Zen and the Art of Weight Maintenance – Part 1

Mindfulness is a word that seems to be getting a lot of mileage these days and it’s no different when used in the context of weight loss. This central concept of Zen practice is, to put it simply, the act of paying deliberate attention; and it can help you whittle down your calorie intake without any additional calculations or substitutions.

There is a variety of ways mindfulness can help further your weight loss and fitness goals. Let’s start by looking at how it can be used when you first feel those hunger pangs.

Hungry or Thirsty?

It’s 2:45 pm and you’re reading a book in a comfortable chair when visions of sweet treats begin to dance in your head. Normally our first instinct is to get up and find something to eat, but this is a good time to pause and give mindfulness a try. But what should you be looking to “pay deliberate attention” to? A good place to start is to ask yourself whether you are really hungry or thirsty. Many people actually confuse these two signals. According to a 2007 publication from the Consumer Rights Protection Centre in Germany, overweight people were more likely to be drinking too little water and mistaking the body’s thirst signal for hunger.

Mindful Weightloss - You May Be Thirsty, Not Hungry, So Drink Plenty of Water

Mindful Weightloss - You May Be Thirsty, Not Hungry, So Drink Plenty of Water

In fact, if you don’t find yourself reaching for several glasses of water a day you may find yourself reaching for a snack instead. Some of us have to re-learn the feeling of thirst by first drinking a glass of water and waiting to see if that “quenches” the feeling of hunger. Over time it will become easier and easier to tell these two feelings apart and, when you mindfully tune in when “hunger” strikes, you’ll begin to recognize it as dehydration and will save yourself many unneeded calories.

Emotional Hunger

If you find that you’re not thirsty, the next thing to turn your attention to is whether you’re eating for an emotional reason, out of boredom, or because you’re seeking the sensory pleasures that come with eating your favorite mid-afternoon snack. There has already been a lot written about eating for reasons other than hunger, but advice is usually limited to simply asking yourself if you’re really hungry. This advice is ineffective without a more pointed technique that you can actually apply on the spot.

Start by taking a few slow, deep breaths and then focus your attention on your belly. Does it really feel hungry? Or are you actually still stuffed from a late lunch but in the habit of eating at around this time? Sometimes this will be enough to keep you from making the trip to the kitchen. If not, picture eating something neutral, something that you neither crave nor dislike (chocolate may not be the best candidate for this exercise).

Do you still want to eat or does your stomach clearly signal to you that you aren’t really hungry just yet? If you notice that only certain foods call to you, you may just want to enjoy the taste of something and a low-calorie hard candy, a stick of gum, or a small piece of dark chocolate slowly savored would do just as well and save you more unneeded calories.

Developing the habit of tuning in before fuelling up is a remarkably effective way to cut many unnecessary snacks (and calories) from your weekly intake, speeding up your progress with only a few seconds of effort at a time (and no extra crunches!).

In Zen and the Art of Weight Maintenance Part Two, we’ll look at how mindfulness can still be useful if you determine that your hunger pang is indeed hunger.