Something I hear often is how much the girls who come to work with me on their relationship with food would like to be able to eventually one day eat more “intuitively”

Yet they also want to feel in complete control and track every morsel of food they eat
 
There’s a fine line here
 
From a competitor perspective, you’re going to have to track or prep your meals and follow your plan, period
 
From a lifestyle perspective you’re going to need to learn how to listen & trust your body as well as detach from the NEED for control
 
This scares most people, especially those who have spent their whole lives dieting or have recently done a competition prep
 
I want to preface this with the fact that I don’t tell the ladies who come and work with me WHAT or HOW to eat—that’s their coaches job
 
My job is to help them improve their relationship with food & more importantly empower them with the tools to make more conscious, guilt free decisions that they are proud of based on their ideal vision for their food relationship & whatever “plan” they’re on
 
With that being said, many of the women who are given “IE” days from their coach struggle because they just go complete HAM & feel they have no control & they “literally don’t get it” because they are “so on point otherwise”. Not surprising to me though

Here’s the problem, an IE day or IE lifestyle won’t work if you don’t practice listening to your body or understanding your needs every day AND if you are over attached to your aesthetics
 
In order to practice listening to your body you have to GIVE your body a chance to communicate with you, which means you have to be prepared & ready to “test” your body WITHOUT expectations in an effort to read the signals
 
Think of it like trying to be more open minded in conversation with someone but entering the conversation with pre conceived & perception based notions about them, their beliefs, & what you see as “right”—it doesn’t end up being open minded at all

Many girls go into IE still attached to their size & shape which is why they struggle to commit to it & let go of control
 
Meanwhile, when we let go of control we actually gain the feeling or experience of it & can sometimes even generate better results long term
 
Counterintuitive because it’s true & us humans love tricking ourselves with world views and external influence like diet culture and we reinforce weightloss or fat loss or a “nice body” with restrictive dieting
 
I don’t intuitively eat personally. I am a competitor. I eat what I’m told and I find my best version of balance in the off season
 
I bring intuition and consciousness to my meals using my PTG process I developed & give my clients, but I am not an intuitive eater because I am focused on an aesthetic goal & do “restrict” my diet
 
If You wanted to go full IE, which I personally have before, it has to come from a place of genuinely learning about your body’s needs WITH the understanding that if you were a chronic dieter, there’s gunna be some shapeshifting and perspective challenges that you’ll have to be prepared for
 
YOU CANNOT TRY TO CONTROL EVERYTHING
 
If you don’t focus on your relationship with food, your body, and your goals BEFORE going into ANY diet you won’t be able to establish the communication with your body that’s necessary to make the most of it
 
IE is called intuitive for a reason, but intuition is easily clouded and tbh not always trustworthy
 
So rather than disguising a way of eating with ANOTHER diet name to give it, why not start with what YOU need and ease your way into a lifestyle that’s most sustainable and enjoyable for you
 
Want to work on your relationship with food? Click HERE to learn how we can work together