Don’t Gain 20 Pounds on Lockdown! How To Avoid Mindless Eating

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ave to say that we need to give ourselves some slack. When you are under the load of stress that’s been dumping on you lately, you aren’t going to react perfectly and you shouldn’t expect yourself to. We are gonna eat some junk food. We are gonna flirt with a few extra pounds, and that’s okay. But, if you want to slow your roll and not have extra rolls around the middle, there are things you can do. Just be nice to yourself, okay?The other thing I want to say is, if you have children home from school right now, I am so sorry. I hope you all can survive this.I let myself have a bit of time melting down and mourning the loss of my world over the last weeks, and then I made a few simple changes to my food routine. So far my wife isn’t fully on board, but she is her own adult person and she can run her life. I took steps for my well being. Here’s what I started doing, just yesterday.The biggest problem that I could see was that I was eating while holding my phone. This was making me eat like a mindless drone with a bottomless pit for a stomach. The endless tide of terrible Coronavirus News was coming at me in waves and sucking my will to live, while I ate and ate. So I removed the news from the picture.I decided I would clean off the dinner table. While we made permanent dents in the couch the exact shape of our backsides over the last days, ruinous piles of bills, flyers and other useless depressing junk were covering up the designated eating area. Eating in the living room was a part of my new pattern, so I cleaned things up and put out a new place mat. I made myself a rule: no devices at the table. I would prepare the food and bring it to the table, then enjoy it and ignore the doom over our heads. We all have extra time to worry, so no need to worry while eating!I made a rule to not eat standing in the kitchen, or while walking to the table, or sitting on the couch. I would casually take my food to the table, set it down in a civilized fashion, and then fully enjoy my feast. I looked online and found a mindful eating meditation, printed it off and put it in the center of the table as a reminder.As I sat down for my first mindful meal, I gave it a quick read. I starting noticing how the food looked, slowing down and really smelling it, appreciating the first bite, a

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nd just being grateful that I had this food. I looked around and noticed that in this moment, there was nothing wrong at all. I had a table, and food, and a safe location with my favorite person. I was warm, dry and healthy. I enjoyed my food, and I left my phone over by the couch.I made one other change. I decided that at least one meal of every day had to be planned, and supper would happen at supper time. Not at 1:00 in the afternoon, not at 3:00 PM, not at 9:00 PM. At 6:00 PM, every day. Sure we are on lock-down and have no outside appointments, no schedule. That doesn’t mean we need to throw out everything that gives our lives meaning! I will do my best to have a sit down together meal every day, at the fancy eatin’ table, and try to get everyone to leave their devices somewhere else. The T.V. will be off, the food will be delicious, and the worries can wait until after the enjoying is done.We made it through a full day and a half of the new eating schedule. So far, so good. I am sticking to my guns and not letting myself eat while holding a phone, looking at a screen or listening to earphones. My wife joined me at the table today, even though yesterday she refused. She didn’t bring her phone either, and she seemed happy about it. Everything outside these walls seems completely out of control, but this one thing is ours, and it felt great. It was a moment of togetherness.I’m being realistic. I’m still going to bring junk food home. We will still eat popcorn on the couch while watching a movie. I don’t expect myself to be perfect. I just don’t want to emerge from my den to look for a job in a month or two, looking like I’m about to give birth.If this sounds like something that might help your life, please give it a try. Any suggestions or comments? Please, talk to me! Leave a message below.Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@auntneecey?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Denise Johnson</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/snack-food?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>Originally published at <a href="https://www.tim-ebl.com/dont-gain-20-pounds-on-lockdown-how-to-avoid-mindless-eating/">https://www.tim-ebl.com</a> on April 8, 2020.</article></body>

Don’t Gain 20 Pounds on Lockdown! How To Avoid Mindless Eating

It’s been an intense, slow moving and stressful period for everyone. I hope that you are well and your family is safe. How are you feeling about your food choices though? I was not feeling good about my new lock-down habits, in fact I felt quite guilty. I was already wallowing in dangerous, belt stretching territory. Not needing to put on pants, I started wondering if they would even fit anymore. I am currently work free. That means plenty of time to be stressed!

If you are locked up indoors like I am and find yourself chewing down whole bags of junk food, or raiding the fridge every hour, then you might be having the same feelings I had. I needed to stop mindlessly eating everything in my path. I was worried I would sabotage my health and need a new, more expansive wardrobe, as well as ever increasing amounts of groceries. But how could I slam the breaks on this runaway food train of despair? I had a few ideas that I started trying out, and they work for me. Maybe they can help you too.

The first problem I had to solve was how to stop eating on the couch while scrolling through the doom news. Constantly updating how bad it was out there while holding a big bowl of crunchy, salty goodness. Finding out there would be no work for months, and heading straight to the food trough to dull the emotional pain. Worrying about shortages at the store while looking through the pantry for something to swallow way too fast. Worrying about my parents and trying to keep them safe. Worrying that I’m a middle aged guy who really doesn’t want to end up intubated, ever.

The next problem that I could see creeping up on me was schedule slip. I was randomly grazing at all times of the day, sliding through the kitchen and grabbing a handful of sweet mind numbing sugary stuff, and trying to swallow it fast before my wife saw me chewing. We were eating dinner too early, and then needing second dinner, then thirdsies before bed. Breakfast might happen twice and then skip lunch, because dinner was going to be at 2:00 PM anyway so why bother.

Before I go into how I changed my behavior, I have to say that we need to give ourselves some slack. When you are under the load of stress that’s been dumping on you lately, you aren’t going to react perfectly and you shouldn’t expect yourself to. We are gonna eat some junk food. We are gonna flirt with a few extra pounds, and that’s okay. But, if you want to slow your roll and not have extra rolls around the middle, there are things you can do. Just be nice to yourself, okay?

The other thing I want to say is, if you have children home from school right now, I am so sorry. I hope you all can survive this.

I let myself have a bit of time melting down and mourning the loss of my world over the last weeks, and then I made a few simple changes to my food routine. So far my wife isn’t fully on board, but she is her own adult person and she can run her life. I took steps for my well being. Here’s what I started doing, just yesterday.

The biggest problem that I could see was that I was eating while holding my phone. This was making me eat like a mindless drone with a bottomless pit for a stomach. The endless tide of terrible Coronavirus News was coming at me in waves and sucking my will to live, while I ate and ate. So I removed the news from the picture.

I decided I would clean off the dinner table. While we made permanent dents in the couch the exact shape of our backsides over the last days, ruinous piles of bills, flyers and other useless depressing junk were covering up the designated eating area. Eating in the living room was a part of my new pattern, so I cleaned things up and put out a new place mat. I made myself a rule: no devices at the table. I would prepare the food and bring it to the table, then enjoy it and ignore the doom over our heads. We all have extra time to worry, so no need to worry while eating!

I made a rule to not eat standing in the kitchen, or while walking to the table, or sitting on the couch. I would casually take my food to the table, set it down in a civilized fashion, and then fully enjoy my feast. I looked online and found a mindful eating meditation, printed it off and put it in the center of the table as a reminder.

As I sat down for my first mindful meal, I gave it a quick read. I starting noticing how the food looked, slowing down and really smelling it, appreciating the first bite, and just being grateful that I had this food. I looked around and noticed that in this moment, there was nothing wrong at all. I had a table, and food, and a safe location with my favorite person. I was warm, dry and healthy. I enjoyed my food, and I left my phone over by the couch.

I made one other change. I decided that at least one meal of every day had to be planned, and supper would happen at supper time. Not at 1:00 in the afternoon, not at 3:00 PM, not at 9:00 PM. At 6:00 PM, every day. Sure we are on lock-down and have no outside appointments, no schedule. That doesn’t mean we need to throw out everything that gives our lives meaning! I will do my best to have a sit down together meal every day, at the fancy eatin’ table, and try to get everyone to leave their devices somewhere else. The T.V. will be off, the food will be delicious, and the worries can wait until after the enjoying is done.

We made it through a full day and a half of the new eating schedule. So far, so good. I am sticking to my guns and not letting myself eat while holding a phone, looking at a screen or listening to earphones. My wife joined me at the table today, even though yesterday she refused. She didn’t bring her phone either, and she seemed happy about it. Everything outside these walls seems completely out of control, but this one thing is ours, and it felt great. It was a moment of togetherness.

I’m being realistic. I’m still going to bring junk food home. We will still eat popcorn on the couch while watching a movie. I don’t expect myself to be perfect. I just don’t want to emerge from my den to look for a job in a month or two, looking like I’m about to give birth.

If this sounds like something that might help your life, please give it a try. Any suggestions or comments? Please, talk to me! Leave a message below.

Originally published at https://www.tim-ebl.com on April 8, 2020.