This ia  picture of one serving of food from my new cooking video,
Cheesecake Sugar-Free
which is located at DietHobby, under RECIPES,  Sweet Tastes.

Mindful eating is maintaining awareness while eating.

Some examples of this are:

• Being fully present and in the moment while eating.
  
  
• Noticing what and how much we are eating,
  at the time we are eating it.
  
  
• Tasting and savoring food, focusing on the senses.
  
  
• Noticing what's going on with our bodies, while we are eating,
  paying attention to whether or not we are physically hungry.

                               
Sometimes I find that I learn as much
from a "Bad Example" as I do from a good one.

One of the things I do here in my Dieting Hobby
is follow the online sharing of various people
who are engaged in the pursuit of weight-loss,
as they try this diet or that one, or follow no structured plan.

Watching others teaches me things,
and reinforces things that I've already learned
from my own experience.

For several years I've been following the journal
of someone who shares her daily thoughts and activities
as it relates to her weight-loss attempts.
She is the same high weight now,
as she was when she began the online journal.

She appears to be incapable of grasping and holding on
to any type of dieting plan .. even for a one month period.
As soon as she has a failure, she rethinks everything
and starts a different plan.

The thing that becomes apparent to anyone following her
for any length of time, is that every single one of these plans
is the same … in that … she doesn't want to deny herself anything.

She wants to eat what she wants, in the amounts that she wants,
whenever she wants to eat it.

Despite all of her experience, and a multitude of evidence to the contrary,
she desperately holds on to the unfounded belief
that she doesn't need to sacrifice anything she wants.
That her obese body is going to begin acting like a "normal" body
and tell her how to eat to become smaller. ..
And, of course... it doesn't.

I have personally observed that her body hasn't done this
for at least the past several years,
despite hundreds of good intentions and well-thought out plans,
even though she has put forth an enormous amount of mental energy,
and given her body many opportunities to do so.

This example of failure … though sad for her ….
is helpful for me.
I, like many others, have that seed of fantasy within me;
that desire to believe those misguided Intuitive Eating Gurus.

I'd like to believe that my body will guide me to normalcy;
that all I have to do is listen carefully to it,
and my own body will tell me what, and when, and how much to eat
in order to leave the state of obesity, and
reach and maintain inside a normal weight range.

The thought is alluring. Such a pleasant one.
But, unfortunately, it is based on little or no truth,
even though it is frequently promoted by (sometimes) well-intentioned people,
who tell outright lies in order to support that baseless Theory…
…which is no more than a hopeful wish.

The "bad" examples of those obese people
who choose to embrace this thinking
are helpful to remind me of the Truth.

I can be normal weight.
I can maintain my body at normal weight.
But, not by following my own instincts, or
by giving my body what it "tells" me it wants.

Weight-loss and Maintenance of Weight-loss
take continual daily effort,
in order to establish habits of "good" eating,
and to consciously make "good" choices
when "bad" eating habits beckon.

CAVEAT:  My writings on this subject refer to people who 
have spent long periods of time well inside the established borders of obesity.
I do not speak for people who have been normal weight for most of their lives,
and/or whose bodies have only been 20 or 30 lbs inside the obesity range.
Those bodies could be different,
and those people might (or might not) have a different experience.

It's important to know what to say "yes" to, 
and what to say "no" to. 
 

Today, while I was (...finally...) doing my laundry, 
I was thinking about the fact that no matter what task I'm engaged in,
I find a voice inside of me telling me
that I should be doing more,
or that I should be doing something else.

So, I started thinking about the fact that I was thinking that,
and about the definition of that type of thinking.

Perfectionism…
I've never thought of myself as a perfectionist,
think of myself as more of a pragmatist,
my solution is "whatever works".

Still, I went searching for the definition of perfectionism,
which resulted in the following:

Perfectionism includes:

The irrational belief that you and/or your environment must be perfectly as you wish it to be.

The striving to be the best, to reach the ideal and it is unacceptable to make mistakes.

A habit developed from youth that keeps you constantly alert to the imperfections, failings,
and weakness in yourself and others.

A level of consciousness that keeps you ever vigilant to any deviations from the norm,
the guidelines or the way things are "supposed to be".

The belief that no matter what you attempt it is never "good enough" to meet
your own or others' expectations.

 This led me to see that although, I'm not exactly a perfectionist,
there are elements of perfectionism in my character.

So, what rational behaviors are needed to overcome perfectionist tendencies?
To overcome perfectionism, one needs to:

Accept self as a human being.

Forgive self for mistakes or failings.

Accept that the ideal is only a guideline or goal to be worked toward,
not to be achieved 100 percent.

Set realistic and flexible time frames for the achievement of a goal.

Develop a sense of patience and to reduce the need to "get it done yesterday".

Be easier on oneself; setting unrealistic or unreasonable goals
or deadlines sets you up for failure.

Recognize that the human condition is one of failings, weakness, deviations,
imperfections and mistakes; it is acceptable to be human.

Develop an ability to use "thought stopping" techniques whenever you find yourself
mentally scolding yourself for not being "good enough".

Visualize reality as it will be for a human rather than for a super human.

Learn to accept yourself the way you are; let go of the ideas of how you should be.

Learn to enjoy success without the need to second guess
your ability to sustain the achievement.

Love yourself; to believe that you deserve good things.

To eliminate unrealistic expectations and the idea that you are infallible.

Visualize yourself as "winning" even when it takes more energy,
and more perseverance, than what you had planned.

Let go of rigid, moralistic judgments of your performance and to develop
an open, compassionate understanding for the hard times, obstacles and temptations.

Be flexible in setting goals and be willing to reassess your plan
from time to time to keep things realistic.

Realize that the important thing is to be going in a positive direction.

 Can I do these things?

Well,
I don't have to be Perfect. .......  LOL