Mindful eating: The key to losing weight without feeling deprived

Managing your weight can be difficult to do without feeling deprived, especially if you’ve had to cut out your favourite foods and sweet treats. This feeling of deprivation can unfortunately lead to binge eating or a break in your diet because good habits are so hard to maintain. What if there was another way to prevent overeating and encourage weight loss? With mindful eating, you can enjoy food with an increased awareness and sensitivity of your mind and body to help you on your weight loss journey.  

What is mindful eating and how does it link to weight loss?  

Mindful eating is the practice of being fully present while eating, paying attention to the taste, texture and sensations of food, as well as recognising hunger and fullness cues without distraction or judgement. By slowing down and savouring each bite, you can become more aware of your body’s signals, reducing the likelihood of overeating or emotional eating. This practice helps prevent mindless snacking and encourages healthier food choices, which can naturally lead to weight loss. Unlike restrictive dieting, mindful eating fosters a sustainable, balanced approach to food, making it easier to maintain a healthy weight over time.  

How to stop overeating with mindful eating 

1. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly 

Eating slowly and savouring each bite can give you time to truly enjoy your food while allowing your body’s natural hunger and fullness signals to register. It takes about 20 minutes for the brain to recognise satiety, so eating too quickly may lead to overeating before you even realise that you’re full.  

2. Remove distractions during meals  

A fundamental aspect of mindful eating is to clear your surroundings of any distractions to allow yourself to focus on your food. That means it’s a good idea to stay away from your phone, television, work or anything else that you may usually do while eating to fully engage with your food and how your body feels. Eating without distractions can improve portion control, enhance meal satisfaction and reduce the tendency to snack unnecessarily, leading to healthier food choices and better weight management.  

3. Recognise emotional vs. physical hunger 

You might find that managing your eating can be more difficult when you get a sudden craving, which can lead to out-of-control eating or mindless snacking. This is called emotional hunger – when you feel like eating due to cravings that are often triggered by stress, boredom or sadness. Understanding the difference between this type of hunger and physical hunger can help you make conscious food choices about if you’re going to eat or not. The differences between physical and emotional hunger to look out for include:  

• Onset time – did you suddenly feel a food craving or have you been gradually getting more hungry over time? Physical hunger takes time to develop whereas emotional can appear unexpectedly without warning.  

• Physical signs – Is your stomach rumbling and growling? Are you feeling lower in energy, possible irritable or lightheaded? These are all signs of physical hunger you can learn to recognise.  

• Fullness – Once you’ve eaten your food, you should feel full and no longer hungry. However, emotional hunger isn’t so easily sated, and you may find yourself still hungry despite physically being full. Noticing these signs and stopping yourself from overeating can help support your weight management journey.  

4. The hunger-fullness scale 

The hunger-fullness scale is a mindful eating tool that can help assess your level of hunger or fullness before, during and after meals. It ranges from one to ten, with one being extreme hunger and ten being extreme fullness. Before eating, you can use this scale to assess how hungry you feel and aim to start eating around a three or four when you feel genuinely hungry but not ravenous. During meals, you can maintain mindfulness and try to stop when you’re feeling comfortably full, around seven.  

5. Try mindful meal planning and preparation 

Weight management isn’t about restriction and mindful meal planning is a thoughtful, intentional approach to organising meals that takes this into account. Choosing meals that nourish you physically and emotionally can improve your relationship with food and reduce overeating. Try to plan a balanced diet, listening to your body’s needs and allowing yourself that slice of cake or biscuit as part of your plan. You can use this preparation time to count calories if you want to but understand that mindful meal planning doesn’t have to be rigid and allow yourself the space for flexibility if needed.  

6. Regularly journal or reflect on your eating habits 

Journaling and reflecting on your eating habits goes hand in hand with mindful eating, as you take the time to assess your relationship with food and learn more about how your body feels. You can take notes on as much or as little as you want, but actively thinking about your eating habits will help you stray away from overeating and improve weight management. For example, you may notice eating patterns or realise certain emotional triggers that lead to overeating that you didn’t before. Consider keeping a journal about what you eat, when you eat and how you are feeling during and after meals.  

Are you struggling with weight management and overeating? 

Don’t worry – you’re not alone and LiveWell Dorset are always happy to help. Starting with small, mindful changes can lead to great success on your weight loss journey and if you need a hand, we have a wonderful team of expert coaches and advisors who are here to support you. Register with us today to get started or contact us for more information.  

Further reading 

• A healthy diet meal plan to lose weight 

• What is urge surfing and how can this be used to help manage food cravings? 

• How to stop binge eating at night