I was raised in a clean-your-plate culture with media touting 5’10” female models weighing 106 pounds. My tall slender grandmother called me out as “pudgy” whenever I gained 5 pounds or more. I started dieting around age 14 and have yo-yoed my 5’5” body between 118 – 170 pounds too many times to count. At age 44 and 169 pounds, I hired a personal trainer to successfully lose 35 pounds and lean down to 16% body fat by eating less and moving more. I ate very clean, finding ways to eat deliciously with no white flour, no white sugar, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and some dairy. I was happy my body had settled at a comfortable weight. But I had a lot of anxiety and fear around food in trying to maintain that weight. I controlled the anxiety by carefully monitoring macros and logging food intake most days. Within two years, I gained just 3 pounds and panicked. Eating less and moving more didn’t take off the added weight, so I tried every other sensible diet: carb cycling, calorie cycling, calorie restriction + 2 cheat meals per week, intermittent fasting, smaller frequent meals and … Continue reading This Could Be You…