by Dana M Robinson - Published 6 months ago

5 Weird Ways to Hit Your Happy Weight

While we don't think health and weight loss are the same thing, we understand that sometimes people need help reaching their ideal weight. That's where JJ Virgin comes in. The mbg class instructor's book, Think Yourself Thin, takes a revolutionary approach to weight loss. It suggests that many of our weight struggles stem from our minds. In this exclusive excerpt, she shares five surprising strategies designed to help you overcome weight loss obstacles and achieve your healthiest, most comfortable body.

1. Create a journal to track your food and mood.

Food for thought: It's not what you're eating, it's what's eating at you.

Exercise:

For many of us who overeat emotionally, it takes time to connect our experiences and feelings with what we put in our mouths. Writing down your food-feeling connections can provide insight and awareness. Keeping a record of everything you eat reduces the chance of unconscious eating. This exercise helps you explore the link between food and feelings.

Many of us eat when we're not physically hungry. Do you eat when you're sad, bored, anxious, ashamed, angry, or afraid? When you have unpleasant feelings, do you use food to suppress them? Some people crave crunchy foods when they're angry and sweets when they're bored or lonely. It's time to understand how your emotions affect your eating habits.

Create a Food-Mood Diary in your journal by recording the time you ate, what you ate, your feelings before eating, and your feelings afterward.

2. Take stock of your kitchen supplies.

Food for thought: Allow our kitchen to be a place for enjoying foods that fuel us.

Exercise:

Identify the foods you are likely to binge on or have binged on in the past. Ask a supportive friend to help you go through your cabinets and refrigerator. Remove all those foods. If you live with a partner, you might need to explain what you are doing. This is crucial. If you were an alcoholic, it would be essential that your partner didn't bring alcohol into the house while you were recovering. Think of trigger foods like alcohol. You will feel better if they are not readily available. As you progress, you may discover new trigger foods you never thought you'd binge on.

For example, one client discovered she couldn't keep raw, unsalted sunflower seeds in her home. If she did, she'd eat as many as she could, and even if she finished them all, she would find something else to continue eating. Even though this was a healthy snack, it was a trigger food for binge eating.

After clearing your house of binge foods, make a commitment to not bring any binge foods home and declare your house a binge-free zone. This is not a permanent measure, but for now, in the early stages of gaining control over your eating habits, you want to keep yourself safe. Just as a recovering alcoholic wouldn't spend time in a bar or keep bottles of gin in his or her home, you don't want to have any trigger foods in your home either.

You should also record all your trigger foods in your journal, so you can avoid them.

3. Practice mindful eating.

Food for thought: Learning the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger will help you gain control over your eating habits.

Exercise:

A mindful meal is a planned meal in a deliberate setting that you create to understand your feelings while eating. It will help you focus on your hunger, digestion, and moods. The more often you eat mindful meals, the better you will understand the difference between real, physical hunger and fake, emotional hunger. Here are the steps:

Preparation:

Set aside a time when you can be alone without any distractions.
Turn off your television, computer, and phone.
If you don't like dead silence, listen to light music.
Make sure the lights are on and the room is well-lit.
Slowly and deliberately prepare a meal for yourself. Pay attention to the colors and smells of your food. Feel the sensation of cutting your vegetables and meat. Hear the sizzle of the food cooking, but hold off on tasting anything until it's time to eat.
Be sure not to eat any food or snack during the preparation phase. Do not eat until you are sitting at the table.
Create a nice table setting for yourself. Use your favorite tablecloth, silverware, and dishes. and perhaps light some candles. You might also set out some flowers and make it beautiful for yourself.

The Meal:

Sit down. Before you start eating, consider how hungry you are. Examine your food, paying attention to what's on your plate. Take a moment to express gratitude, say a prayer, or offer grace. Decide what you want to eat first and put a first bite in your mouth. Chew slowly and savor the taste. Continue to chew and taste the food thoroughly, putting your fork down after every two bites and taking a pause. Pay attention to your thoughts and feelings as you eat. Notice how you feel when you focus on eating. Once you're halfway through your meal, stop and put your fork down. Take deep breaths, close your eyes, and assess your hunger level. If you are still physically hungry and want more food, allow yourself to eat more. When you feel full and satisfied, put your fork down and cover your food with a napkin. Grant yourself permission to get up, put your food away, and do something else. Reflect on how you are feeling. Are you satisfied? Do you want to eat more? Are you able to do something else, or are you thinking about eating more? If you continue to think about food, even though you are not physically hungry, try to understand what else is bothering you. What do you truly need right now? If you still crave food, sit still, think for a while, and write in your journal what you are feeling. Allow your food obsession to pass so you can enjoy activities other than eating.

Commit to having a mindful meal at least once a week to help you connect with your physical and emotional hunger. It will increase your awareness of your eating habits and your feelings and moods when you eat. As you continue your journey, you will gain more control over how to satisfy your body with food without overeating.

4. Make a vision board to inspire your weight loss journey.

Food for thought: Your mind responds strongly to visual stimulation.

Exercise:

A weight-loss vision board is one of the most valuable weight-loss tools that can help you achieve your goals. If you want a vision of your future life to look completely different, then it's important to focus on the pictures and images that inspire you to make healthy choices along your journey.

Your mind responds strongly to visual stimulation, and when you surround yourself with images that invoke positive emotions, your brain will work to achieve the affirmations and images. Your vision board will program your subconscious to attract things that will help you reach your weight-loss goal.

How to use your vision board:

Look at your vision board regularly to get inspired.
Believe it is already yours.
Read your affirmations and inspiring quotes aloud.
Imagine yourself living in your new slimmer body.
Picture yourself shopping for smaller clothes.

What you need to make your vision board:

Pictures, quotes, and photos that bring you joy (you can use magazines/books)
Glue/pins, markers, scissors
Poster board, a large sheet of paper, cork board, or pinboard
You can use glitter, paint, or stickers. Make it your own.
Have fun with it and involve your children.

What to put on your vision board:

Pictures of how you want your body to look after losing weight
Images, quotes, and words that bring you joy
Things you WANT to look at because they make you feel empowered, happy, and motivated about losing weight
Motivational quotes that make you feel empowered
Images of people you admire or love
Pretty pictures of delicious food and healthy recipes you'd like to try
The outfits you'll be wearing at your goal weight (skinny jeans and form-fitting dresses)
A list of exercise goals—like finishing a marathon or mastering a Bikram yoga pose.

When you finish your weight-loss vision board, be sure to share it with your friends, family, and online support system.

5. Surround yourself with people who support your goals.

Food for thought: Be intentional about creating a supportive environment that can lead to long-term success.

Exercise:

Don't automatically assume that the family member or friend you're closest to is the best choice for your support system. Take some time to really think about who has been most helpful to you in the past and be completely honest with yourself about their level of support. The ideal supporter will share your goal of becoming slimmer and healthier and be dedicated to doing whatever it takes to achieve it. It would be great if you could work out together, prepare meals and exchange recipes, go grocery shopping, cook meals together, and check in with each other weekly over the phone. Ultimately, the type of support you need will depend on your individual needs. Encouragement can come in many forms. Some people just need a motivational word or quote each day to stay on track.

Also consider who is most available to support you. Have a conversation about how much time and energy you both have to devote to the partnership and how realistic it is for you to be available to support one another. Discuss your preferred mode of contact and support. Figure out if you prefer phone calls, emails, or texts—this will be crucial for maintaining contact. If you need in-person time, discuss that as well and find the best times to get together. The goal is to make sure that there's dedicated time for listening and encouraging each other.

Take a few minutes to think about the kind of support you need on this journey. Use a journal to write down some notes and be as specific as possible so your family members understand how to best support you. For example, you could say, "Please don't eat junk food in front of me—go into a different room." Clear rules will help your family members have a better understanding of how to support you.