Intuitive Eating Principle 8 – Joyful Movement vs Exercise (Feel the Difference)
I want to talk about a bit of a tricky topic today – exercise (aka “joyful movement” as I prefer to call it, but we’ll get into that).
When you hear the term “exercise” what comes to mind?
For most people, it conjures up images of sweating at the gym and the idea of “no pain, no gain.” Exercise often feels like a chore and something that we should do, rather than something we genuinely want to do.
Diet culture teaches us to use exercise to burn calories and lose weight. But there’s so much more that exercise can do for us if we think differently about it!
Let’s look at it another way – what if instead of “exercise” we called it “movement?” Does that bring up different mental images for you? You see, our bodies can move in many ways! And moving can actually be (gasp) fun!
In the intuitive eating space you might have heard the term “joyful movement” which basically means movement that makes you feel good, rather than something you feel like you have to do.
Joyful movement can be something like dancing in your living room, taking a yoga class, walking your dog, and if you get joy out of going to the gym, great!
The idea is to find something that works for YOU.
This is a topic I explored further with my Rebuilding Trust with Your Body podcast guest, Suzanne Bamonto. She’s a school psychologist who has decided to ditch the diet mentality, make peace with food, and enjoy movement again (and wait until you hear what her favorite type of movement is!)
In this episode, Suzanne shares about her journey of beginning the dieting process as a teenager, and being off and on diets all the way into adulthood up to just a few years ago. She also talks about:
- Being present with the eating experience
- Comparing her body to her sister’s as a teenager (and feeling inadequate)
- How exhausting it is to constantly be dieting and tracking food and calories
- Working on body acceptance while still having thoughts about wanting to lose weight
Suzanne is truly an inspiration and I’m so excited for you to listen to this episode!
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE NOW:
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Search for episode 42 – How Ditching Dieting Can Lead to Joyful Movement
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