Setting Yourself Up for Success

Does anybody else do this?  Do you ever get caught up in working on something, or your everyday activities, and realize that it's been too long since your last meal?  I do this on a regular basis.  When you 've done this, have you examined your reactive behavior closely enough to compare it to what happens when you eat meals or snacks on a regular basis? Or, do you get caught up in the resulting overeating and then ask yourself what just happened?  I've had experience with all of the above-mentioned eating scenarios,  and I can tell you that none of my answers are "pretty."  

There are certain processes your body goes through when it's hungry.  One of these processes reacts in such a way that if you ignore your hunger pangs for too long, your body will begin to hold onto the fat it has already stored for you, instead of releasing it to be used as fuel.  It's a natural process.  And, when you finally do eat - after skipping that last meal in the forever hope that you'll lose weight by not consuming calories - your stomach says, "Okay, baby!  Give me all you've got!"  And, most times, that's exactly what you'll do - and you will do it quickly, before you even realize how much food you've taken in.  

So now, while your body fat has gone into a "hoarding" mode, and has locked up its calories, you've given it even more - and so many that it can't possibly use all of them for energy, and you've added to the stockpile.  It's an easy behavior to get into.  

When this happens to me, my thought process goes like this:  1) “I'm getting hungry.  Oh, no wonder!  It's been 5 hours since I've eaten.”  Or -   2) "No wonder! I forgot to eat breakfast.  Where has the time gone? I'd better eat something!”   My actual behavior in this instance:  Making an over-sized breakfast - no matter what time it is.  Or, if I decide to eat lunch instead, I know very well what I should do; but, it's so much easier just to grab a hamburger, or something - anything - through my closest fast-food drive-through.  

"There!" I say to myself, "That solves everything!"  And I'm smiling as I go down the road - until I realize just exactly what I just did.  There's nothing to smile about in that "gut reaction" scenario.   What I should have done was to eat a very small portion of vegetables or fruit - just enough to jump-start calories burning, or the process of what most of us have a love-hate relationship with, metabolism.  

So, I'm going to make a suggestion.  This is a strategy that I also employ when I sit down to enjoy a few minutes interacting with social media.  Here goes.  Set a clock or timer.  It's that simple.  For social  media, I set a timer for myself not to be on it more than 30 minutes at a time, and only allow myself to peruse  it twice a day. That's it - no longer and no less.   For eating intervals, if I know in advance it's going to be a busy morning or afternoon, I set an alarm to remind me to eat a nutritious snack to hold me over until my next regularly-scheduled meal. It works. 

And, since I'm a writer, I adhere to a mental reminder to get up and walk around a little bit during the time I've committed to sit at my writing desk and finish my task - once again to keep those calories burning. And, again, it works.   

In the end, it comes down to mindfulness.  None of us have ideal days or schedules.  We have to figure out what works best for us in given situations.  It can be done. It's not impossible.  We can put inappropriate behaviors in their place - whether temporary or permanent.  We can set ourselves up for success in so many ways and this is just one of them.
Copyright © 1/1/2015 -      , CB, Bed Warrior