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Weight Loss, continued

Weight Loss, continued

by Laura J Hieb, ND on June 8, 2022

So you still want to lose weight, but how?

I would suggest mindfulness.

Pay attention to what you eat.  Then ask yourself some questions.

What do you like about your eating habits? Which ones are getting you to your goal of being fitter and healthier? Which ones aren't?

Look for patterns: what  causes you to veer off your good patterns into your not so good ones?

Stress? Fatigue? Boredom? Temptation? Skipping meals? Poor planning? Sadness? Loneliness? Depression? Or?

Once you identify a trigger (or triggers) you can implement a strategy (or two or three)to help circumvent it/them.

For example, you come home from work and before you've even started making dinner, you've eaten a bag of chips, which you didn't want to do.  Ask yourself why you are so hungry when you get home? Did you skip lunch (and breakfast)? Is your lunch break early in your work day? Are you not eating much at lunch in an effort to lose weight?

If you skip lunch, why?

Not enough time/too busy to eat?  Not hungry? Forgot your lunch?

How could you solve this?

Maybe  by bringing a packed lunch with you, and/or stashing some nuts and beef jerky in your desk? Or some low sugar, high fiber, artificial sweetener-free  protein bars? Or a shaker cup and a container of good quality protein powder?

Maybe by eating a snack later in the day or before you leave for home?

 Maybe packing/eating a larger lunch?

Or maybe you could put out some pre-cut veggies and hummus  to snack on while making dinner?

The old proverb is to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. A Chinese curse is to give your dinner to your enemy.

From long ago, people had it figured out that eating more earlier in the day and less later in the day was healthier. And it still is.

Fasting all day and then having an eating fest from dinner to bedtime is not going to help your reach your goal of being healthier and fitter. When we haven't eaten much all day, we have used up all our willpower and have depleted our energy, making it all but impossible to limit our food intake and make good food choices in the late afternoon and evening.

Do you find you eat from boredom? Make a list of things you enjoy doing that you could do instead of raiding the fridge.

Stress or comfort eating? Again, make a list of other things you could do instead of eating to calm down and feel better. Try going for a walk or a bike ride, writing in your journal, calling a friend, meditating, playing with your pet, praying, doing yoga/breathing exercises, crafting, reading, gardening, taking a bath, cleaning , etc.

Other solutions could be:

Prioritizing sleep if you are tired.

Finding ways to keep tempting foods out of your environment. First rule--don't bring tempting foods home/keep them in your house. If someone you live with brings home tempting food, ask them to put it where you won't see it/find it.

Taking a weekend afternoon to plan out your menus for the week, shop and prep. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Volunteering. Helping others is a great way to help ourselves.

Start seeing a mental health counselor and/or join a support group.

The point is, you know yourself better than anyone else. Start finding the reasons for doing what you don't want to do, and implement some solutions. These are the first steps in making your own lifestyle plan to help achieve your health goals.

 And you may lose some  weight in the process.

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