The Weight Loss Tip Your Trainer Never Talks About

May 12, 2013 6:45 pm / Posted in Nutrition

I often tell the members of my Ottawa fitness training classes about how I used to race with this one aunt. Not a traditional race mind you, this race was about seeing who could finish their meal last. Like what I recommend for many weight loss and fitness habits, I turned eating slowly into a game and achieved great results. I eventually “won,” or rather, deliberately lost the race.

The thing is, eating is not really a race. I’ve written before about how you should eat slowly and stop when you’re 80% full but I want to further explain why this habit is so important to helping you achieve your weight loss and fitness training goals.

Before we get into that though, I want you to think about your way of eating.

Why do you eat? Is it because your body needs nutrients and is actually hungry, or are you bored, angry, lonely or tired?
How do you eat? Do you stand up? Grab things out of the refrigerator and eat them right there in the kitchen?
When do you eat? Are you on the run, just heading out of the door? Eating in the car?

I suspect you know what I’m going to say: Eating this way can compromise your weight loss and fitness training goals, but rather than go on about that, I’m going to tell you why slow, mindful eating works so well and give you a few targets to work towards.

I Exercise Every Day – Does Eating Slowly Really Affect My Weight Loss and Fitness?

When you eat food quickly, you trick your body into believing that it’s still hungry, and the natural response of the body in those circumstances is to consume more calories. That’s right, eating slowly is mostly psychological – it’s about giving your brain the time to assess exactly how much food you have consumed.

Most people assume that the digestive system is simply the stomach and the intestines, but forget about the mouth and the brain. Digestion starts before you take your first bite, as appetite creates saliva in your mouth, which contains the enzymes necessary to begin breaking down food.

The Harvard Health Review points out that after food passes through your stomach, muscular and hormonal signals are sent to the brain to let it know how much food you have consumed and how much more you need to consume in order to feel full.

This process takes about 20 minutes.

**Eat for Weight Loss, Fitness and Pleasure – 5 Strategies to Help You Succeed**

This is a pretty good feeling.

Changing the pace and manner in which you eat can be difficult; especially if you’re resistant to leptin, as many obese people are. But it

can be done with a little bit of mindfulness about the way you eat. Here are 5 strategies to help you achieve your weight loss and fitness goals:

1. Schedule 20-30 minutes time for every meal, including breakfast, lunch and dinner.

2. Use smaller serving plates and resist the urge to go back for seconds until you have waited at least 20 minutes. Still hungry, then go ahead, but be mindful of your portion size.

3. Take a bite and then put down your utensils. Repeat after every bite. Take the time to talk with people at the dinner table and enjoy this social time together before rushing off to work or to an extracurricular activity.

4. Chew your food 10 times for every bite (yes, even your yogurt). Why do I recommend this? Because it helps break down food before it reaches your stomach, which improves your overall digestion. The more work you do upstairs, the less you need to do downstairs.

5. Refuse to eat distracted. This includes in the car, while surfing the Internet, or while watching TV. Treat eating as an exercise in mindfulness, as this article at Zeb Habits suggests.

Final Thoughts

It’s a little bit like the fable of the turtle and the hare – slow and steady wins the race. But when it comes to eating, it’s not really a race. While your mealtime is an important part of your weight loss plan, it is also an opportunity to share in other people’s company, or to reflect on your day while really enjoying every bite of the tasty food that’s in front of you.

Change can be stressful, and it can lead to seeking out comfort foods. So be careful when introducing new habits to a weight loss and fitness plan. If you need more guidance on mindfulness and positive change, read any one of the articles below.

Category: Nutrition

Posted by Burke