learn how to change my relationship with food and just alternated between binge eating and dieting. Eventually, I made my way down to my "goal weight" and realized that I still hated my body. Not only that but my relationship with food and exercise was worse than ever (I was a life long binge eater). It taught me that the size of my body has nothing to do with my ability to love (and care for) myself.

It wasn't until I learned how to love my body, care for it properly (including eating well), and work through all the emotional reasons I was using food to cope that I was able to truly be at peace with food and my body. Eating this way has been a part of that for me and is truly the first time I can say that I don't feel deprived and instead feel supremely nourished. I am grateful to be able to care of my body in this way. It took SO much abuse (crap food, alcohol, drugs, cutting) for so many years and now is my time to honor my body.

[Jenn35]

The topic of body image is a serious passion of mine (and what I've built my career around) and can say that looking for weight loss to change how you feel about your body is typically a losing game - at least for the long term.

What might you recommend as a next step for some of us who are dealing with these confidence/self-esteem/body love issues?

[Megan Claydon]

What might you recommend as a next step for some of us who are dealing with these confidence/self-esteem/body love issues?

Understand that you are worthy of love and being loved just as you are right now. I highly recommend reading Brene Brown's book "The Gifts of Imperfection"

[Kirsteen]

When I was an older teen to early 20s, I thought I was overweight (looking back I was anything but at 129lbs and 5ft 6) We all went on diets and lost and gained. I got married, cooked for my husband, piled on the weight, dieted then got divorced, piled on more, got a job in a gym so got it off with diet and exercise, got remarried had 2 kids, piled on more. Did the whole yoyo dieting thing, got to a weight a liked, struggled to keep it there, got fed up, said 'stuff it' overate, piled it on, dieted to get it off ad nauseum.

Then, about 5 years ago, I took really ill with gallbladder and other digestive issues. My weight dropped from 175 to just over 80 pounds. I was in tears of pain even trying to lie in a bath, and as for what I looked like, it was horrible. That got fixed, I recovered the weight (some of it), developed cancer and had a radical mastectomy.

Now, I absolutely frikkin love my body though it's in worse shape than it's ever been It's about 10 pounds over what I used to think was acceptable (or it was, last time I weighed, before I started this W30) and I'm officially a one-tit-wonder . I'm also partially disabled and on crutches but, you know what, I'm alive, I'm happy, I'm doing the best I can and becoming the best I can be and above all i love me and love my body for what it's survived.

[Megan Claydon]

Daily Affirmation to Stay Positive!