Weight loss mindfulness is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is.  It means being present in the moment while you’re making your eating, exercising, de-stressing and making other important choices to improve your overall wellness and encourage fat burning in your body.

What is Weight Loss Mindfulness in a Practical Sense?

It’s all well and good to understand that weight loss mindfulness has to do with being present, but what does that mean in terms of how you should change your current behaviors?  After all, aren’t we all automatically living right now? Oddly enough, most of us aren’t!

Most of us are continually thinking about the past or the future. We’re going over things that have happened – recently or long ago – or are planning or worrying about the future – near or far. Alternately, we’re escaping altogether into a show or a movie and not paying any attention at all to what we’re currently doing. As a result, we’re not really living in the moment.

Need proof? When was the last time you enjoyed an entire meal – beginning to end – and observed every single bit of your food? You paid attention to precisely how it tastes, how its flavor compared to the last bite, what its texture was like, how it felt to chew it carefully and then swallow it once it was properly chewed? Did you wait a moment to consider how your body felt after that bite before taking another one? Have you ever done it? This is a good example of how we are not living in the present moment.

How to Practice a Weight Loss Mindfulness Strategy

There’s nothing wrong with remembering the past, planning for the future, or just mentally getting away from it all with an escape like TV.  The key is not to do it all the time.  When your goal is to burn through excess body fat, then you can use certain specific weight loss mindfulness practices to make sure you’re present when your body needs it most to reach that target.

By paying close attention to everything we’re doing in the moment, we avoid the inclination to mindlessly complete activities that will have a direct impact on our ability to reach our goals.

Don’t Eat Mindlessly

Gone are the days of shoveling in your food while you watch TV, view a video, read emails, or even read a book. Eat slowly, pay attention to every sensation it provides, and listen to what your body is telling you about when you have had enough.  By slowing down and paying attention, you won’t just eat it all because it’s on your plate. You’ll be better able to determine when you’ve had enough.

Get Up and Move

If you’re most likely to reach for snacks when you’re idle, such as while watching TV, get up and move instead of eating.  There’s nothing wrong with the occasional movie night with buttery popcorn or nachos. That said, if you’re just winding down your evening, and you’re used to grazing your way through a bag of chips while you watch your show, that’s not going to help you. Weight loss mindfulness practices would encourage you to replace your snacking in these instances with activity such as lifting hand weights, using a floor pedaller, or even doing squats and other similar exercises. Keep going until the inclination to eat has passed.

Keep Your Hands Busy

If you’ve already done an appropriate amount of physical activity today, you can shift gears with your weight loss mindfulness and simply keep your hands busy. If you watch your show and keep your hands occupied, you can’t snack.  Try folding your laundry, learning to knit or crochet, or do another activity that will let you watch your show but still keep your fingers occupied.

Keep a To-Do List

If you’re prone to eating out of boredom or for emotional reasons such as stress, keep a to-do list handy.  That way, you’re less likely to sit down thinking there’s nothing to do but eat. Instead, you’ll always have an activity you can take on to keep you occupied instead. Whenever you’re tempted to overeat, glance at your list. You’ll find yourself repairing the thing that broke, watering your plants, weeding the garden, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning out the dryer vent, or doing any number of other tasks that should get done. You may also find that this helps to reduce your stress and gives you an amazing feeling of accomplishment!