Summer is in full swing over here in Chicago and in many parts of the world. Schedules and routines have changed up a bit with kids out of school, people taking vacations, and so forth.
This also means we are changing our wardrobes into lighter clothes where skin is showing more and for many women, this is really challenging, especially if there has been weight gained over the winter.
And we get invited to so many barbecues, birthdays, weddings, and if you are in a big city like me, the many festivals that involve often with food.
I really feel like summer is the time where women can really get challenged if they have decided to ditch diets for good and have been working on this throughout the year. We are out and about more often so we are interacting with more people, going places, etc.
Here are quick tips to help you have a non-diet summer:
- Give compassion to yourself and get more curious than judgemental: Don’t forget, diet and wellness culture especially in the summer is still in full force if not even more, and it makes perfect sense that you are feeling the pressure of wanting to lose weight. We live in a society that praises the thin ideal and looks down on those who are in larger bodies.
- If you do not feel comfortable wearing a bathing suit now, you don’t have to, instead, wear what is comfortable to you: Yes, we say you need to accept your body and just wear that bathing suit, but if you don’t feel safe in your body yet then there is no need to give yourself the pressure to wear one unless you want to. Other options could work such as wearing the bathing suit but maybe put shorts on, or wear a tunic top over it. Whatever you do please don’t ditch the beach just because you feel you HAVE to wear a bathing suit. You deserve to enjoy what summer has to offer just as the next person. Find a combo that would work best for you!
- Release all the perfectionism and the rules around dieting: Summer schedules are different than the rest of the year, so give yourself full permission to eat all the foods and eat when hungry. If breakfast is not until 11 am because you slept in later than usual, so be it. If crackers, deli meat, cheese and fruit at the beach is your lunch for the day, then let that be your lunch! We don’t need to be perfect around our meals ever, but especially in the summer we don’t as well. The days are longer so you might be eating dinner at 8,pm or 9pm even (hello patio season!). It’s fine. The key thing here is to honor your hunger cues, fullness, and satisfaction. We want to create memories with our family and friends, not stress over when and what we are eating.
Hope these quick tips help! What would you add to this list?
If you want to work on having a non-diet summer, I created a Facebook “Undiet your Summer Challenge” group if interested! If you’d like to join other women for that extra support including myself, come join us! Come ask questions, get tips from me, and more! It’s also FREE!
The challenge runs until Labor Day Weekend. You can join the FB group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/undietyoursummer
Hope to see you in the group!
Deanna
Deanna Kozarov LLC 