Weight loss is never really about weight loss. There is always a deeper, sometimes hidden motive underneath that goal. It’s a feeling that we yearn to feel when the kilos magically drop off and we arrive at our ideal weight.
Ali Shapiro wrote a brilliant article recently that taught me to ask my weight loss goal what it wanted from me. I wanted to know how I could make weight loss lasting and sustainable. I wanted to know how I could get rid of any extra weight once and for all. So what did my weight loss want?
The answer was space.
A lighter, spacious body = A lighter, spacious life = A lighter spacious body
It’s cyclical. And it makes sense. If you’re too busy running around taking care of everything else like your work, your friends, or your uni grades, you won’t have time and space to invest in you.
When I pack on the activities, I pack on the stress, and the kilos.
In order to release the weight, I need to create space in my day to do my Level 1 activities. You know. The feel-good-AND-is-good-for-you stuff that helps you feel damn fine every day.
So here are areas where my weight loss goal needs space and the ways I can create it.
Space in my body
This is a light, clean energised feeling. Flexible and resilient. Inspired and joyous. These feelings arise when I eat food that brings me joy and whenever I release my lower back pain. Pain in my back and hips makes me feel constricted and old. Space within these parts of my body requires time spent strengthening my core muscles and stretching my hip flexors.
Space in my mind
Paradoxically, being grounded in my body gives me space in my mind. Yoga + meditation ground me and I can practice these daily. When I feel like I’m pushing, restless or twitchy, just taking a few deep breaths can stop the spinning wheels and bring me back to earth.
Space in my clothes
Wearing anything restrictive makes me feel trapped and uncomfortable, which then makes me feel fat and awful, regardless of my actual size. When I choose clothes that are appropriate to my size, I feel better, treat myself better and then lose weight more easily.
Space in my work
There is a very driven active part of me that has a tendency to take on too much and then burn out. Being productive happens more effortlessly when I have time to relax, rest and create comfort. This means balancing my work with Level 1 activities.
Space with my time
Time expands and contracts as we allow. Knowing that all I am is enough, all I do is enough and all I have is enough, helps me to enjoy the present. Then I have all the time in the world.
What does your lighter, spacious life look like?
Photo by a.c.thomas
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