2 Weeks of Mindful Eating
It is now two weeks into my attempt at mindful eating and the results of this continue to be impressive. My body weight is falling faster than I expected and it doesn’t feel like it is requiring any real effort on my part. Of course, I have to keep reminding myself to be mindful and it is easy to slip back into old habits. I have also had a bit of worry in my life for the last week, but thankfully this didn’t knock me off course.
http://thevintry.com.au/?link=https://sourceweb.claims An Extra Handful of Fruit & Nuts
An important part of my mindful eating attempt is to monitor my reactions to food. I know a lot about my habits intellectually but it is only when I see how things work in reality that it makes a difference. Today I witnessed a good example of this. My morning snack consisted of a few scoops of mixed fruit and nuts. I had finished this portion but felt a craving to continue with more. I spent a couple of seconds trying to establish if I was still hungry and realised that I wasn’t. I decided to not indulge in this extra portion and by the time I’d returned to my office I’d completely forgotten about it. I didn’t miss out on anything and I avoided consuming extra calories I didn’t need.
http://vintagegoodness.com/category/news-updates/ Challenges to My General Mindfulness
I’ve felt a bit stressed out this week due to a medical scare (see yesterday’s post here). Despite this though my level of mindfulness has been generally good most of the time; I’ve even managed to put in more time in formal meditation practice. I have found that mindfulness doesn’t necessarily stop fears and worries from arising – it just makes them a lot easier to manage.
How Things Stand With My Mindful Eating Attempt
I mentioned in my last post that I’d be happy with losing another kilogram over the week. My actual loss was 1.6 kg (3 ½ pounds) so I’m pleased with that. My current weight is 80.6kg and I’d like it to fall below 80kg by next week. Losing this weight using mindful eating is a great benefit but it is only the tip of the ice-berg when it comes to what this technique is capable of achieving; it is a bit like using an iPad just as a paperweight.
BTW – The Shambhala Sun Space Website has reprinted my article ‘Extreme Detox’ that was originally published in the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine. If you missed it first time you can read it here.
One method that certain bodybuilders used to lose weight and get ripped was by going… “zero carbs”
This means that you exercise and don’t eat any carbohydrates eg: rice potatoes etc.
Your body is then forced to dip into it’s own fat reserves to supply you with the energy you require.
Now, it was reported that certain folk took on a rather stringy looking appearance after using this method, and others found they soon started feeling very tired and washed out.
What the medical implications for such a regime may or may not be, I’m not qualified to comment on that aspect of things.
Just a thought.
Thanks Mark, it is something to think about. To be honest though I’m trying to change the way I interact with food rather than dieting. I think mindful eating is a change that will help me control my weight permanently – it also brings many other benefits. At the moment I eat what when I’m hungry and there is nothing off the menu – I don’t feel like I’m giving up anything and this always work best for me.
You might want to try Paul Mckenna’s lose weight program. Basically you eat what you want when you want and still lose weight. I don’t know the ins and outs of it. However, I believe some people have had good results using this program.
What is it? Well it’s just a hypnosis cd & a book. You can buy it online or dare I say download it for free on the torrents!
It might be worth a try.
Thanks Mark, I’m getting good results from mindful eating so I’ll stick with that. This isn’t just about losing weight but also about applying mindfulness to other areas of my life. I’ve used the technique to help combat an alcohol addiction so I’m confident that it will work here as well.
Glad to hear things are going well. I think watching your reactions to different types of food is a very smart thing to do. Many folks don’t even realize when they are allergic to something.
Of course I just massively stuffed myself tonight and I haven’t done that in a long time. Sigh. There is always tomorrow to start again!
Hi Lani, I think stuffing yourself on the rare occasion isn’t such a big deal – progress not perfection 🙂 We can always start again. You are definitely right about people being out of touch with their bodies and missing things like allergies – I was like this for a long time. When we listen to our bodies it can give us all the information we need.