Today is all about Intuitive Eating Principle 9 Movement – Feel the Difference.
In case you missed it:
- What is Intuitive Eating?
- Intuitive Eating Principle 1: Reject the Diet Mentality
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 1
- Intuitive Eating Principle 2: Honor Your Hunger
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 2
- Intuitive Eating Principle 3: Make Peace with Food
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 3
- Intuitive Eating Principle 4: Challenge the Food Police
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 4
- Intuitive Eating Principle 5: Feel Your Fullness
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 5
- Intuitive Eating Principle 6: Discover the Satisfaction Factor
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 6
- Intuitive Eating Principle 7: Cope with Your Emotions without Using Food
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 7
- Intuitive Eating Principle 8: Respect Your Body
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 8
INTUITIVE EATING PRINCIPLE 9 Movement – Feel the Difference
The snapshot of Intuitive Eating Principle 9 is: “Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie-burning effect of exercise. If you focus on how you feel from working out, such as energized, it can make the difference between rolling out of bed for a brisk morning walk or hitting the snooze alarm.”
This Principle is now called Movement (previously Exercise) – Feel the Difference to remind everyone that movement, in any manner, is beneficial and to take the focus off of exercise, which people often equate to hard, intense, extreme and/or to the number of calories it burns.
So many times, people engage in exercise that they don’t like or enjoy, simply because it’s the “thing to do” or because they think it’s the best (aka fastest) way to lose weight or that it burns the most calories. But there are so many benefits to moving the body that have nothing to do with your body shape or size! Too often, people get discouraged when they start a new exercise program and don’t see quick or major results in their body right away. They therefore may then think, “this isn’t working” and give up on exercise completely.
Remember, physical activity does NOT mean only exercise or sports. It also includes playing, gardening, doing household chores, dancing, walking, and recreational activities.
Moving your body doesn’t have to be intense or all at once. Committing to simply sitting less in your daily life is a great start. Maybe you set a timer that reminds you to stand up and walk around every hour. Maybe you do some squats or push-ups in between meetings or while watching TV. A little bit goes a long way to getting positive benefits out of moving your body.
It’s also important to explore what types of physical movement you enjoy. Moving your body doesn’t have to be painful, miserable, or any other negative word you would use to describe it. It can be enjoyable and even pleasurable! What a concept!
Some questions the authors of Intuitive Eating guide you through in the Intuitive Eating Workbook to discover physical activities you enjoy are:
- What are your preferences? Do you prefer to exercise alone or in a group? Outside or inside?
- What is your current fitness level?
- What would be the most pleasurable type of activities to explore?
- How do you want to feel after physical activity? Calm? Energized?
Too often, in today’s society and in diet culture, we just go to extremes. Either eating NO carbs or eating ALL the carbs. Either exercising EVERY DAY in a super intense format or not exercising AT ALL. There is so much joy to be found in the middle area! Oftentimes, trying to go from zero to 100 causes us to feel overwhelmed or burnt out. Whereas if we slowly increased our daily activities, based on what feels good in our pwn body, we could build up to where we want to be.
INTUITIVE EATING SUPPORT GROUP FOR WOMEN
If you have been following along on this Intuitive Eating journey with me or hearing about IE elsewhere and wanting to learn more, or you’ve been doing some learning on your own and are ready to have the support of others on the journey with you, I have the perfect resource for you:
A 12-week small group coaching experience to help you heal your relationship with food and your body, ditch dieting for good, get back to trusting yourself around food AND enjoying the foods you actually like!
Group will be held live via online video >> Thursdays at 6:00pm CST (recordings will be sent out if you are unable to attend live). The group runs quarterly. FULL DETAILS & SIGN UP HERE.
REMINDER
This blog and Instagram series I am doing is not meant to be a replacement for reading the Intuitive Eating book or working through the Intuitive Eating Workbook. Rather it’s to provide an overview of the Intuitive Eating concept and principles to bring more awareness to the fact that there is an alternative to dieting and restricting.
As always, if you need additional guidance and support via individual nutrition coaching or counseling, please reach out through my private practice website JillMerkelRD.com or join the waitlist for my next Intuitive Eating Support Group for Women!
