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Do you find it hard to keep eating under control? The truth is that it’s not easy. Changing behavior rarely is.
But with time, practice, patience and persistence, it’s possible to keep eating under control. Lots of successful Weight Watchers members have done it and you can too.
Have you ever stopped to consider how similar managing your weight is to managing your finances? The habits you need to adopt to keep your spending in check are identical to those required to keep eating under control.
Once I made the connection between managing my finances and managing my weight it made so much sense. And got a whole lot easier.
Maybe because it took me out of my emotional side and into my more logical side?
Maybe because I watched other Weight Watchers members who worked in accounting seem to “get it” much more quickly?
Adopt these habits and see if managing your eating and weight gets easier for you too.
5 Habits to Keep Eating Under Control
1. Use a budget.
Do you have a budget for your finances? Well, you need an eating budget too. I know it sounds trite but weight loss really is a math problem. You gotta take in fewer calories than you burn in order to lose weight. It’s really as simple as that. (Granted, simple is not the same as easy. But you have to start somewhere.) Do you know how many calories you body needs a day? Do you know how many calories you are eating? If you don’t, it’s really time you found out. Otherwise, you are just fooling and deluding yourself.
There are lots of tools on line to help you determine your daily calorie needs. I like My Fitness Pal, which is free.
2. Keep track of what you are eating.
When you start keeping track of what, how much, and when you eat, you may be shocked. Many of us are in denial about just how much we are eating because it’s so easy to engage in mindless munching. And portions are much much bigger than we realize. By becoming aware of how you are ‘spending’ your calorie budget, you can decide where and how you want to cut back.
3. Distinguish wants from needs.
Many of us who struggle with our weight are controlled by food cravings. The thought of a food pops into our head and we think we need to satisfy it. Maybe yes and maybe no. It can be really healthy to begin thinking of food in terms of what your body needs, instead of what you want to have or would taste good. It removes some of the emotion around eating and focuses more on nourishing your body.
4. Avoid Comparisons.
I think it was Mark Twain who said, “Comparison is the death of joy.” You can not get someone else’s body by eating what they eat or doing what they do. When you are busy chasing after someone else’s body and/or life, you are not taking advantage of the opportunity to create the happy, healthy and slim life of your own.
5. Develop an attitude of Gratitude:
Often we eat, not because we are hungry. But because we are feeling bored, anxious, lonely or upset. The next time you are searching in the refrigerator or pantry for “food therapy” make a list of 10 things you are grateful for first. Switching your focus from what you don’t have or are craving to what you do have, can put eating in it’s proper perspective.
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