At some point in the first few weeks of the process of learning to eat with mindfulness and liberation, everyone says something like, “I’m having fun. I’m losing weight and I’m not even on a diet!”
Here is an illustration of this sent by one woman triumphally describing her Easter weekend.
Hi Denise,
I am pleased to report that the weekend went very well. I was surprised to learn at our dinner on Tuesday how satisfying eating a small meal could be when focusing on the pleasure of each bite. Following that strategy I ate very deliberately at both holiday meals on Sat night and Sunday and enjoyed every bite without overeating. I sampled everything including dessert and never felt over full. Again no one noticed anything unusual with my eating – I felt completely normal. I think my body is getting to know what it really feels like not to over or under eat (my old pattern). I like feeling just full enough and not overfull. It’s like my body is developing a new knowledge of how full it wants to be. For my drinking strategy, I took a liter of diet ginger ale with me on Sunday. When I arrived I accepted the offered glass of wine and tried to fully enjoy sipping that. Afterwards I kept filling my wine glass with ginger ale. At dinner I had another glass of wine and then mixed the left over wine in my glass with ginger ale after we finished the meal. I had a glass in my hand the entire afternoon, but drank the exact amount I wanted. NO ONE NOTICED! This was a bit of a revelation to me that I can fully participate in the festivities without over drinking or making a big deal about not drinking with a little preplanned strategy.
I am feeling very good about this process. I feel like I am really learning some new skills and I am feeling pretty confident that I can handle the upcoming weekend. I weighed 142.2 this morning – losing .4 pounds over the weekend which was a real surprise. I thought at best I would stay the same and fully expected to gain a bit. I set out my goals to lose 4 pounds per month with a goal weight by 5/1 of 140ish.* Even with all the social events I feel like I am on track and am really eating differently. I keep waiting to hit a real rough patch but so far so good.