Resolutions

It is the time of year for resolutions. The darkness of the winter months provide a wonderful time for reflection. I have certainly been thinking about letting certain things go, celebrating the ritual transition time of the New Year and setting intentions for the future.

I want to talk about the resolution to loose weight, which many of us make year after year. Often this resolution doesn’t work or is short lived. Why is that? Well, resolutions surrounding weight loss are generally about deprivation. This deprivation, lack of pleasure around eating and over-exercise create stress in the body. It is difficult to create a healthy and sustained weight loss in a stressed state. No wonder many of us relapse into old eating habits when we follow such restricted ways of living. In fact, over 95% of people who loose weight will gain it back.

I think many people regain weight because they are not addressing the whole picture. There is so much more to weight loss than eating less and exercising more. The idea that the calories we eat minus calories we burn equals our weight is based on outdated science. We know now that our metabolism is affected by not only what we eat, but also when we eat, how we eat, how we move, stress in our lives, how we nourish ourselves, our relationships, thoughts, emotions and more. We are so much more complex than just what we eat and how much we exercise. We are so much more interesting. Our body, mind and spirit are all involved.

My teacher, Marc David, says, “Loosing weight is about gaining life.” With that in mind, instead of resolving to loose weight, let’s resolve to love ourselves more, move in joyful ways and fulfill passions that have been sitting on the back burner. Focusing on these goals may just create the shape shift that we desire.