Are you struggling to lose weight? And can you say NO? How is that related to weight loss?

Visits

When you are visiting someone and your mother-in-law, grandmother, or mother is piling food onto your plate. And they usually put about three times more on it than you need.

Can you tell them that it is too much and that you want less? And once you already have that mountain of food on your plate, can you stop eating and say that you have had enough, then hand the plate back to your mother-in-law with the food picked apart?

Finishing Everything

Or the food may not even be put on your plate by a high-risk relative 🙂 , but quite possibly by you yourself. Or it may be brought to you in a restaurant. Can you leave some of it uneaten? Even when it is incredibly delicious, you are already completely full, but there is still some left on the plate, it cost money, and surely it would be a waste to throw it away…

Likewise, finishing your children’s leftovers – can you take a plate from the children with uneaten food on it and throw it away when you are neither hungry nor in the mood for what is on the plate?

Will you be a good girl and finish it, or will you be kind to yourself, manage to say NO to yourself, and leave it uneaten?

You Would Give Everything of Yourself

The ability to say NO also affects weight loss in another area, namely when you tend to do everything for everyone. You serve, do things, arrange everything, mainly so that everyone around you is happy, while you repeatedly put yourself on the back burner.

Then it is easy to hit an energy low, from which you bounce back with a bar of chocolate in your mouth.

Or you simply have absolutely no time or energy left to pay attention to yourself, and no one around you gives you any either, even though you do everything possible for them, so you reach for some food, often full of sugar and fat, because it provides satisfaction the fastest and most intensely.

And you stuff yourself with it, thinking that at least this way you can give yourself some pleasure and at least this way pay yourself some attention.

Do you see yourself in this?

If so, then you know that weight loss is by no means just about a calorie deficit, and advice like “stop eating and exercise” is genuinely laughable.

This is just one small piece of the puzzle. Our ability, or inability, to say NO shows up in many areas of our lives, and I always add that we need to say a KIND NO. Otherwise, it can easily turn into arrogance, and we do not want that.

If you feel that this is your issue too, I would be happy to help you work on it.

I know all these situations very well. I have experienced an eating disorder myself, and saying NO has been a lifelong issue for me. So I understand you very well and know how difficult it is to change.

But it can be done.

Usually, it is necessary to work with deep-rooted patterns of behaviour that often developed in childhood.

Do you remember how we were forced to finish everything at school, even when it was disgusting and we really did not like it? Who has never hidden sinewy meat under dumplings, as if they had not 🙂 ?

And then there is the traditional line from parents and grandparents: “You have to finish it, do you know what children in Africa would give for it?” Food simply must not be thrown away, period. Even if we were about to burst, food simply did not go in the bin.

Or the popular one: “When you finish it, you will get a sweet.” Translated, this means: you have to eat everything on your plate, regardless of whether you like it or are still hungry, but you simply have to force it down, and as a reward you get something you really want.

It is very difficult to break free from these behavioural patterns.

That is why it is helpful to have some support, so that you are not alone at the beginning of this process.

I can work with you on this issue from both a nutritional and an emotional perspective. We can also support the whole process with Bach flower essences, which can be wonderfully helpful when it comes to setting boundaries.

Get in touch with me and we will get started. We will look at where your need to finish everything came from, strengthen your ability to set boundaries, and help you say a kind NO in situations where it is needed.

The first 30-minute consultation is always free, so that you can find out whether my approach is right for you.

We will arrange the consultation in advance by phone at 775 110 200, by email at info°mamysrozumem.cz, or via Messenger.

You can find my counselling office at the Centrum Univerzita Tábor, Vančurova 2904, Tábor, but we can also work online via video call.

I am really looking forward to meeting every one of you who decides that you no longer want to go on diets, but want to eat normally, enjoy food and life, and feel good.

Have a beautiful day,

Romana Prokopová

Holistic Nutritional Counselling and Bach Flower Essences

I am a nutritional counsellor with a holistic approach to weight loss. I focus on women who have no room for special meal plans, are constantly rushed, and have neither the time nor the energy left for exercise.

In our work, we address not only eating habits, but also your overall lifestyle and, to a great extent, your mental well-being and your relationship with food and with yourself.