Can mindfulness influence your weight?

“We are frequently in error but rarely in doubt.”

Our previous education, learning and experiences lead us to believe that our circumstances are set. Mindfulness studies suggest that these beliefs are not true; that we are unnecessarily limiting our potential for growth.

Ellen Langer is a Harvard psychology professor – and very entertaining speaker – who has devoted her life’s work to studies of mindfulness. In this video, she outlines how being mindful can assist our efforts in all sorts of areas.

What happens when we apply her research to weight loss?

As she says: “Take the mind and the body and put them together. Wherever the mind goes, the body follows.”

It sounds silly that we should put the mind and the body together, as surely the two can’t be separated. What we find, however, is that often people change their eating patterns and their exercise with a goal to lose weight, but their mind is sabotaging their efforts.

• “I can’t lose weight.”
• “My whole family are big.”
• “My genes make me gain weight.”
• “Nothing works for me.”

The negative self-talk has an impact. Subconsciously the person makes their beliefs come true.

What if we became mindful of this negativity, and instead replaced the negative thoughts with positive ones?

• “I can lose weight.”
• “My whole family were big but they ate badly. I can eat well”
• “My genes might make me gain weight easily, but genes are just one aspect of my results. I can control my choices and lose the weight I want.”
• “Nothing has worked for me in the past, but I have never put together the eating, exercise and mindfulness that will make it work now.”

We know that a lot of people will see mindfulness as pie-in-the-sky, but we encourage you to watch the video with an open mind. Even if you disregard it, it won’t hurt your weight loss efforts.

What could you do to become mindful?