133: Grieving Weight Loss

Thrive Beyond Size

I’ve been thinking about grief and how it relates to weight loss because I don’t think we honor the grief process enough in this journey. When you make the decision to stop all the dieting, restrictions, and deprivation and really allow yourself to be an intuitive eater, it’s a beautiful thing. It really is! But there is another aspect to that when we consider how much of our lives we spend focused on dieting and weight loss. Now that we’re not doing that, what do we do with ourselves? Can we truly be happy if we abandon weight loss? And these five stages of grief that we go through need to be acknowledged so we can stay on the intuitive eating path we’ve chosen.

My husband identified the five stages of grief in me as an Oilers fan which, if you follow hockey, you’ll understand intimately when the Edmonton Oilers start losing playoff games. But these five stages are present in a lot of things and definitely in our weight loss journeys too. Stage one is denial. Stage two is anger. Stage three is bargaining. Stage four is depression, which is really tough to sit with. And finally, stage five is acceptance. What do these look like when applied to giving up dieting? How do we navigate them on our journey to intuitive eating? What can we do to help ourselves at each stage of grief? I’ve navigated, or been navigating, all these stages myself and I am here to help you. I’ll talk about each of these stages today and look at why it’s necessary to feel these things and how to move past them. Grief is a process that isn’t always desirable but always teaches us something valuable.

About Dr. Michelle Tubman

Dr. Michelle Tubman is a physician and health coach. She helps women ditch dieting and thrive at any size. For the longest time, she believed that weight loss was the answer to all her problems. But decades of yo-yo dieting and restriction left her miserable, unhealthy, and exhausted. Now she teaches women how harmful dieting can be and shows them the way to true health and wellness.

As a physician specializing in both emergency and obesity medicine, with additional training in nutrition, eating psychology, and coaching, Michelle can tell you with certainty that dieting is dangerous. Studies associate compromised health more with yo-yo dieting than higher body weight. Yet, everywhere you turn, shrinking your body is hailed as the solution. Women don't need to change. Attitudes do. So let's stop self-shaming, speak out against sizeism, and fiercely champion unconditional self-celebration!

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
• Follow me on Facebook and Instagram

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