Weight Loss & Spiritual Growth: What’s the Connection – In Session with Marc David

So many of us are trying to lose weight. 

We can put all of our energy, our heart and soul, into fulfilling what seems like a simple desire - just lose a bunch of body fat.

When our efforts aren’t working though, things can get complicated.

We can become a bit anxious, and adopt the kind of beliefs that are intended to motivate us, but actually hold us back. These beliefs can include: 

• I’m not good enough as I am

• I am not lovable

• Something is wrong with

• Once I lose the weight, then and only then can I finally be happy

• If I just work harder, then the weight will come off

When we think such thoughts, oddly enough, the body itself does not feel safe. 

And when the body doesn’t feel safe, our physiology tends to hold onto weight.

That’s the dilemma Marc David helps our guest coaching client Carrie untangle in this episode.

After a recent weight loss, Carrie feels conflicted about the praise and positive comments she receives from the people around her. Far from feeling validated by the feedback, it seems only to raise the volume on her own self-judgment. 

What’s most problematic though, is that Carrie equates losing weight with spiritual growth. 

Meaning, Carrie believes that if she can work hard enough on her spiritual growth, then the last remaining pounds she wants to lose will magically drop away. From there, she imagines she can finally be her best and truest self, which she’s admittedly put on hold the last 20 years.

But as Marc helps her to see, that’s an extraordinary amount of pressure to pressure on our body, and ourself. 

When we put off our happiness and satisfaction into the future, when we tell ourselves that “I can only be the real me once I lose weight” - we are assuring that the life we have right now is at best only half lived.

Follow the conversation as Marc guides Carrie in a process of decoupling weight loss from spiritual growth. 

In the process, Marc helps Carrie redefine her approach to her own spiritual journey. He reminds her that, “just because there's places where you need to grow doesn't mean there's something wrong with you.”

He helps her see that true healing goes far beyond the size and shape of our body. 

After all, when we look at our weight as proof that we are broken and defective, we just perpetuate a cycle of unhappiness, discontent, and constant judgment of our body.

Sometimes, finding peace with food and body simply means loving and accepting our body just as it is – right here, right now.

From this place, our journey to actually lose weight can be far more successful.

This episode also explores how:

✅ Owning our preferences means we don’t have to explain ourselves

✅ Self-acceptance creates an embodied sense of safety

✅ Our inner rebel can be a powerful ally in weight loss and in life

 

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Learn more about us at The Institute for the Psychology of Eating: https://psychologyofeating.com/ 

Ready to call a ceasefire in your battle with eating, and find peace and freedom with food? Learn more about our newest program, The Emotional Eating Breakthrough! https://learn.psychologyofeating.com/

Interested in becoming a certified coach in eating psychology? Then tune in to hear Marc talk about our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training, and download a copy of our School Catalog: https://psychologyofeating.com/info-kit/ Learn our powerful, cutting-edge approach, and discover how you can create a unique career helping others find peace and freedom with food.

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