Is Mindless Eating “Weighing” You Down?
I remember a while ago, my aunt had told me that she’d been trying to practice “mindful eating”. Yesterday, I read an article in Shape magazine about letting go of the “diet mentality” and paying more attention to what your body’s really in need of in terms of nutrition and hunger levels, as opposed to counting calories eaten and burned.
Is this a new wave of thinking in terms of weight loss?
I’ve always said that dieting is rarely a matter of knowing what to eat, how much, and so on. That it’s rather an exercise in balancing your lifestyle. Sit at a computer screen all day? You’re going to need to do more exercise than someone who works at a construction site. Skip breakfast? It’s time to break out the mini-meals, and make them nutritious.
I don’t care who you are, or how much you may or may not have dieted in the past - you can instinctively tell the difference between something nutritious and not so. It’s not a matter of knowledge, but rather decision.
The thing I feel is most annoying me right now, is the overwhelming amount of advice, books, and programs out there. It’s all about this diet or that program or this book, and I think that people are just feeling like they can’t try enough different things. When they fail at one, they try another - they’re spending more money on programs and plans than on food and exercise equipment!
I think my new plan of attack on this whole thing is going to be to pay more attention to what I choose to eat, in terms of the following:
- How all around nutritious is the food I’m about to put in my mouth?
- How much of the food in front of me do I really need to consume at this point?
- How can I get more exercise than I’ve been getting?
All of this kind of ties in with a bunch of other stuff floating around this whacked out head of mine. With the big 3-0 approaching, I’ve been noticing changes in my body - my hair and skin, mainly - and also feeling a little “cluttered” with life. I need to do some major cleaning up and eliminating the things that are literally weighing me down.
There’ve been times in my life where I was so organized with things it was almost scary. I’m feeling quite the opposite as of late, and it’s making me scared. Go figure.
What do you think about the idea of dropping the “diet mentality” yourself, and taking on a mindful approach to eating and exercising?
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Categories: Weight Loss
Hey Lara!
I think dropping the “diet mentality” is a good idea. I honestly think it’s something that we need to work on if we’re going to be able to maintain a healthy weight for the rest of our lives. My personal problem with that approach is that I’ll freak out at night if I want some kind of treat, like have I eaten too many calories already? Can I have this even though I’m not extremely hungry? That’s why the counting approach is sometimes good for me. I can relate to the “whacked out head” comment. I want so badly to lose weight and be healthy, yet I’ve probably put on 20 pounds this year after losing almost 60 last year. Very sad and disheartening. Yesterday I was actually contemplating going back to WW meetings but I decided that my budget honestly can’t afford it (even if it can, that money should be going to debt repayment), so I decided to give this one more serious attempt on my own before going that route. Because I honestly don’t know what help meetings would give me if I can’t motivate myself to stick to a healthy eating/exercise pattern! So for now, I’m going to try to make GRADUAL changes and ignore my perfectionist mindset. I did better yesterday and today than I’ve done in awhile, and that’s something.
Anyway, I digress! I know you can accomplish whatever you put your mind to. Sounds like you know what changes you need to make. Sending best wishes and good thoughts your way!
To me, I hear “die-it” “die-you” meaning this plan is going to kill you. Okay not literally, but it definitely kills the pleasure of eating. It keeps you in a depravation mind set, and it just doesn’t sound fun at all. I used to do all the diet plans when I was younger, and I would lose weight when on the plan, but once I got off, the pounds come back on.
One of my theories is that dieting also doesn’t get to the emotional and spiritual reasons why we over eat and why we don’t exercise, and basically take better care of ourselves. Sometimes it’s a worthiness issue. Do you feel worthy of having a healthy body? Sounds like a dumb question but if you dig deep, like I did, you might find that there is a part of you that doesn’t feel worthy or deserving in some way. Something to think about?
Also, there is being conscious of what you are putting into your body. I started reading food labels a great deal more, and made this guideline to only eat things that I knew. If it sounded chemical, or like something from a chemistry project, then I wasn’t going to eat it.
Lastly, what I don’t like about diets is all the RULES. If you break a rule, then you’re left feeling undisciplined, and un-perfect. I like the word guidelines because it makes you feel like it’s more of a choice rather than a mandate.
I think you’re right Stephanie, in terms of “on plan/off plan” and dieting being fine for the moment, but afterward, it all goes to pot.
I have to say this though: I’m not one of those people where my emotions have to do with my being overweight. I know I’m kickass, and I know that I deserve to be healthy. That said, there are MILLIONS of people who overeat when they’re bored/sad/hurt/angry/lonely/etc. and I think you’re right - most of them don’t know how to dig in and discover why their eating habits have been what they have… for most people, it really is emotional - but honestly? It just isn’t that way for me. It’s simply a matter of choices and making the right ones, and doing it consistently - knowing that it’s not a temporary thing, but rather the way healthy people live too - even if they’ve never been overweight in their lives.
Honestly. I’m absolutely content with who I am on the inside. I do love myself, and when I remember to think about how I’d feed someone else I loved, to keep/get them healthy, then I do really well in losing weight. It’s when I remove it from the forefront of my thoughts that I wind up blowing it. LOL
Thank you both for your comments!