Weight Loss and Mindfulness

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shel80kg
shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
After a lifetime of starting and stopping healthy eating habits and constant fluctuations with my weight, I thought I would seek out a group of like-minded folks and discuss our relationship(s) with food and eating. I thought it might be fun and interesting to engage in meaningful discussions regarding the choices we make around food. Please let me know if you would like to join me on this journey.
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  • youngcaseyr
    youngcaseyr Posts: 293 Member
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    I don't have much weight to lose, but I do have an uncomfortable relationship with food sometimes. I love to "eat healthy" (which looks a bit different for everyone) and I love the way it makes me feel, but I also eat out of boredom and have some impulse control issues when it comes to "junk food," and I don't like the way I feel after I overindulge. I don't plan to cut out candy or sweets because I'm not about trying to restrict myself completely, but I would like to work on my self control when snacks and treats are present in whatever amount or setting they may come up.

    ✌️🤟
    Casey
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    Awesome stories and great insight. I think we underestimate how we have been programmed to eat at so many levels. We are creatures of habit and our brains look for the path of least resistance. Sugar was a rare treat for our ancestors and we have made so many “foods” so convenient that we use them as staple sources of nutrition and energy. Bugger that..,. they just taste good and more is better.
    So, my fellow warriors....let’s change the story in our head and eat to live rather than live to eat. Of course food has to be enjoyable but not mood altering or as a replacement for love and comfort.
    No fast food today. And I have made it to day......2! One day at a time.
    Take care and chat again tomorrow!
  • Violette_Qin
    Violette_Qin Posts: 6 Member
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    I like this thread! Thank you for all the good discussions above.

    Fortunately sweets have never been temptations for me. My husband is rather complaining that I never eat the chocolate he gave me as gift half a year ago. I store those sweets out of sight and they are often forgotten... LOL

    But I overindulged in the cooking of home-made food for the last 10 years, since I left China for Europe. Probably used cooking as a compensation/comfort for being away from my home. I had no clue about calories and how much calories my body actually needs. Eating without consciousness about food - definitely not a good idea! The consequence is weight gain at about 1kg per year. So I need to do something to "reverse the time".

    Now I have started to exercise properly and pay attention to what I put in my mouth. I have my calorie budget each day, which means every bite needs to count. My food is simpler, but tastier. I so much prefer this rather than being overwhelmed with flavors (and burdening my body with all the excessive calories).
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    Hi Everyone,
    I think it is true that some individuals have a more natural tendency to exert a degree of self control and self discipline when food choices are presented. There is clinical evidence that this tendency can begin at a very early age and often means that the individual has a good sense of when enough is "enough" or when it is okay to delay gratification for something "better". Sadly, I am not one of the people, at least at this point in my life and therefore need more external guardrails and controls to assist me in the self-monitoring. I do not see this as a character flaw or as a terrible part of myself. Just a learned response system that doesn't push me over the line of self-control. I think starting this thread and reaching out to you as well as inviting you to share your stories/experiences may be part of that...so thank you. Tavistock Toad, your nephew is on track to live a healthy and balanced life. Knowing when to not eat more chocolate...at the age of 4...is very cool and should be reinforced. I'm learning that skill decades later. That's life.
    I broke yesterday and had a Turkish Delight. Think I was feeling a bit down and sad regarding some matters with work and family. Oh well. Will start a new day today. I have lost 5 kg and just completed a 6k walk so I will get my mojo back. We are all perfectly imperfect.
    Have a great day.
    It's Sunday in Australia. Beautiful outside. Make every moment count.
    S
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    Much better today. I love mornings. When you do feel the best about yourself? When do you feel the worst? Do you track your moods? Do they fluctuate? How do you stay consistent?
    I would love to hear your successes. We all have them if we look in the right places. Its all about our attitude.
    Shel
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    I think weight management and honest approaches to weight loss are rather simple and straight forward. This site tries to make it sexy and exciting. Nothing wrong with that except it denies the reality that each of us has to look deep into ourselves and find the strength, discipline and courage to face the demands of behavioral changes over a long period of time. At first we can feel inspired and highly motivated. And then, inertia sets in and we can easily drift back to old established and automatic patterns of eating.
    I think it’s important to stay focused and mindful of our choices and decisions and not let the “lazy” brain and strong temptations lull us back to the rut of poor choices that we have been bogged in for years.
    Let’s keep moving forward and make each choice mindful and deliberate. We call do this even if it takes time and patients. It’s worth the effort.
    Take care
    Shel
  • MarkWgetsfit
    MarkWgetsfit Posts: 12 Member
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    I have only just recently started to eat more mindfully. I do daily meditation as a form of stress relief and time with myself. I also try to be more mindful during other times of the day also, washing up the dishes, brushing my teeth. It's just sometimes that I go off the rails and can eat a whole block of chocolate or packet of chips without being fully present in the moment. It's times like these that derail me :)
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    MarkW...great examples of Mindfulness. Our brain is capable of such amazing feats. I am learning that we have the capacity to make great choices and can change our life's direction at any time. I think we have to become aware of what we truly want for ourselves and make ourselves clear and focused. Eating can default into an automatic set of responses and we have to work hard to remember what we are trying to achieve.
    We all can do this.
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    I have been pleased with the past two days and have become aware of a sense of detachment from thinking about food. I suppose that mindfulness can move our attention in different directions and perhaps eating and tasting and feeling full, satisfied and content may not be inextricably linked for all times. If we see our brains as in our control, maybe we can proceed with intention rather than just be on auto-pilot.
    What are your thoughts?
    Shel
  • helenb3nder
    helenb3nder Posts: 1 Member
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    Very happy that there are also conversations like this in this forum. For the past 2 years I struggeled with overeating and mindless snacking. Eventually it became binging and over exercising. And some days I would just overeat and felt so *kitten* that i couldn't even exercise. So i gained almost 8kg in a year. During the last few months i have finally started to have a healthy relationship with food and exercise and have started to lose weight too.
    I agree with all of the points made during this conversation and i think we can all take our lives into our hands and stop eating on auto pilot!
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    Hi Helen, I like what you have said about taking our lives into "our hands". Living and eating with intention and thinking about what is good for us at many levels. It may seem like extra work to contemplate the fuel we pump into our bodies but the results may make it all worth while. We are deserve healthy and fit minds and bodies and we have to do whatever it takes to get there. For some individuals, this is a natural and straightforward process. For others (like me) it is a thoughtful, reflective and energy-requiring ambition. Nevertheless, we do what we have to do to get where we want to go in this life. That is both the beauty and challenge of our existence.
    Hope you and all have a mindful day
    Shel
  • vetvicki
    vetvicki Posts: 62 Member
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    I'm seeing a dietician this week to discuss this issue. I NEED to do something about my issues with food. The more I focus on it the more I'm likely to self sabotage. But if I don't pay enough attention to my diet I'll end up getting too hungry and then grabbing junk food.
  • skf1201
    skf1201 Posts: 116 Member
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    I have learned that I have a love/hate relationship with food. I've gained and lost weight my entire adult life. I have gone through eating disorder years as well. I'm back at the weight loss journey again and already getting discouraged and after only 2 months in. I am finding myself taking two steps forward and 20 steps back. I want to see food as fuel for my body and not let it have such a negative hold over me anymore. I'm journaling and writing down as many non-scale victories I have seen so far so I don't get discouraged with the scale not moving. May you all have a safe and healthy week!
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    We all learn from an early age how to manage our mind and body. There is a relationship between how we think about ourselves and what we "do" to and with ourselves. Food is just one example of this outcome of the relational truth: my body-my mind. Spend a little bit of time every day and meditate on the physical you. Learn to love and embrace your body and offer it support and reassurance and let it know that you are now going to look after yourself with care, intention and consistency. This is what I mean by conceptualising the notion of having a relationship with yourself.
    What do you think? I would be interested in your ideas.
    S
  • chris_in_cal
    chris_in_cal Posts: 2,195 Member
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    shel80kg wrote: »
    I thought it might be fun and interesting to engage in meaningful discussions regarding the choices we make around food. Please let me know if you would like to join me on this journey.

    It is a discussion I don't usually have. I'm in.

    First let me confess that I reject the body and blood of keto....salmon and avocado.

    I simply do not care for them.

    I feel resignation the countless times I read a rapturous report of a zealous new ketonian listing their first days' meal of salmon with avocado, or avocado w/ salmon.

    I do understand they contain stuff, and are thought to be delightful, and if I simply consumed them prepared in a certain special way I would see the light. Forgive me Dr. Atkins.
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 150 Member
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    You are a good writer. Funny.
    I wonder whether the dieting paradigm we embrace turns us into religious fundamentalists. There is no one more righteous than converts.
    I like Keto because it seems to offer speedy results and it’s challenging to stay in “Ketoland” given all of the rubbish I tend to enjoy chomping on. I may reconsider my zeal. Quite likely, we need to have a balanced diet but not as restrictive as the Keto lords decree. I’m at the halfway mark in my quest for the healthy body and I’m going to start loosening the K-chains. Wonder if I can still colour between the lines with regards to good choices? Tired of being a yo-yo.

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