Eat slowly and consciously

Ensure you really notice the taste of each mouthful: your full concentration on what you are eating.  That means you need to turn off the television, ensure you are not reading or driving, or playing on the internet etc.  When your full focus is on eating your brain has time to get the signal from your tummy that it’s satisfied before you get full.  The real pleasure from food is really only whilst it’s in your mouth.  Once it’s gone into your stomach it really could be anything. So in some ways the more time you take to enjoy each mouthful the better and more satisfying/worthwhile the eating experience will actually be.

Eat three small meals a day

Eat when you are hungry.  If you used a scale of 1 – 10, with one being full and 10 being ravenous, ensure you have food accessible to eat when you reach somewhere between 6-8. Try eating from a side plate instead of a large dinner plate.  If you go out for a meal remember you dont have to eat everything up on your plate (that’s an old message from the past that isn’t relevant to most of us any more…..now our plates are much bigger and we have little chance of there being a food shortage).

Drink Plenty of Water

We’ve all heard the saying that many people confuse hunger with thirst.  That’s often because there is  water content in much of our food, so sometimes we can unconsciously be trying  to get fluid from food.  Also, the signs we get when we need water are often similar to when we are hungry e.g tiredness. So it can mean we find ourselves reaching out for food when actually what our body needs is something to drink.

Manage your internal chatter box.

Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.  We can terrorise ourselves with our own thinking almost 24/7 with little or no reprieve, and no-one to protect us from our own verbal battering. Do you recognise that critical voice you have inside your head, the one that challenges you and tells you off.  Often it’s like a broadcast radio.   Sometimes it’s says things to you that your wouldn’t say to your worst enemy (at least if you did you probably wouldn’t get away with it).  We convince ourselves that it okay to do this to ourselves, saying:  “it’s only me so it doesn’t matter” but the problem is….it hurts.

Sometimes we can hurt ourselves so much with our thoughts that we end up crying.  Think about those times you’ve sat on the bed after an evening of trying to find something to wear to a party or some such event.  You end up deciding not to go, cross and upset and then stay home and eat.  So if you use food as a comfort i.e. to feel better…..then you are creating reasons to eat simply by the way you talk to yourself .  So be mindful of how you talk to yourself: Remember, it’s the thought that counts!

Buy yourself a new outfit

If we want something enough, and feel that sense strong enough, we will give it focus and attention,sso that we do the things we need to do get it.  So buy something new, something in the size you want, that you really like and want to get into.  It doesn’t have to be expensive but it does have to be new…..no associations with the past (to beat yourself up with).   Hang it outside the front of your wardrobe  for you to see each day, to remind you of what you want, so that you can make choices in all aspects of your life that support achieving it.