Numbers, never my strong point…

by Adele Johnston 

…In fact I was that kid at high school who dreaded their class timetable saying ‘Mathematics’. Even worse when it was a double period (I still feel the anxiety lol).

I remember thinking to myself “this just isn’t for me, I’m never going to want to get better at it and quite frankly it’s boring me so…”  

Fast forward a year and I’d somehow managed to talk my head teacher into allowing me to drop intermediate maths and instead take Spanish lessons. I say somehow because Spanish wasn’t offered at my school so there was no exam at the end of the year – RESULT! 

Now I’m not telling you this to impress you with my apparent negotiation skills; but rather to set the scene for what I’m about to share with you below. 

I’ve realised something recently, after chatting with our group of ladies in the Facebook group, and my 121 clients. 

A lot of you, in your 30s-50s,  appear to be stuck in this cycle of eating numbers rather than for enjoyment and to your wants/needs. 

Let me explain… 

…you find yourself approaching the McDonald’s drive thru and all of a sudden you’re faced with the choice  

Do I go for what I really want – a medium McChicken sandwich meal with strawberry milkshake 

Or do I opt for the nuggets happy meal because that’s a fraction of the calories?

Do I really need the medium meal?

I want the medium meal but it’s so many more calories than the Happy Meal.

You’re now next in the queue for the ordering thingy and your brain is going mad at the thought of having to either opt for the meal you want, vs the meal you feel you should have.

Why do we do these things to ourselves?

For pure clarity, we’ve all been there ladies, we’ve all, whether it’s McDonald’s or any other food establishment, faced the menu where the calories are displayed and made choices based on what the numbers say.

I want to give full transparency that I’ve been there myself, and the McDonald’s brain melt above was in fact my own ‘dilemma’ many years ago. Bible truth. 

Now what I’m not going to do here is poop on dieting – for the record I’m not one of the many evidence based nutritionists out there that’s anti-diet.

Nor do I fully get all of the guiding principles surrounding intuitive eating  – number 1 being ‘Reject dieting mentality’

because I wholeheartedly believe you can eat intuitively, but diet at the same time to reach an end goal e.g. dropping body fat to improve health markers and confidence before developing a maintenance lifestyle.

Cue the number of arguments my way on how this “isn’t intuitive eating in it’s true sense Adele” Meh, by who’s terms?

If you find yourself a little lost at the minute and unsure where to turn then please don’t stay there – reach out, my DMs’ and inbox are always open.

Whether it’s with your food and/or body relationship, your health and lifestyle or just a sounding board to support you towards your goals; I’ve got you ladies.  

You can DM over on Instagram https://instagram.com/adele.johnson or drop me an email and I’ll get back to you adele@a-gamelifestyle.com