How many food or beverage related decisions do you make in a typical day? Most people estimate that number to be around 15. In reality, the actual number is closer to 200.
Whether or not we are conscious of it, we are constantly making decisions about whether or not to eat, and what, where, how, and how much to eat. We make a similar number of decisions every day about whether and how we use our bodies.
This is great news.
It means that hundreds of times a day, we have an opportunities to choose something different.
- We can choose to sit down for lunch without a phone or tablet and enjoy the benefits of eating more mindfully.
- We can select a smaller plate or bowl.
- We can choose to stand up while participating in a conference call.
- We can order a side salad instead of fries.
- We can choose to pour a glass of seltzer instead of a second glass of wine.
The great thing about having so many opportunities to make choices is that we don’t have to nail every one, every day. Seizing just a handful of these opportunities every day can start adding up to a different sort of lifestyle and, eventually, a different set of habits.
And, as we see over and over again in the Weighless program, that ultimately leads to weighing less…without dieting.
But before you can start making different choices, you’ve got to tune into the fact that a choice is actually being made. A habit, after all, is just a choice that you don’t realize you’re making.
As you go through your day today, try to notice when you are making a food, beverage, or movement-related choice. What are you choosing? What else could you choose? How would it feel to make a different choice, just this one time?
This is just one of the many techniques we use in the Weighless program to gradually develop habits and behaviors that lead to weighing less without dieting. Try it for a week and see what you think!