Feng Shui for Weight Loss: 6 Things You Can DO Today!

Feng Shui for Weight Loss: 6 Things You Can DO Today!

Posted by Moni Castaneda; April 17, 2014

People who go on weight loss retreats, or who just finished a diet or detox program, may find it hard to stick to their healthier eating resolutions once they go back o their usual routines and spaces. When we go back to the spaces where we are used to behaving in certain ways, we tend to fall back into the same old patterns. Making changes in your space can help you break self-defeating habits by creating environments that support, instead of working against, your goals. Feng Shui, the art of space arrangement that changes things in the physical space in order to produce changes in a person’s life, can help you make the changes in your home that can help you stay focused on your goals to attain and keep a healthy weight.

 1 – The View

The first thing you see when you come home defines how you perceive your home. People who see the laundry room as soon as they step in may feel like house work never ends. If they see the bathroom, they might feel like everything is going down the drain. If they see a refrigerator, their thoughts are often directed to food. Pay attention to the first thing you see when you come into your home. If the first thing you see is the kitchen, and especially if the first thing you see is the refrigerator, place something very beautiful or colorful next to it or near it, so that your eyes are directed to away from the source of food and snacks. In the example, the attention is directed to healthier food choices.

2 – Mirrors

Mirror Shards

Make sure you have at least one full length mirror in the home, so you get accurate feedback on your looks and weight. An accurate reflection in the mirror helps you keep a constant dialogue with reality. When body fat percentage is an issue, you want your mirrors to tell you the true story. Slimming mirrors will deceive you into thinking you are doing better than you actually are, if weight loss is your goal. Mirrors that make you look wider, would create an unnecessary upset. Avoid any mirrors that distort or break up the image in any way. Mirror mosaics give you a fragmented view of yourself, which is bad for self image. Curved mirrors, either concave or convex, give you a distorted image of yourself. Even the bevels at the edges of fancy mirrors are considered inauspicious in Feng Shui. It is best to cover up those edges. Fragmented or distorted mirrors give you bad feedback about life. Good Feng Shui mirrors need to reproduce reality exactly as it is. This helps us connect with the world.

3 – The Kitchen

The colors in the kitchen and the contents of the kitchen can influence your food choices. The colors yellow, orange and red, stimulate appetite for fattening foods. Stainless steel and an excess of white create a clinical look that discourages cooking at home. Soft earth tones, on the other hand, complemented by warm greens or teals, and even light blues, promote relaxation and better food choices. You can read more about this here. Keeping candy or treats on counters or tables, where they are highly visible, will remind you to eat unhealthy foods more often. It would be ideal to not keep sweets in the home while you are on a weight loss plan, but if you do, put them away behind closed cabinet doors, and in places that are hard to reach. Instead, place a fruit bowl on your counters or tables, and add a potted herb plant to your kitchen. Soft earth tones and greens make it easier to choose healthy foods. Adding live green plants is also helpful. Avoid the colors of fast food chains, which encourage eating “junk foods.”

4 – Closets

The clothes you wear affect your self image, but  the clothes in your closet that are never worn may be the ones that affect your ability to lose weight the most. Let go of any clothes that do not look good on you, right here, right now. Start by letting go of any clothes that are torn or stained, then give away or sell any clothes that are in colors that you do not love. Many people keep clothes from old, thinner times, in their closets in hopes that they can “get back” to their former weight and wear them again. This reinforces an idea that we can “go back” to something, when the truth is that we can only move forward. Letting go of these clothes helps us accept the present, and plan for the future we desire. My clients with the most successful weight loss stories, are the ones that make a commitment to only wearing clothes that feel and fit right in the present moment, and keeping only one or two outfits in their closets that fits a little too tight right now. They try these outfits on once per week to keep track of their size, rather than weighing. For more on how closets influence your self image and your fitness goals, click here. My clients have had more success keeping only clothes that are beautiful and fit them right RIGHT NOW, than buying or keeping clothes two sizes smaller to use as “motivation.”

5 – Clutter

Excess body fat is a type of body clutter.  Both decluttering and losing weight are very emotional experiences and they are both related to decision making. I define clutter in the home as “decisions delayed.” When we are unable to decide whether an object needs to be thrown out, recycled, given away, stored, or put away, it becomes clutter. You may have all sorts of excuses to explain excessive body fat – genes, hormones, stress – but the truth is that every singe fat cell, as well as any other cell in your body, started out as a decision you made to put something in your mouth. You can program yourself to let go of the clutter in your body as you clear the clutter in your home. Set the intent that you will allow your body to release the excess body fat, as you tackle a big decluttering project at home. At the same time, make some changes in the way you eat and in the way you move. Dr. Lori’s  book “Fire Up Your Fat Burn” is an excellent resource for this, and if fitness tips are what you need, check out Bob Choat

Even people who claim they are just fine with clutter, suffer negative effects from keeping it. When you let go of things you do not use and that you do not love, you set the intent to also have your body let go of the body fat it does not need. Fat is clutter in the body.

 6 – Smells and Comfort

Many times, when you crave a particular food, you are after more than the experience of chewing and swallowing that food. A great part of our perception of pleasure when eating is connected to smells. We seek comfort food to feel that coziness and safety that these foods can help us experience. Another part of the comfort may come from the warmth or the soft texture of the foods we like. Because of this, it is a good idea to add comfort and coziness to our home so that we won’t reach for the comfort foods as often. I find that filling the house with a smell I love, either from incense or essential oils, combined with beautiful music and a soft shawl or blanket, provides part of the pleasure we get from comfort foods, and helps curb desires.

A Home that Helps

As you can see, several features in your home can assist you or sabotage you in your decision to lose weight. There is a Chinese proverb that says, “Everything in your home is constantly talking to you. Make sure your things have nice things to say.” Take a look at your home and see if there are any items that are giving you messages contrary to your goals, for example:

  • “Eat more treats.”
  • “Eat all the time.”
  • “Don’t take care of yourself.”
  • “You look bad.”

What changes could you make so that your home gives you healthier messages? Messages that would be more in line with your slimming goals? Below are some examples of what you might want to “hear” from your home:

  • “You look great.”
  • “There are lots of fun things to do here.”
  • “Make good food choices.”
  • “Prepare your foods at home.”

Turn your home into an ally, and you will reap amazing rewards.

www.fengshuiforus.com

Moni practices Feng Shui, the art of space arrangement, and has a degree in Architecture from the Central University of Ecuador. She is the founder of Feng Shui for Us™ and developer of the Nine Steps to Feng Shui® System. Moni offers online Feng Shui training, and long distance Feng Shui Consultations. www.fengshuiforus.com