We’ve got some podcasts for your listening pleasure!

Let me ask you a question: When you started leaving diet culture and stepping foot in to Anti-Diet land, how did you do it? Did you read a book or listen to a podcast that when finished felt like a lightbulb had gone on over your head?

Or, perhaps you’re like me and it wasn’t as much a lightbulb but a friggin’ LIGHTENING BOLT through your very soul?? (I can be very dramatic, I know.)

Well, whatever happened to you as you tip-toed across the very magical line into food/body freedom land (what a beautiful place!) you needed resources, right? Social media accounts to follow, podcasts to listen to, books and articles to read late into the night as you shouted out loud, “Diet culture is such BS!”

If you want, need, or just love to collect resources, you’re in the right place.

Today I wanted to touch on a topic that I discuss often in sessions- the desire to lose weight.I can hear you yelling: “But wait, Amanda, I thought you were Anti-Diet and anti- people who want to lose weight?!”

Ok, so- yes, I am anti the pursuit of weight loss and dieting because it never leads to ANYTHING good (and I know first hand) and well, down with the patriarchy and capitalism.

But I am NOT anti-the desire to lose weight. <<insert record screeching here>>

So it’s May, and with that, the arrival of warmer weather. Cue the vulnerability and fear around trying on last year’s seasonal clothes AND being seen in public. I get it, I feel this so hard. And my clients do too, so if this resonates, I promise you aren’t alone.

Here are 3 ways to get through trying on your clothes from last year that may be helpful:

I had the immense pleasure of going to the Caribbean with my family last week.

I was genuinely grateful I could take a break from New England winter. However, it wasn't always a week I looked forward to—for as long as I can remember, the anxiety of dressing a body I hated always reared its head before and during the trip, followed by frustration and anger upon my return that I had spent most of the vacation focused on my body and my diet.

Can you relate to this?

What do you associate Thanksgiving with?  Food? Family? (Or maybe Black Friday shopping?) What feelings come up?  Excitement? Anxiety? Dread?  It’s true:  spending a day, weekend, or even an hour with family can elicit mixed emotions for many. Then add in food—well, now you’ve got a potential recipe for disaster!

But we never go into battle unprepared, right?  

So if this holiday is indeed one that brings fear, dread, and stress—let’s make sure you have a self-care plan so you walk away from this holiday unscathed (or at least not as scorched). 

Here are some ideas:

This week I am taking a question that came to me from someone who follows me on Instagram.

“Amanda, I have done really well with ditching the scale. I haven’t weighed myself in almost 7 months, down from weighing multiple times per week.  I was at the doctor for my physical and I told them I didn’t want to know my weight. They did a good job with that but when I went in to check my lab results a few days later in the online portal, I saw my weight listed right there front and center. And the number is MUCH higher than what I could have ever thought possible for me.  I was feeling so good before and now I just feel awful. How do I get back to where I was feeling so good now that I know my weight?”   

Did you know that this week is Weight Stigma Awareness Week?

“Weight stigma? What’s that? And why does it need its own week? I am too busy celebrating National Farm Animals Week and I am not sure if I can handle this much awareness!”

Ah, I’m so glad you asked those excellent questions, friends.

Yes, it is indeed the first ever Weight Stigma Awareness Week created by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA).

Does your story sound like mine? For over 20 years I was a slave to the quest for a perfect body. For perfection in all areas, really. For so long I thought that life would just be so. Much. Better if my thighs were thinner.