10 Mindful Eating Tips for Weight Loss
Table of Contents
Mindful eating – not just a trend but a TOOL to help us be more aware and present when eating and drinking. Mindful eating can help you more effortlessly reach and maintain your health and weight loss goals while feeling more in control around food and drinks.
What Mindful Eating Feels Like
Imagine having a plate of food that you intentionally chose, feeling relaxed, confident and in control about both what you’re eating and how you’re feeling, regardless of where you are.
Imagine walking into a party and knowing you’re not going to unintentionally overstuff yourself, and will only eat the foods you most enjoy, in an intentional way you feel good about.
Related: Weight Loss and Leftovers (How to stay on track!)
To me, the practice of mindful eating means knowing WHAT you’re eating and WHY – so you can proactively make more intentional and informed decisions, creating an overall lifestyle that you’re confident with and committed too.
It means paying attention to what’s going into your mouth all day – and deciding if you want it to be there, and being honest about those decisions and how they are impacting your goals and results. See my blog post on how to get started with Mindful Eating Here.
The Opposite of Mindful Eating – Mindless Eating
Have you ever gone to a party, where everyone stands around the counter eating and drinking? All of a sudden you look down, and you see that you’re chewing or sipping on something, but you never actually made an intentional choice to do it. Or maybe you’re making lunch for your kids and you realize you ate the crust you cut off their sandwiches…it didn’t even taste good and you weren’t hungry.
Sometimes it feels like we’re eating in this subconscious fog against our own will. It’s such a habit that it can get to a point where we don’t even notice we’re doing it – which is why introducing a practice like mindful eating is so helpful, because it helps us become aware of these behaviors – so we can explore and actually change them.
Benefits of Mindful Eating – Weight Loss and More!
Here are a few benefits of mindful eating. See more on these in my blog post all about getting started with mindful eating.
- Helps you reach your weight loss goals (and maintain them!)
- Can help us minimize emotional eating and feel more in control around food
- Increased Confidence
- Can Improve your relationship with food and yourself
- Helps you develop consistent healthy eating habits and an overall healthy lifestyle, help us stay on track over the holidays, weekends, vacations, etc.
- Can help minimize binge eating
- Allows us to eat more intuitively
10 Tips to Eat More Mindfully, Starting Today!
Mindful Eating Tip 1: Officially Decide to Start doing it!
The first step is making an intentional decision to become more aware of what you’re eating and deciding to start paying attention. To establish habits and change behaviors in any area – we have to decide to change our thinking and identity and become the person who takes this different action. In this case, we have to decide to become a mindful eater.
To get started, decide on your actual goal, and WHY you even care to do it. This will help you prioritize and commit to it. You can set reminders in your phone, or start logging your food in an app like MyFitnessPal. The idea is you want to start breaking yourself out of thinking and eating on autopilot, and start thinking and eating with awareness and intention.
Mindful Eating Tip 2: If it passes your lips, question it
I love to use the example here of our house and the front door. We would never let random people walk into our house without questioning who they are and if we want them there – so why do we do it with our food and mouth?
An easy way to get started is to make a habit of asking yourself these 4 questions every time you are considering eating or drinking:
- What am I about to eat?
- Why am I eating it?
- Do I like my reasons?
- Is it aligned with my goals, and who I want to be and what I want MOST and not only in the moment?
This has been HUGELY helpful for me especially when I started working from home. When I first made the transition, I would find myself randomly going to the fridge or pantry throughout the day. Usually I was bored, restless, sick of sitting at my desk, etc. and looking for a way to procrastinate.
After I recognized I was doing this, and decided that I didn’t like it (or the extra calories I was mindlessly consuming) I started to ask myself the 4 mindful eating questions every time I caught myself there. I never liked my answers, so I rarely actually ate.
You can put them on a post-it near your fridge or pantry (wherever the “go to” spot is for you), set reminders in your phone, etc. The key is – remembering to do it.
Mindful Eating Tip 3: Decide your ideal reasons for eating [food rules you love]
To help with #3, I always recommend thinking about the reasons you want to eat, and the reasons you don’t want to eat. That way when you’re asking yourself the 4 questions, you’ll know the answers right away and it will be much easier to make an intentional decision.
For example:
Reasons I like to eat:
- For fuel – I’m actually physically hungry and I’m eating foods that provide nutrients for my body (protein, healthy fats, clean carbs – fruits/veg)
- An intentional planned eating experience or rare exceptional food occasion (my favorite cookies, a food tasting while on vacation, etc.) The key for this one is that it’s intentional, I’m enjoying it or not having it, and trying not to overdo it. A word of caution here – if you find yourself having many of these, you may want to question if it really falls in this category or not.
Reasons I don’t like to eat:
- Just because everyone else is
- Emotionally (to avoid, distract from or create an emotion)
- Just because the food is there (parties, movies)
- If it’s not fueling me or I don’t LOVE it
- Mindlessly (not even aware I’m eating it)
Your turn! What do you want your reasons for eating and not eating to be?
Mindful Eating Tip 4: Love it, need it or leave it!
A.K.A if food isn’t fueling us and doesn’t taste AMAZING then WHY are we eating it?
See my video on this mindful eating tip below.
If you think about it – it makes no literal sense, but we do it all the time. I hear people say things like…”I never met a sweet I didn’t like” or “well it tastes Ok if I dunk it in coffee” or “the bread was less hard when I covered it in butter.” When I’m eating food that isn’t doing my body any favors – it better taste AMAZING. Otherwise – I don’t want any part of it. And if you have a goal of weight loss and eating more mindfully/intentionally – I would encourage you to question why you do either.
It may be time to raise your food standards 🙂 and, make sure you’re making an actual choice.
Many times we never stop to think about this and ask ourselves the question “Why.” Maybe we eat simply because food is there, because everyone else is, we’re bored or because we don’t “want something to go to waste.” But do we really like those reasons? Are they benefitting us or moving us closer to our goals? Usually not.
Mindful Eating Tip 5: Eat when hungry and stop when 80% full
There was a period of time that I hardly ever felt actual hunger. I was eating at certain points of the day just because it was “snack” or “meal” time. I was completely out of tune with my body’s actual hunger cues, and likely eating more than my body actually needed for fuel.
The key here is getting to know when you actually feel hungry (physical hunger sensation – would eat chicken and broccoli or the most basic boring food) and slowing down and checking in with your body enough to gauge when you’re about 80% full, or content, and deciding to stop eating at that point.
It’s important to note here that it may feel challenging in the beginning, especially if you have a past habit of eating until full over overstuffed. It will take some time to rewire your brain but it’s totally possible! Check out my video on tips to stop overeating here if you struggle with this.
Mindful Eating Tip 6: Plate your food before your first bite
A.k.a – don’t eat our of the bag, serving dish or bowl. You can use a napkin, side plate, your hand – whatever you have!
Have you every gone out to eat and ordered appetizers – especially anything with chips and dip……and were so full afterwards you didn’t even want your meal? Usually this happens because we didn’t make an intentional decision about how much we wanted to eat beforehand, and with the combination of mindless eating and the dopamine hit from the food – we didn’t stop until the food was gone or we were physically uncomfortable – never fun!
So with this one we are making an intentional decision with our brain on how much we want to eat, and physically separating it from the serving bag or bowl before starting to eat it. You can go off the recommended portion size or choose your own – that’s completely up to you. What’s more important is making an active choice on how much you want to consume, and re-deciding if you want more after that amount is gone.
I do this almost every time I eat at a party, restaurant, even at my house when I take out a bag of chips and it helps SO much with portion control. Then when you’re finished with the first portion, you check in with yourself on if you want more and repeat the process again.
Mindful Eating Tip 7: Eat Informed + Intentionally
What this looks like – whenever possible, reading labels and learning the ingredients in foods, questioning and paying attention to how they will make you feel and the effects they will have on your emotional, physical and mental health and making intentional decisions from there.
For example, I notice every time I consume something with Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) (a food additive thats banned in some other countries.) I get a dull headache and feel very foggy after I eat it. It’s a horrible feeling that I just don’t want to have if I can avoid it. So if I’m eating certain places that I know cook with it – I order sauces or dressings on the side and go there way less often, even if I like the food.
Most of us know what foods will leave us feeling great or not regardless if they have a label, it’s more a matter of slowing down and questioning how we’ll feel after eating them, and deciding ahead of time if and how much we want based on that.
Mindful Eating Tip 8: Meals have a beginning and an end
Ok if I’m being honest, this is one I struggle with! I tend to “sample” a lot while I’m cooking, and even though it’s often veggies, protein or “healthy food” I don’t love putting food in my mouth that I haven’t intentionally decided to eat – so it’s always a work in progress.
But this is simply deciding when you want to start eating and when you want to finish – and following through with it. If that includes snacking and sampling and your good with it, that’s ok too! The important part is being mindful enough to make it an intentional decision.
Mindful Eating Tip 9: Slow down + Prioritize Eating
Slow down and intentionally take the time to make eating your main priority whenever you can. Sit down, eliminate electronics and distractions. If you’re someone who has a habit of eating while working, or doing 10 other things at the same time (I’ve been there, and sometimes still am there) question if that’s truly who you want to be and if it’s really doing you any benefits. The work will be there when you’re done, I promise!
Focus on actually chewing your food. I did a challenge once where we focused on 10-20 chews of everything we ate. It sounds so silly, but it actually forced me to be present and aware of what I was eating.
We are much more likely to overeat (and not even enjoy it) when we are doing 100 other things and not prioritizing the actual act of eating.
Benefits of eating slowly:
- Gives our body time to digest
- Takes us out of fight or flight and puts us in rest and digest, allowing for better nutrient assimilation
- Minimizes fat storage
- Allows us to better recognize when we are starting to get full so we can stop eating.
- Minimizes (mindless) overeating
Mindful Eating Tip 10: Remember to BREATHE
Make a habit of breathing before you take your first bite, as a way to signal to your body that you’re shifting your energy from the craziness of the day to focusing on eating and digesting. Simple box breathing – 4 breaths in, hold for four, and four breaths out can help relax your body and mind. Use this time to help you to intentionally decide what kind of energy and presence you want to have as you’re eating so you can eat as mindfully as possible. This will help you with most of the other tips as well!
You can also check out other calming breathing techniques here (about halfway down the page!)
Evaluate, practice and repeat! If you need more help with this – let’s talk! I can help you go from being a mindless eater to a mindful one in no time.
Need some help or guidance with incorporating tips and tricks like this into your life? Grab my Free 7-Day Health Reset and practice this with my guidance!