Most people who are trying to lose weight or otherwise be healthy aren’t thinking about fun. In fact, most people think that being healthy is no fun at all. You have to eat right, go to bed early, avoid some of your favorite foods, etc. You can’t do the things you enjoy, it’s boring, it’s so adult. But what if having fun actually helped you achieve your weight loss goals?

Have you ever been so lost in a project you enjoyed that you forgot to eat? It doesn’t happen too often to me but when it does, it’s very noticeable. When you’re happy, your body is releasing chemicals that perpetuate your happiness. Serotonin and Dopamine get released and we feel so good, we’re not thinking about food, we’re enjoying the moment. Food Cravings are a response to stress. They are a response to a need for more energy or to elevate your mood. If you’re enjoying yourself, isn’t that the opposite of stress? Doing things you love is the antidote to stress and weight gain. Sound too good to be true? Try it and let me know how it goes. If you’re enjoying yourself, playing, laughing and having fun, I’m guessing you’ll report back a more peaceful relationship with food. Food won’t be center stage. 

A word of caution. If you have forgotten what fun is, you’ll have to explore and find it again. I did this after I graduated from my first masters program. I was so burned out as I’d been working and going to school, and I didn’t make time for fun. I was clueless about what I even enjoyed anymore and I had to relearn how to have fun.

I found it in art projects and I lost myself for hours enjoying projects working with my hands. There was no end game, I just enjoyed myself. I also shed some extra pounds I was carrying around after the stress of a relationship. This wasn’t overnight I found this way to enjoy myself, it took some digging. How did I find this fun? I remembered back to when I was a kid and how much I enjoyed art and using my hands to create things. I then started exploring, and I love to explore so that was easy.

Challenge:

So, I challenge you, to write a list today, of 5 things you enjoy doing or being. In other words, it can be active or passive. Doing might be going for a walk in the woods. Being would be more like sitting in a hammock with no agenda, staring at the clouds. Both are fine pursuits, with rewards, it’s just a matter of what you want for yourself right now.

Write it out and post it on your fridge or your bathroom mirror of things you want to do. These things can be big, they can be small, they can be frivolous and ridiculous. The latter two are the best.

Then, take one thing this week you can do on that list and schedule it onto your routine. If you don’t schedule it, it may not happen, so please make yourself and your happiness (health) a priority. Don’t have time? Make time, your wellbeing is way too important to be shoved under the rug. Even if it’s going outside and looking at the sunset for 5 minutes, do it! If you resist this or brush it off, just know that is a sign of how desperately you actually need more fun.

Note: In the beginning, it’s best to do things you don’t need others for so you make sure you do it. Once you get in the habit, you can schedule things with your significant other, your kids or your friends. But make sure it’s something YOU enjoy doing and do something weekly.

Enjoy and let me know how it goes.

All the best,