One popular dieting trick is to quantify how much activity is required to burn off certain foods.Most people underestimate (or don’t even know) the amount of calories in their food, and overestimate their activity level. People assume they expend far more energy than they actually do while exercising. And to top it off, people treat… Read More »
One key component of mindfulness is self-compassion. We tend to be very harsh with ourselves. This is especially true around weight loss. Self-hatred, poor body image, guilt, and shame are common emotions for people struggling with their weight. These emotions often lead to a vicious cycle of emotional eating (due to negative emotions) and then… Read More »
I highly recommend the book Your Brain on Nature by Eva M. Selhub, MD and Alan C. Logan, ND. I used this book as an inspiration for a community psychology project during graduate school. My task was to choose a community issue and come up with a practical community-based intervention to address it. The issue… Read More »
This excellent article from Mindful talks about the neuroscience of “bad habits.” This is worth reading to understand exactly what is going on in your brain with compulsive overeating (or any compulsion or addiction). Basically, it is all about dopamine—the neurotransmitter responsible for motivation and the rush of pleasure. Here’s how it goes, according to… Read More »
What is your weight loss dream? Your vision? Your perfect end point? How does that differ from your weight loss goals? Or do you use the terms interchangeably? Knowing the relationship between dreams and goals is crucial. If you don’t understand this relationship, you risk not being able to achieve either. Goals are small steps… Read More »
A Mindful Life is one that is lived with a greater sense of awareness and intention. When it comes to weight loss, it is a life that integrates the Five Areas of Weight Loss. The precise inter-relationship of these five areas is unique to our program. The Five Areas of Weight Loss are: 1. The… Read More »
What is mindfulness? Mindfulness is not necessarily meditation, although there is a type of meditation called “mindfulness meditation.” For the purposes of this program, mindfulness is defined as “non-judgmental awareness.” The first part of that definition–non-judgmental—entails creating an attitude of acceptance about circumstances, reactions, feelings, mental states, and relationships. In order to lose weight, you… Read More »
Take a moment and experiment with a mindfulness exercise. Here’s how: Stop what you are doing. Simply breathe. Say to yourself “Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out. In. Out…” Aim for a couple of minutes. Keep it simple.
If you don’t know where you are going, where will you end up? A clear, tangible statement of your weight loss vision is an essential part of this journey. It tells you, in great detail, where you are going, why you want to go there, and how you will get there. A good vision statement… Read More »
Small steps on the path of change take the form of goals. Many of us have mixed experiences with goals. Perhaps we have set a goal of “going to the gym” and watched it quickly lose steam. Perhaps we have had one too many New Year’s resolutions fail before Valentine’s Day. This is likely because… Read More »