Opportunity Knocks

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
—Charles R. Swindoll
If food is your “go-to” for good, bad, and indifferent events, this reaction is going to sabotage you if you’re trying to lose weight.
Many people start off telling me about their week by saying, “I was doing really great on my plan until…” Fill in the blank—opportunity knocks often for all of us.
Let’s say you’re asked to make something for your child’s school fundraiser. Against your better judgment, you decide to make brownies. Somehow you convince yourself that if you make them in one inch squares, you’ll be OK. But really, without even realizing it, that decision to cut them into small bites was an excuse to have one. And one would’ve been fine, except you ended up having 10.
Let’s face it. You wouldn’t encourage a newly sober alcoholic to socialize at happy hour with his or her friends. Same deal—when you’re new to learning tools for permanent weight loss, you’ll need to avoid situations that are likely to lead to an eating episode you’ll regret.

You never wake up the next day and say, “Boy, am I glad I binged on those brownies yesterday.”

Just about anything can derail weight loss efforts UNLESS you have the tools and a resolute plan to deal with life’s many stressors and challenges.

Today’s tip:

Find ways to bring mindfulness into your life, and especially into your meals and snacks to reduce opportunities for eating on auto pilot. Eat slowly and deliberately. Mindful eating means paying full attention to each piece of food you choose to eat, how it looks, how it smells, how you cut it, the muscles you use to raise it to your mouth, the texture and taste of the food as you chew it slowly. Be fully absorbed by the experience so you can savor your food. As you learn to do so, you’ll learn you CAN stop at the one brownie you planned to eat because you fully tasted and enjoyed it. Don’t worry, another opportunity will come to enjoy other delicious treats in the same mindful way.
When written in Chinese the word “crisis” is composed of two characters—one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
~John F. Kennedy, address, 12 April 1959

Take the opportunities to improve your health and well-being today!

Ellen is a psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco and
Redwood City, California. She specializes in Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy and incorporates the use of mindfulness into the treatment of
depression, anxiety, and emotional overeating. She runs a holistic
weight loss program called Center for Thoughtful Weight Loss,
www.thoughtfulweightloss.com. You can email Ellen at ellen@thoughtfulweightloss.com
copyright © 2011 Ellen N. Resnick, LCSW