Fat is not a Feeling: Yoga, weight loss and dieting

Have you ever found yourself saying, “I feel fat?”

If it is one issue I find hard to navigate with yoga students, it is weight loss. Even when we know better, even when we don’t want diet culture to have us in its clutches, there is often a place inside us which struggles with “feeling fat”. 

It is important to know that fat is not a feeling. Fat is normal and necessary. How much you weigh holds no moral value and that every time you diet you will end up fatter anyways (that is a research based statement).

 I think “I feel fat” is a euphemism for not feeling good in your body.

 Maybe it is diet culture, maybe it is unrealistic beauty standards, maybe your mood is low, you are stressed,  your body is changing, you are not moving enough or your tummy hurts because you don’t know yet what foods make you feel good. There is too much that could drive why we “feel fat” or why we don’t feel good on our body.

At Yoga Space Perth we are a body positive school, that means the size of your body is celebrated and is not a barrier to practicing yoga with us. We know how to modify postures to keep you comfy and you will never hear us taking about diets, or burning calories, or ‘cleanses’ (which is often for disordered eating in disguise). We don’t think you need to lose weight.

Nevertheless, yoga students want to lose weight.

I do get it. I don’t like the feeling of how my body changes, I dislike the comments I get. After both babies I have been called “fat” and “puffy”. I put 30+ kilos on in my first pregnancy and it was completely mystery how to return to my pre baby weight – and I never did!

I know it sucks, for example to completely revamp your wardrobe to embrace your new weight. This was my experience in the last couple of years with peri-menopause. In middle age it is common that women and men gain weight. Our bodies change, they do not stay the same and we are often in and endless fight with our bodies.

Only recently I gave all my favourite size 12s to a friend and her teen daughters. I haven’t experienced it in health care – but I know there is an over reliance on BMI and a mistaken understanding that weight loss is simple and a tonne of stigma for fat people accessing healthcare. 

Cut calories and you lose weight, so if you can’t do that you have no self-control right?

Wrong! Genetics, hormones, environment and class. There are so many other factors that come into play. For example:

Getting maccas for your family is cheaper than grass feed, pasture raised meat, or organic vegetables or replacing soft drink with kombucha.

Also, please remember thin ≠ healthy or well. Don’t get on the scales every day, don’t aim for thin. Watch out for your own internalised fat phobia. Be aware of the stigma around weight, your health is more than your BMI. Your choices in life do matter, but you need to remember what is talked about here. 

So – rather than answering the question of how I maintain my weight I want to let you know how I feel good and comfy in my body. Importantly, these things HELP my mental health: 

•  I move in ways that feel good. This for me is daily yoga (mostly Ashtanga, with some Yin/Restorative and Vinyasa, I do body weight or weights training and I walk).
•  I keep moving. I take breaks from my desk to stretch and move. I take the stairs when I can. I try to walk many times a week. I like to dance every day, even just one song.
•  Instead of dinner with friends, I exercise with friends. 
•  I try to eat lots of protein. Protein nourishes me and keeps me full. Vegetarian diets easily lack protein! Before peri menopause my vegetarian diet was basically carbs, very little protein.
•  I don’t drink alcohol or soft drinks.
•  I feel my feelings. Through my practice I feel my feelings regularly.
•  I don’t eat too much sugar. It makes me feel unwell and sends me on a sugar rollercoaster.
•  I try new things with my body. Want to see what I did recently? Check out the video below! I was proud and happy to be strong and brave enough at 47 to do this – and it didn’t hurt – I have focused on getting strong (not bendy!).
•  I don’t diet. Yet intuitively I do shift my diet sometimes. For example – I know it isn’t healthy to eat crisps every day – so if it is a phase where that is what I am doing, I try to find something equally delicious for me but healthy eg; raspberries and yogurt. But if I REALLY want crisps, I eat them! I shift my diet when I feel bloated, tired or my belly hurts. Often it is because I am stressed and existing on lots of bread. I tune in and make a change.
•  I eat mindfully. I prefer to eat at the table with my family and slowly enjoy my dinner. Then my intuition tells me when I am full. This is the latest approach to eating well and on my podcast Peaceful embodiment Chandrika Gibson PhD talks to anti-diet dietician Natalie Scott about Health at Any size
•  I don’t let myself be hungry. I love food! I eat a lot. I eat a lot of whole foods, fruit, curries. I take pleasure in food.

Everyone is different. But what I know is:

When you hate your body, you punish it by restricting and lose years of your life not celebrating you are here and alive.

Come practice yoga with us. Get consistent, feel good in your body. Maybe you will lose weight – maybe you won’t. But you will feel stronger, more alive and capable and calmer. You will be able to tune in to what your body needs and enjoy your body.

Life is short my friends, come practice with me and our amazing team!

If it has been a while? For $89 you get a PRIVATE class + 2 weeks of unlimited yoga (if it has been 6+ months, since we saw you choose this!). This is also available online and you get access to our extensive video library so you can get consistent and feel better.

Love

Jean x