Mindful Eating to Weight Loss

Mindfulness is currently being studied in managing weight. Mindfulness is being defined as being attentive and aware of what is taking place in the present moment. Mindfulness is being used as a form of meditation in which we intentionally self regulate attention from moment to moment.

A study was done and when people were mindful they decreased their caloric intake 1200 to 1500 calories and decreased dietary fat 20-30%. They recorded their daily intake in a food diary, recorded their daily weight, exercised 300 minutes a week, moderate to vigorous exercise, and recorded daily activities in a diary.

When people eat mindlessly it feels good in the moment. They are using it to distress or celebrate. They are multi-tasking while eating, grazing on food, skip breakfast or meals, ignore hunger and body cues, continue to eat after full, disregard nutritional needs, avoid paying attention to physical symptoms of over or under eating, "live to eat" instead of "eat to live," believe you have little control over eating, and have comfort foods.



Physical hunger builds gradually, strikes below the neck, happens several hours after a meal, goes away when full, and eating leads to satisfaction. Emotional hunger develops suddenly above the neck (hence the eyes), persists despite fullness, leads to guilt and shame, and is unrelated to time. Sensory hunger is related to the sight, smell, taste, mouth full of food (touch), and noise of eating (sound).



Research shows that when people eat slowly they eat approximately 30% less. It enhances the eating experience, can reduce binge eat from 12-14 times/week to 2-4 times/week, increases awareness of how much is eaten, savors the experience and can increase satisfaction with often less food, and helps to control urges to snack when you are not connected to hunger.



Benefits of mindul exercise means fewer missed exercise sessions, more regular exercise, greater perceived stress, greater self-efficacy, and may prevent total relapse to drop off.



5 steps to mindul eating.

1. Reflect on your hunger. Is it physical or emotional, hunger or thirst, or are you stressed or tired.

2. Eat mindfully. Pick a place to eat, rank your fullness on a scale of 1 to 7. Stop eating at 4 to 5pm if you are overweight. Decide when you are satisfied and on the amount needed without get overstuffed.

3. Be aware of your posture.

4. Look forward to when it is over or excited to begin.

5. Stop at pain and discomfort, or adjust self to feel better.



4 Steps to Mindful Exercise

1. Assess how you feel.

2. Choose your exercise related to how you fee. Example go up and down stairs at work.

3. Engage your senses.

4. Reflect how you feel when you are done.



This was the notes that I took when attending this lecture and I found it interesting that mindful eating includes not eating while driving or watching tv. Have you ever sat down on the couch with a bag of chips, and before you knew it the whole bag of chips was gone. Mindful eating means sitting down at a table, undistracted, where you can pay attention to all you are taking in. Maybe it can be a rule of thumb to only eat when sitting at a table, so that snacking doesn't get out of control.

Let's be MFP friends, add me!

Stop eating at 4 to 5pm if you are overweight