Why are you eating whatever it is that you’re eating today?

What made you choose that particular food?

Have you ever thought about why you’re choosing the foods you choose?

Paying more attention, more attention to what impacts your choices in particular, can be a powerful tool in your weight loss tool box.

Why? How can just paying attention help you lose weight? 

Many of the choices we make on a day to day basis are automatic. We don’t really think about them. They become routine.

Helpful in some situations. Brushing your teeth. How to get to work. How to back out of the driveway. And countless others.

But pretty unhelpful in other situations. Drifting toward the kitchen when feeling bored. Swinging through the drive though when work stresses us out. Reaching for a cookie because you finished lunch.

Oftentimes when we make food choices that aren’t really in line with our longer term goals, it isn’t because we are lazy or because we are bad people. We simply do it without thinking, without paying attention and travel down the familiar path of least resistance. 

How can you become more aware? How can you pay more attention?

Notice the moment.

What are you doing? What are you thinking? What’s going through your head? Who is around you? What is around you? How are you feeling? Physically and emotionally. 

Make yourself aware.

Say what you are doing. Say what you are feeling. Say what you are thinking.

Acknowledge the impact.

How will you feel about the choice? What are the consequences, positive and negative? Is this the instant gratification monkey taking over? 

When should you do this?

Often. You can do it all the time. If you’re trying to lose weight and make better food choices, the best time to do this is BEFORE you make a decision about food. Before food is on your plate and especially before making a choice based on impulse.

Say you’re at work, work is super stressful and you packed a lunch last night when you were feeling good, but now McDonald’s is calling your name.

Pause to notice the moment.

You’re stressed. You’re at work and want to escape even if it’s just for a few minutes while eating some fries. You’re in your office and you see everyone else eating burritos, or pizza and you know you have a salad and a turkey wrap packed. 

“I want to just relax and eat some fries dang it. I deserve them, work has been so freaking crazy!” zips through your head.

Take a moment to make yourself aware.

Describe what is going on to yourself. Out loud or in your head.

Acknowledge you feel stressed, you want a break, fries sound way better than a turkey wrap, and everyone is getting to eat fast food. 

But now that you think about it, you know eating McDonald’s will just put you in a worse mood later because you know it isn’t going to help you reach your goals. 

You know you can take a break from work to eat the lunch you packed the same as if you got McDonald’s. 

You could take a short walk if you’re simply wanting to get out of the office for a minute. 

And really the turkey wrap is pretty tasty and you know that day old pizza your coworker is eating probably tastes pretty gross anyway.

What does paying more attention do? How does it help?

Taking that moment to really think switches off cruise control and jolts our brains back into thinking mode.

This allows us to be able to make a decision on purpose, instead of just ending up with an empty french fry bag in our hands wondering how it got there. 

When our brain is on and thinking rather than just cruising, we can make more informed choices and we feel more in control of ourselves.

And when we feel in control of our choices and ourselves, we feel good. When we make choices on purpose, we feel strong and we feel proud.

Take a few extra minutes today to pay more attention to your choices and why you might be making those particular choices.