Mindfullness training

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I am a chronic weight-gainer!

I'm going through a 6-month period of downsizing from our house while facing changes at work. Work travel is also increasing. Living in a new and temporary location while looking for a new house. Of course, all of this affects my weight, which has been trending upward: +13lbs from my goal weight. Aarg!

Finding my habits again is eluding me. It has always required a lot of focus for me to lose the weight, and it seems very hard to do with everything else on my mind. It's been hard to focus on anything but my living situation for several months. For the first time, I really feel like I need some sort of mindfulness training. Any suggestions?

cupcakesandproteinshakes

I’d start with the headspace app. Some free content but if you get a paid subscription then there are loads of courses including on mindful eating.
If you are based in London I would recommend breathing space which is based at the London Buddhist centre. Breathing space isn’t a religious set up but they do a lot of mindfulness courses. Some are virtual as well so that may be an option if you live in a different part of the world.

sijomial

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

I am a chronic weight-gainer!

That struck a chord!
I long ago realised that my default mode is steady weight gain and had to implement conscious controls whereas some other people (like my older brother...) seemed to have instinctive checks and balances.

Some training suggestions but also random ramblings which might be of help.

My maintenance is down to remaining mindful. That starts with daily weighing to watch my trend weight - it sets a context for what I have to do from complete eating freedom to taking action to reverse a trend.

During the day it's mostly making mindful decisions about eating. e.g., breakfast is an optional meal for me and an easy way for me to cut some calories if I want/need to.
Snacks and other discretionary food/drink options just have a little self-dialogue (Do I need this? Do I want this? If yes - how much? Am I genuinely hungry or bored or just mindlessly picking at food?)

When motivation/discipline are fragile I find spending my motivation wisely helps - e.g., making good shopping choices once is a lot easier than having temptations in the house and having to pick good choices several times a day. Once those several thousand calories of salted peanuts are in the house they are going to get eaten sooner or later (OK, mostly sooner!).
My last tip would be to set a hard upper weight limit that triggers action, I’m poor at rules (especially other people’s) but that one is non-negotiable for me. So much easier to reverse a drift early rather than have to switch onto hateful “diet mode” due to a large regain.

Two things helped with self-awareness of strengths/weaknesses and traits:
Belbin personality profiling (done as part of business/management training). I had an instinctive grasp that I was a complex mix of very different parents but gave me some tools to use my strengths better and shore up my weaknesses. More useful in business life but also helpful in everyday life including dieting.
Reading Prof Steve Peters "The Chimp Paradox" as a bit of self-training / self-awareness. Fascinating insight into how our minds work, probably more use in the business field but also gives tools to move some actions and behaviours from instinctive/emotional spheres to thoughtful/logical and that includes eating.

Hiawassee88

Don't stop wrestling with yourself. This wrestling within ourselves is going to go on for the rest of our lives. Moderating and managing our mindset is the most challenging part of maintenance.

Keep your head engaged in the process.

Consistent daily habitual choices build long term weight stability. Our moods are drivers. They make immediate desires enticing. Our emotional regulation drives our impulsive, spontaneous choices. Food gives us an emotional hit of happiness. It's easy to fall back into our old behaviors.

Don't stop wrestling. We can't coast. We can't live on our reputations. We can't pull the covers up over our heads and go back to sleep. Never let your mind be far away from what you want. We are the offense and defense. We can't sit on the bench and take a day off. That's the way you keep it.

ALG775

Here is a free online Mindfulness based stess reduction class. I've taken it in person and it is good (and hard!) https://palousemindfulness.com/

Hiawassee88

@Jthanmyfitnesspal I've been listening to mindfulness vids on utoob. I found some self-hypnosis ones. I thought about Office Space and wondered what would happen if I didn't snap out of it.

The imaginary lapband ones are fun.


Here are some takeaways:

By moderating our foods the greater the food value. More is just more and larger portions don't mean greater happiness. You're told to envision a problem or puzzle to solve in the middle of your living room table. It can be anything you like. I saw Rubik's cubes.

As you're drifting off into your beautiful space where you'll eat your favorite meal, you're told to be conscious of the puzzle at the same time. Someone is in the background cooking your favorite meal. I was in Italy and they were making me spaghetti while I was sleeping in the vineyard. You awaken from your dream state and go to the table.
You enjoy your portion and before you wake UP, you go back to the puzzle.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it ....solve the puzzle. The puzzle is enjoying your food while moderating your portions, releasing all of the weight while making the entire process something very fun and enjoyable at the same time.

Mindfulness: Keeping your head engaged in the process while having fun and releasing all of the weight.
You're releasing weight instead of losing it because we have no intention of ever finding it again. When I was releasing weight, I envisioned that the fat went splat against the sun. It then came back to earth in the form of solar flaring and warmed all of the peoples who didn't have any heat in their homes. I caused global warming and now, I don't know how to fix it.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

@Hiawassee88 : I've never tried any of that type of visualization. Please post some links to your favorite vids!

Hiawassee88

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

@Hiawassee88 : I've never tried any of that type of visualization. Please post some links to your favorite vids!

Really?! You want me too? Okey Dokey. I'll be baaaaack. Guess what, I think they're working.
Moderating my foods is giving them more value.

Hiawassee88

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

@Hiawassee88 : I've never tried any of that type of visualization. Please post some links to your favorite vids!

After reading your post, I started searching for vids and here's the first ones I listened to.

https://youtu.be/qNJwJvIlpIg?t=52


https://youtu.be/pEcLncleXIs?t=51

Hiawassee88

Next....Adam

https://youtu.be/GFiOYfz-Bbk?t=1382

Hiawassee88

https://youtu.be/J0PVzM8wbCw?t=20

Hiawassee88

Then, I listened to this one.

https://youtu.be/hywBheJpxpg?t=7

I did prefer Adam's over this one.

Hiawassee88

Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »

@Hiawassee88 : I've never tried any of that type of visualization. Please post some links to your favorite vids!

Report back and let me know. Very relaxing.

https://youtu.be/1aXy_r4Sv2s?t=56

Hiawassee88

https://youtu.be/AfZpEe7KIJ8?t=36

@Jthanmyfitnesspal

"Adam creates hypnosis sessions to help a clients escape from the feelings of stress, guilt, shame, pressure, struggle, and inner criticism from previous attempts at weight loss and replace them with a highly resourceful feeling of positivity and excitement for losing weight in a way that is effective and sustainable.

His sessions help you release the pressure that's been built up over time. This pressure may come from stressful or traumatic events, big problems, life changes or other factors. That over time can lead to a feeling of being stressed and overwhelmed - potentially making it easy to use food for a solution."

momlongerwalk

I thought about this overnight . . .
What kind of bandwidth do you have right now for weight thinking? How much have you/do you usually use of your everyday bandwidth? You know, what you have available considering the other stressors in your life? If you are working (literally) 12 hour days, sleeping 7, eating, showering, etc., and then moving and having a relationship . . . pretty soon there's not a lot left.

So, within the scope of what you carve out, even if it's not what you were spending during your weight-losing periods (which sounds a lot like maintenance, that is, bouncing around within a modest weight range), then concentrate on the biggest return on your time.

First, if you were getting on the scale every day before, it's cheap (time-wise) and easy, step on it. If you were logging that weight before AND IT HELPS YOU FOCUS, maybe do that. Again, cheap, easy.

After that, you have make your own calls about what is worth the return. You may gain some more weight, but at least you can slow it down and maintain some habits that will pay off later. For example, I know that if I'm where I can't log (because I'm a note-taker-logging-record-keeping kind of person), then I KNOW I have to watch the high-density foods. Cheese, peanut butter, butter, etc. I can be pretty blithe about basic salads. I also know I can use lean protein to keep me satisfied. So, in the moment I choose food, I have some guardrails. It's not perfect like when I'm home or have more time to make choices and plan, but it keeps me from going off a cliff.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

@momlongerwalk : "concentrate on the biggest return on your time"

A great motto for a better life! Thanks!

momlongerwalk

Another thing comes to mind . . .
"Mindfulness" is taking the time, a moment, whatever, to attend to what's in front of you. Whether that's a plate of food, sorting laundry, working on a project, etc. is irrelevant. I mean, what was it I heard said once? You can't even drink a beer well unless you think about it? That is, if you decide to do something, do it right. I don't mean the big "somethings" but the little ones. Best of luck to you.