Living the Lifestyle Thursday Sept 1

MICHGOLFER2

Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Monday -- crewahl / Charlie
Tuesday --60in2017 / Millie
Wednesday -- minimyzeme / Kim
Thursday -- MICHGOLFER2 / Jane
Friday --Jimb376mfp / Jim

Today's topic: Distractions while eating

A few days ago I received an email from the Mayo Clinic listing 5 habits to break for successful weight loss. Habit #1 was watching TV while eating. Their suggestion was to try to refrain from this behavior for 2 weeks. I remember this topic being addressed by WW in the past.

Question: Have you made eating without distraction a LTL habit? If so, how has it helped your weight loss or maintenance? If not, is this something you are willing to incorporate into your version of LTL? Why or why not?

MICHGOLFER2

I’m going to give this another try. When this was covered by WW, I did try to focus on eating my meals without reading or watching TV, but it didn’t stick. It made meal time less enjoyable, and I wasn’t ready for the change. However, it did make me realize that I was unconsciously extending my meal time by eating more in order to have more reading time. Which really doesn’t make sense because I have plenty of time to read or watch TV or whatever else I want to do.

I think if I uncouple eating and other activities, at least for a time, it will help me be more mindful, especially going into the winter months with long evenings spent indoors.

Rachel0778

I'll be honest, I still eat in front of the TV or while reading a book. I find it part of the enjoyment of the experience and honestly I don't enjoy just sitting by myself and eating at the table. But that's where pre-portioning my food comes into play. I don't bring the bag of chips/cookies with me when I go to watch TV. I instead bring my pre-portioned treat plate with me and enjoy every bite while enjoying my media of choice.

60in2017

I eat breakfast, lunch and most of my snacks, sitting at my desk, working. Dinner during the week is usually leftovers because I eat after my workout, around 7 pm and just need to eat SOMETHING. The weekends are different - I make an effort to try at least three new recipes, slow down, and concentrate on the flavors and what I'm eating. Weekdays are rushed and fully packed, so meal time is short or shoved into whatever time I have available.

misterhub

I am very bad. I eat in front of the TV, and I often eat at my desk when at work.

Bad Greg! Bad!

steve0mania

When my kids were young, they used to get fed first, and then my wife and I would eat dinner in front of the TV. As they've gotten older, we decided that it was important to eat together as a family sitting at the dinner table. That has been a great approach for us, and I think it likely does help with the food intake at dinner.

At breakfast I have a bowl of cereal while reading a book. I specifically carve this time out for reading/studying, so I am not willing to give that up. However, I only serve myself one measured bowl of cereal with one measured aliquot of milk. Thus, it doesn't matter how long it takes, I only eat one serving.

The same thing holds true for lunch. I bring my lunch every day, and always eat it in front of the computer at my desk. This is my "surf the internet, check the news" time. Again, there's only one serving, so there's no weight-management issue with this.

Calvin2008Brian

Interesting. I often have a meal while engaged in other activity, and don't think it makes much of a difference. I'll try to be more cognizant of it, but I don't think my television (or smartphone, computer, or book) is sending subliminal messages to eat more. Is the advice aimed at a person who would tend to watch TV with an open bag of cheesy poofs at hand?

leeless511

My husband and I both work from home, we eat lunch and dinner at the kitchen table. We eat breakfast in our lower level family room, which started when we had 2 dogs & they lived mostly on that level because our backyard is accessed from there thus leaving them out etc. was more convenient. We liked to be together with them for our morning ritual.

We made a conscious decision to eat at a dining table for most meals. For many reasons, some related to health but more about one on one time and less distractions so we could talk etc.

misterhub

Memory Lane:

When I was a kid, back in the 60s & 70s, we always ate at the table for dinner. But, the TV, which was in sight of the table, was always on, and dinner almost always coincided with Walter Cronkite.

As a result, both my brother and I were considered by our teachers as two of the most knowledgeable students on current affairs in the school. I always enjoyed dinner with Walter Cronkite.

goldenfrisbee

When the kids were growing up it was a priority that we all sit together at the dining room table for dinner. Now that they are all grown and my wife works some evenings, I don't really enjoy just sitting at the table by myself. So I do a mixture of both, but when eating and watching tv at the same time, I bring down a measured portion that I track. This keeps me from mindless eating.

gadgetgirlIL

Rachel0778 wrote: »

I don't enjoy just sitting by myself and eating at the table. But that's where pre-portioning my food comes into play.

This! I really try to always sit down when eating, but there are distractions.

podkey

For me personally it doesn't compute. They tell us to make our plates pretty for eye appeal and have pleasant conversations with family sitting down and then try and make a big deal about distractions?? I find the "distractions" of talking more in a pleasant environment slows down my eating. So which is it??? I also find that watching Jeopardy at night slows down my eating too. I don't eat a whit more or a whit less since I naturally place the right portions on my plate for dinner.

Rachel said this well.

I find this sort of "research" sounds good until we examine the details. Of course sitting down with a bag-o-chips and no portion control is bad behavior but that is true whether by the TV or at the dining room table.
Its not the tv or music or conversations that makes us fat it's more having uncontrolled amounts of food within our reach.
It's just not as simple as TV=fat

podkey

Honestly I have been over 8 years at goal weight and having some "distraction" has helped me to slow down in my eating whether from friends or Jeopardy.

Oh and like Mitch it does in fact extend my eating time which in my case is a great thing. I still eat the SAME amount but take longer doing it.
Just put the right portion on your plate and don't eat seconds and you could be ok???

Also position while eating for me doesn't make a whit of difference either. I always eat my lunch sandwich (1 slice of bread and chicken breast) while standing up or walking around and not sitting. If I ate standing on my head (difficult but not necessarily impossible) it wouldn't matter either. When cycling long distances Tour de France riders eat small sandwiches while riding and it helps them not hurts them.

linmueller

Calvin2008Brian wrote: »

Is the advice aimed at a person who would tend to watch TV with an open bag of cheesy poofs at hand?

I too remember talking about that in a meeting, and I think the idea @Calvin2008Brian was more if you enjoy the act of eating (and I assume most people with weight issues do), then eating without distraction gives your brain a better chance of registering that you are eating , and to enjoy it. For example, have you ever looked down at your empty plate and wondered where the food went, because you were just shoveling it in?

As for me, I rarely eat a meal without TV, my smart phone or a book. And Jane, @MICHGOLFER2 , you struck a nerve when you mentioned prolonging eating to prolong reading (or TV) time. I totally do that sometimes!

So yes! Although I'm sure I tried this before, I am absolutely willing to eat without distraction for 2 weeks and see what difference it might make. Thanks for the question, and the challenge!

podkey

Makes some sense. If certain distractions take away from your satisfaction from eating it might help as you say. If "distractions" whether conversations or TV or reading merely prolong your eating of the same portion allowing your satisfaction ("fullness") level to occur from slower eating that can be a good thing for us fast eaters perhaps.
Different strokes for different folks I guess. One size does not fit all.

myallforjcbill

We almost always eat dinner watching TV. Other meals not so much.

podkey

Yeah I eat breakfast at the keyboard of my computer or whatever ya call my late morning meal. It is still the same omelet with kale, carrots, Caribbean hot sauce etc that I always eat most days. Lunch on the go around the house and dinner with Alex Trebek.

None of that has hurt me so far.

Al_Howard

We both usually have our morning bowls of oatmeal, and our noon-ish rollups in front of the computers. Lunch with the news. Dinner at the dining table, but usually with the news on.

goldenfrisbee

I

podkey wrote: »

dinner with Alex Trebek.

I love me some Alex Trebek in the evening. We record it and all watch together before bed.

myallforjcbill

Jeopardy is usually the show of choice for dinner.

podkey

I'll take Alex for $200 Bill!

88olds

I eat I front of the TV all the time. The battle takes place in the kitchen where I still weigh and measure.

This is probably why I could never make it as a dark sider. There's still an element of strapping on the feed bag for me. My program is to not eat stuff that's not on my plate and control what goes on the plate.

goldenfrisbee

"Darksider"?

misterhub

I like the Darkside.

jbrack381us

Agree with the others regarding weighing and measuring and plate prep before I eat in front of the TV. Taking a bag or container of snacks to the couch to keep me company is not something I tend to do without knowing the calorie count.

goldenfrisbee

jbrack381us wrote: »

not something I tend to do without knowing the calorie count.

I'm finding that knowing the calorie count is really freeing. I thought I would hate tracking, but it is just the opposite

MICHGOLFER2

Thanks for the input! Your responses, as always, have given me things to think about and specific strategies to implement. WW had a series of promotions about "spaces" a while back (my leader mentioned this yesterday as well) that I found very helpful at the time, but the concept had drifted to the back of my mind. Measuring out servings and getting rid of the large bags or boxes is something I can do to prep my space in advance, rather than trying to make the best decision at my weakest time.

minimyzeme

Was out of town last night with slower internet than usual and can't do more than a few sentences on my phone without uttering a whole litter of *kittens*!

Anyway, I'm a mixed bag on this one. Sometimes I really enjoy sitting (or standing) and being present with my food. Lots of times though, I'm eating before leaving home or shortly after getting home. Those times tend to be busier with household chores, catching up on the day's events, etc.

I'm actually not much of a TV watcher, though I do have some shows I watch on my computer. I don't often eat at the same time only because I find I either focus on food or the program but usually not both together. However, I also read various things on the internet while eating so it's a little like TV I suppose. More to the point, it's distracted eating.

I'd guess I'm probably about 50/50 distracted vs not. Right now I'm not feeling the need to change.

crewahl

I think the point of the advice was more around "mindfulness" than environment or location.

For many of us, eating in front of the TV was part of "grazing", or eating for entertainment. How many of us got here because we took 17 chips from the bag and ate in front of the TV, and how many because we took the bag and ate in front of the TV until the bag was empty?

(Note - we really need a "raises hand" emoji here.)

So I eat at the kitchen table, which is next to the family room and TV. At breakfast it's food and the Boston Globe on the iPad; in the evening it's dinner and some DVR. Like Steve-O, however, the meals are pre-portioned and the the food is gone the meal is over. There's no grazing; it's just about the environment.

(Busy week at work; I'm part of the "better late than never" club here.)