Moderation is a frequently sought after thing with food and fitness; but it’s often considered attainable.
-Don’t too much but don’t do too little
-Allow yourself a treat; but make sure you don’t eat too much treats
-Don’t go too hard, but also don’t go too easy
What the heck does MODERATION mean any way?
Well, it’s the GRAY area. Moderation is NOT BLACK or WHITE. It’s that uncomfortable shade of gray in between, one that doesn’t have strict rules, guidelines or regulations that your all-or-nothing mind may crave.
The Moderate GRAY area is uncomfortable as F! We want to measure things and quantify things and log things and weight things. We want to know if we do A and we do B than that will equal our desired outcome of C.
But, DO YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE LIKE THIS FOREVER?
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO FOLLOW SOMETHING FOREVER?
When you finally make the transition into moderation, it becomes easier, I promise. It becomes effortless because it becomes a habit, just like brushing your teeth every morning (for most of us anyway right LOL???)
But like anything worthwhile, THAT takes time! Years of practice. After all, it took your entire life to get into an all-or-nothing trap, right? But to help you navigate this, here are some tips for you:
#1. YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD AND FITNESS
For many of us, it starts from a long time history of experiences (mostly negative) forming our current relationship with food and/or fitness. Before truly practice moderation, you need to figure out where your experiences were shaped and learn from there. And during this process, you must be patient and show yourself the same respect and kindness that you would to our loved ones. How does that saying go “Rome wasn’t built in a day…” and neither will your effortless practice of moderation. Patience and giving yourself grace are key!
#2. FORWARD PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION
You’re not going to wake up one having nailed moderation on the head; living your best moderate life 100.
Nope, here’s the thing:
EFFORTLESS requires EFFORT
Read that again.
EFFORTLESS requires EFFORT
So ask yourself, WHAT DOES MODERATION LOOK LIKE TO YOU?
And there are no right or wrong answers and absolutely ZERO judgement. Practice one key factor for a period of time until you catch yourself doing it without much thought.
Yes, you will forget, you will mess up, you will revert to your usual ways; but instead of giving up, use these minor setbacks as an opportunity to understand why it happened, so you can leverage that for next time. It’s all just data and evidence for you to learn from!
#3. BE PRESENT. BE MINDFUL; NOT MINDLESS
If you have a tough time practicing moderation with food, slow down when you’re eating. Enjoy each bite. Set your fork down for one second. Stay off your phone. TASTE the food, don’t scarf it down. Work on not eating mindlessly (message me for my free e-book The 3 S’s of Stress Free Eating). It’s amazing how much more satisfaction and fullness you can get out of food when you just pay a little more attention.
Check-in with your body. Are you recovering well and progressing in the gym? Or are you feeling super sore and plateauing? You might realize that you actually need to be doing LESS in order to continue progressing and recovering properly.
These three tips are the most important basics to navigating a life of food and fitness moderation. If you have your own personal favorites, I would love to hear them!
Here is something you can do RIGHT NOW:
Define what moderation looks like for you.
You can’t expect to do anything until you’ve at least somewhat defined that gray area FOR YOURSELF. If you’re looking for a journal entry today, this would be a good one.
Quick reminder – my July #LevelUp self-paced DIY program is now open for enrollment. Here’s the chance to work with me one on one with a customized lean muscle building program for women ages 30+. We cover fitness and food and the principles of moderation through it all. Receive one on one coaching support with me and also with our intimate group of the #LevelUp ladies enrolled. Limited spots left! Enroll today.