Yesterday, I was at my golf lesson and my instructor told me "You're too much in your head."...hmmm, so what do I do with that information?  He then had me swing the club four sets of 5 swings without any golf balls.  After each swing, he had me identify whether I was focusing on keeping my shoulders lose, or not overgripping my club, etc.  He encouraged me to limit my focus to one specific thing. Then, he asked me to grade my intent--I would swing my club and he would have me rate the success of my intent (not the result) on a scale of 1 to 5.  He described the intent as my ability to mentally focus on the specific goal (loose shoulders or whatever) and then once I had swung, was I maintaining that focus...that intent? 

The next drill was basically the same, except the golf ball was on the tee.  It was fascinating to me that when i maintained that focus of not over gripping, or whatever, the intent and the result were far more in sync.  That is to say, when I took the steps to really think and focus on what I was doing, my swings were far more successful.  It became difficult to separate intent and result--because a focused intent gave me a more positive result. I know pretty philosophical stuff.

This weirdly relates to my eating patterns.

When I gain weight, I have lost focus.  It's typically after I've lost weight and I relax and start to set my personal eating rules aside, one at a time, until basically I've managed to ignore them all.  This has been a cycle I've grown to recognize in my journey.  I decided today to start daily evaluating my intent as it relates to healthy eating.  If my intent deserves a high rating, then I have done a good job of planning, preparing (both physically and mentally) of how and what I am going to eat that day.I imagine, much like my golf swing, if my intent is a solid 4 or 5, then it is far more likely that my result will be succesful.  One thing I know for sure is that if I don't have an invested focus/intent I will not be as successful as I would like.   It means that when I sit down at a restaurant, I will expect myself to be mentally focused on my intent--make smart choices no matter what anyone else does. 

I'm not sure this makes sense to anyone but me, but it clicked.  I have been a yo-yo dieter for many years and I will continue to be if I don't find the answers within myself that I can apply on a daily basis for the rest of my life.  I think being honest about the intent afffirms the bigger picture of healthy eating and alleviates the guilt when I decide to splurge.

For now, I will rate my intent using the following ideas...I'm interested to see where this goes.

  • Do you intend to make a food plan for the day?
  • Do  you intend to complete the preparation for the food plan to be realistic?
  • Do you intend to deviate from healthy eating today?
  • Do you intend to drink enough water today?
  • Do you intend to step on that scale at least every other day?
  • Do you intend on exercising today?

 

What other questions would you add?