What is the best present you can give to yourself?

Who doesn’t like a present?

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How would you like to give yourself a present that would help you to lose weight? How would you like it if that present not just guaranteed weight loss but helped you to lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived?

Here is the absolute best present you can give yourself. That present is to be present.

Being present is a present and what’s best about it is that it makes you aware of what you’re doing and gives you amazing power in a number of ways.

Have you ever been in your car and driving the route you take every day to get to work when you realized that it’s Saturday? You weren’t going to work when you got in your car; you were headed the opposite way to go on a shopping trip with a friend. That’s operating by rote. You were driving your car but you weren’t present.

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Being present is engaging your mind. “Wait a second! What do I really want and how do I get it?”

Being present is being aware.

If you’re eating you’re aware of how your food tastes and when you feel full. Eating without be present is cleaning your plate without paying attention to satiety. You could have been full when you ate only half of the food on the plate. Because you aren’t present when you ate, you just cleaned your plate because you’ve been conditioned to eat until the plate is empty.

Being aware of what you’re eating can help you stay satisfied with what you ate hours after having ate it. Eating while your mind is somewhere else often has the opposite effect. You eat more and are satisfied less.

Being present gives you strength to change your reaction.

Being present is a reminder that "I'm not hungry, I'm bored." Find something interesting to do that doesn't involve eating.

Being present is a reminder that “I’m not hungry, I’m bored.” Find something interesting to do that doesn’t involve eating.

Stress and strong emotions are a known trigger of overeating. The foods people usually tend to eat in response to emotions are high in calories and highly palatable. Emotional eating dulls the pleasure that should be part of the eating highly palatable foods experience. Because these foods are treats they should be enjoyed as such. If you’re not present while eating these foods because of emotions the pleasure is lost. You eat a lot but get no satisfaction.

Being present gives you power to handle high-risk eating situations.

Being present is a matter of engaging your mind instead of your mouth.

Being present is a matter of putting your mind to work instead of your mouth.

Most of us face high risk situations every week. Some face them daily. Nights, for example, are high risk for people who have a habit of snacking as they watch TV until they go to bed. Others live in a household where they are pressured to eat too much. Parties and other social activities can be high risk. Morning coffee breaks, lunch with co-workers, the high risk situations are endless and everywhere.

Eating becomes a mindless response to such situations. Just like driving to work without thinking…on a Saturday…we repeat a pattern of eating without thinking about what we’re doing.

Repeating this pattern gets in the way of weight loss. It’s not until after we’ve eaten that we acknowledge our behavior and typically regret what we did. Unfortunately regret doesn’t break the pattern. Being present will!

When you’re present you have the power to do what will support your weight-related goals.

Give yourself the present of present!????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

It’s the best gift you’ll ever give and the best present you can ever get!

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.