April is here. A lovely time of year with flowers blooming, milder temperatures, and longer days. It also means we are on the cusp of (gasp!) bathing suit season. Of course, it’s healthy to accept the body we live in every day. And love every inch of ourselves despite our physical or cosmetic flaws. But there’s no doubt that it feels good when we look the best we can, and feel the healthiest we can be, especially around this time of the year. Weight loss strategies can be part of a plan to help boost health and energy levels, anytime of year.
But if you’re like me, April may be the time when you have a little extra motivation to take off a few unwanted pounds that may have accumulated over the course of the cold, dreary winter.
If shaping up a bit is among your personal goals this spring, read on. Having some weight loss strategies at the top of mind will help you stay on track, especially when motivation begins to ebb.
Why We Need Weight Loss Strategies That Work
In the past, our ancestors mostly ate for fuel. They had to hunt and gather their food. Physical effort was required to get their daily meals.
As a result, there were times when they were hungry, and there were times when they could feast.
Nowadays, we have access to food ALL the time. There is no shortage of food and even many economically disadvantaged people in the US are overweight because of the poor nutritional content of the food they do eat.
In short, food is no longer viewed as a source of fuel. Many of us never even truly get hungry.
We eat round the clock, often at prescribed mealtimes, no matter how many snacks we’ve consumed throughout the day. We eat when we’re happy, sad, bored, angry, etc. The situations when we eat are also varied: we eat when we celebrate, we eat when we mourn, we eat together as a reason just to spend time with family or friends. Food it an integral part of almost all we do.
So, in the present day, we associate food with well-being; we don’t just eat to survive.
As a result, we often eat because we believe eating will make ourselves feel better. One problem here is that we don’t usually crunch on a piece of broccoli or chew on a carrot when we yearn to feel better. Nope. An instinct like that would make it easy to stay fit and trim. Instead, when we seek comfort, or need a boost, our bodies crave foods high in sugar, oil, salt and other harmful additives. We’re hooked and addicted to these foods without realizing it. The hidden sugar in most foods will spike our blood sugar levels and give us a temporary high… only to have our moods crashing down later. What do we do then?
We eat more to get another high.
Once again, our blood sugar levels spike, insulin is released, and the excess glucose gets stored as fat. This scenario plays itself over and over every single day. The end result is insulin insensitivity, obesity and possible diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol levels. These problems arise because we eat when we’re not hungry, and we make poor food choices when we are. How to remedy this situation? It all starts with mindfulness.
Mindfulness weight loss strategies help us avoid eating when we’re not hungry.
The first step is to establish a new habit. The habit we need to create will enable us to be consciously mindful of what eat. Before we put anything in our mouths, we must pause and ask ourselves why we’re eating it. Are we hungry? Or do we just want something to munch on while we watch Netflix? If it’s the latter, we don’t need the food.
The next step is harder. We have to put the food aside and tell ourselves that we’re not hungry. And that we should only eat when we’re hungry.
If you’re not sure whether you’re hungry or not, drink a glass of water or two and wait 10 minutes. In many cases, if we are truly not hungry, the urge to eat will subside and disappear. We were never really hungry at all. Our mind is just suggesting we get a snack out of habit. When hunger persists, we should always listen to our bodies. But we should approach those “hunger pangs” with a healthy skepticism before reaching for a snack that we may not need.
Mindfulness helps us make healthy eating choices when we need to eat.
When shopping for groceries, aim to make choices that align with your weight loss goals. Before eating any meal, ask yourself if you’re eating more than necessary. We all need to maintain a caloric deficit to lose weight. Our typical portion size may also be larger than needed, especially if we’re used to eating at restaurants or buying carry-out often. When portions are too large, we tend to overeat because it takes a while for our bodies to realize we are full. So, start with a smaller portion, knowing you can always go back for seconds if it’s not enough to truly satisfy your hunger.
Next, look at the foods you’re eating and ask yourself if they are in alignment with the weight loss journey you are on. Aim to reduce portion sizes as well as the amount of carbs on your plate. Increase the percent of your plate that holds protein, fats and veggies.
Mindfulness strategies help us to stop eating when we’re bored.
Boredom often sets in when we’re aimlessly going through daily motions and routines. Sometimes our first instinct can be to reach for an unhealthy snack. We may not even realize how much we are mindlessly consuming during these times. Being mindful helps us become more aware when we’re about to eat just to pass the time.
Typing on the computer and popping 2 M&Ms in your mouth every minute or so?
Stop. You don’t need the chocolate.
Just focus on work and toss the chocolate in the trash bin.
Remember, we’re trying to lose unwanted extra pounds so we can feel the healthiest we’ve ever been.
Apply this mindfulness approach throughout the day.
Become a bossy gatekeeper to your mouth!
Make every morsel of food you eat pass the mindfulness test.
Am I truly hungry or just thirsty?
Is this food choice consistent with my health goals?
How much of it do I really need to eat?
How committed am I to meeting my goal of being my most healthy self?
Thank you as always for reading.
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Joan Senio is the founder of KindCompassCoach. Her career includes 20+ years as a health care executive and 15 years (and counting) as a consultant. The common thread through Joan’s professional life has been a commitment to lead, mentor and coach current and future leaders, and women from all walks of life. KindCompassCoach provides information and advice grounded in Joan’s personal experience; however, all articles are backed by research and provide facts and advice from a wide variety of experts. Joan also serves as a thought-leader for KuelLife.com and is a regular contributor to PsychReg and Sixty and Me.
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