Recently, I have been working on losing weight. For most of my life, I’ve been working to gain weight and lift heavy weights, so this was definitely a big diet shift for me. After some ups and downs, I am almost at my target weight. Along the way, I learned some things about impulse control and gratefulness that have application in the financial world.
One of the most challenging parts of weight loss was feeling guilty about the food that I did eat. I would eat a small portion of food, still feel a little hungry, eat a little more, and then feel very guilty about eating that small extra portion. Somedays I would avoid the extra portion and leave the table hungry, but then I would feel guilty about not feeding my body appropriately. The shame was tremendous and very challenging to deal with.
After some praying, journaling, and thinking, I realized that the source of these feelings was an underlying sentiment of ungratefulness for food. Instead of being grateful for the food that I had enjoyed and that had filled me up, I constantly wondered if I had eaten enough. Did I actually nourish my body? What if it’s not enough? What if my weight doesn’t go down? What if I fail?
The antidote to these intrusive thoughts we’ve already discussed in last week’s blog post. It’s gratitude. Being grateful for the food that I did have to eat removed all of those “what ifs” from my mind. I had peace and contentment about my eating, which I believe is what made for a successful weight loss project.
Weight loss and debt reduction are strikingly similar in nature. Both of them involve extra baggage that, in many ways, restricts you. Both of them require sacrifice and denying our desire for instant gratification in order to successfully reduce them. Both of them are hard work and can lead us into all sorts of unhealthy places if we allow them.
But the key to success in both is gratitude. Be grateful for what we already have, and the lure of instant gratification for our desires becomes shallow. When we start with thankfulness to the Lord for His blessings that He has already given to us, we have better perspective about what we actually need to purchase (or eat)! From there, financial wisdom will begin to develop.
As an aside, I now have a much greater appreciation for people who struggle with eating disorders. I never saw myself as someone who would struggle with that, but the feelings and thoughts are very compelling in the moment. Debt reduction is the same way (think of it as a “debt disorder”), and a good coach can help you see clearly in those moments of cloudy-thinking!
Interested in taking the next step towards coaching? Connect with me via email (coachingwithconnor1@gmail.com), through social media, or through my website (themoneymentoring.com).
Thank you for trusting me with your attention!
