About Me

Hello, and welcome to my site all about respecting your body. Health and fitness has been a topic of interest for me for many years. With the goal of losing weight and being “healthy and fit”, I have tried most of the popular diet and exercise programs at least once, yet never achieved the results that I expected.

After years of yo-yo dieting, I realized that I had less energy, more digestive and health issues, and was the most dissatisfied than I have every been with how I looked and felt.

Sound familiar?

After many medical appointments, tests, and a lot of research, I realized that the majority of my problems were directly related to dieting.

I’m here to share with you what has helped me and provide you with information and tips that you can use to respect your body and worth with it to become a healthier, happier person.

Why I Started Dieting

Growing up, I rarely thought about my weight or how my body looked until I reached my preteen years. A little extra weight gain came naturally with puberty. This led to what seemed like everyone telling me what was “healthy”.

What do you do when you start getting comments about your food choices and your weight from mostly well-meaning relatives, friends, and medical professionals?

Most people resort to dieting in an attempt to lose weight like I did, instead of listening to their own hunger and fullness cues.

I tried every diet from low-fat diets to keto to veganism trying to lose weight and achieve an ideal number on the bathroom scale. The best results I ever achieved came from two years of fairly strict dieting in combination with weight lifting and swimming. I lost over 40 pounds, yet I felt tired all the time and had developed a lot of problems relating to slow digestion and decreased gallbladder function.

Why Dieting Does Not Work

It turns out that all of those diets were putting extra stress on my body. Over time, restrictive diets and calorie counting led to deficiencies, a slower metabolism, and certain organs not functioning optimally.

I ended up having emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder. That fixed some of my symptoms, mainly the pain, but created other issues, such as heartburn and bile reflux.

So, what finally helped me?

Shifting from a low-fat diet with the goal of weight control to intuitive eating, along with providing my body with the supplements it needs to function effectively. I have more energy now than I’ve had in years!

I eat whatever I want when I want. My body’s natural hunger and fullness cues signal me when to eat. It may sound radical or counter-intuitive, but I have actually started to become leaner while eating foods like pasta, chocolate, and cheese. Initially, I did gain a bit of weight while adjusting to the freedom of being able to eat anything. This is normal.

I also take a few key supplements to make up for not having a gallbladder anymore and support my digestive system and my liver.

To learn more about intuitive eating, check out this post on the 10 steps of intuitive eating.

 

Respecting Your Body Is Most Important

Your body is truly amazing! Most of your organs like your heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, liver, and intestines are working constantly to keep you alive and get rid of wastes and toxins. How can they properly do their job if you don’t give them the nutrients that they need?

There is more to life than being the thinnest one in the room or having muscles that everyone will envy. Each body has its own natural size, shape, and features that are worth respecting.

Don’t underestimate your body’s ability to tell you when it needs something. Eating and exercising should be used to support your body, not control or change it. I promise that if you focus on working with your body, instead of against it, you will see the difference.

Here’s to helping you live your best life,

Delaney

Owner of Respecting Your Body

respectingyourbody.com