What has strength training done for me? It’s a bit like the Monty Python sketch “what have the Romans ever done for us?” So many things – the obvious and the unexpected.

Frequently taking the first step on a project, whatever it may be, whether personal or business, can be the hardest. You may have in your head a vision of the end result, identified the steps needed but be struggling to start on the road to achieving it.

Part of moving away from a diet mindset is recognising/learning that we are so much more than what we weigh. The aim is to escape the influence the scales and this number have over your emotions.

It’s all very well talking about food freedom and moving away from food restriction but some foods I still struggle to eat in a mindful way. The dictionary definition of moderation is the avoidance of excess or extremes.

Oh, are you being good?” I was asked on turning down dessert when out for dinner. One of my pet peeves – I just didn’t want any – no biggie! It got me thinking about all the rules that we are bombarded with about what foods we should and shouldn’t eat.

I have actively been moving away from a diet mindset to one focused on moderation or intuitive eating. Recently I made the decision that having maintained my weight for a while I wanted to get a bit leaner ( must admit a few pounds have gone - comfort eating – still learning!).

I was horrified when I saw last week Kim Kardashian promoting an appetite suppressing lollipop – as many others were.

Like with any skill eating “normally” for your goals requires practice, particularly if you have a history of disordered eating. We don’t try anything else and expect to get it right straight away and think we’ve failed if we don’t. We expect to have to learn and practice.

So, we’ve just been away for a few days and my plan had been to write a post on the tactics I’d employed to survive a vacation eating wise. And while I wouldn’t say the few days had been a disaster it wasn’t a resounding success either.

So, Weight Watchers has been in the press recently due to the announcement that they are going to offer 6-week free memberships to teenagers aged 13-17 firstly in the US and Australia. Ah, that’s kind of them may be your first reaction, but is it really?

#wakeupweightwatchers

I think it was fairly hard to miss International Women’s Day last week. There were posts celebrating women from history, current day activists and also more personal appreciation for women who were important in an individual’s life.

Something I’ve been pondering lately is whether I can say I am truly “embracing” my body if I still really would like to change it so it was timely when I came across an article by Miranda Larbi on themetro.co.uk addressing this very issue.

There has been a lot of material written about giving yourself permission to do things in life as a woman – about being yourself. This in turn can exert pressure to be this go , and while I agree with the sentiment and we shouldn’t let ourselves be held back, it is also acceptable not to do things.

So, we’re a couple of weeks into 2018 and I’ve been a bit delayed in reflecting on last year and setting some goals for 2018. In part due to school holidays only finishing last week and life has now returned to some sort of normality, however chaotic that may be.