Slow Living and Weight Loss

What a chaotic world we find ourselves in. Dozens of text messages, calls, emails, social media notifications… all before we’ve even stepped outside our front door in the morning. Is it any wonder that we feel overwhelmed, and coming up with the energy to create a weight loss plan just seems too hard!

You may have heard mention of the slow living movement, where professionals in high paid corporate jobs (seemingly out of the blue) were quitting their jobs to live simply. Abandoning the impulse to buy more, spend more, do more. Instead, deliberately choosing to do less, and do it slower.

Sounds counterintuitive, when life feels like it’s moving faster and faster, to in fact turn in the opposite direction and slow down. But here’s why you should consider a slower lifestyle when it comes to weight loss.

Mindfulness

Much of what we worry about in life never happens. Many of the scenarios we prepare ourselves for never come to fruition. We spend so much time forward thinking that we forget to pay attention to what is in front of us right now.

Ever been stressed, mulling over something that happened at work, or a family conflict, and found that while your mind wandered, you’d unconsciously eaten an entire family sized packet of chips? (Guilty as charged in this corner).

If you had been paying attention to each and every bite, enjoying your treat, slowly eating and savouring it… do you think that would have happened? Chances are you would have not only enjoyed indulging a little but also been satisfied earlier.

Let go of “more”

By shifting the way you think from a mentality of doing, being, or buying more to appreciating what you have now, and in fact, want less, you can create a real mindset shift in your approach to weight loss.

Instead of looking for the next new piece of fitness equipment that’s going to finally make you enjoy exercise, or a better gym, or a better diet, or new runners, or new app… make use of what you already have, know, and your existing skill set.

Deep down you probably understand that sensible healthy eating, fresh unprocessed foods, and moving more are the key to long-term weight loss, as opposed to a magic bullet. This frees you up to focus more on making changes and less of trying to find a new diet strategy or supplement.

Living slowly reduces stress

Instead of rushing, you take your time. Instead of stressing about the future, you appreciate the moment. Instead of staying up late in front of a screen you go out for a walk in nature after an early dinner and get to bed early. Can you see how this kind of approach would reduce stress?

And what we understand from a large pool of research is that stress, and particular the circulating hormones in response to stress, result in greater body fat storage, making it much more difficult to lose weight.

So what do you think? Does this kind of lifestyle appeal to you?