FOMO, fear of missing out. We were talking about this after training today. Particularly on how a fear of missing out causes us to overeat, over indulge, to make sub-optimal choices regarding food. Here’s some examples:
– You want to be more healthy, but you don’t want to miss out on drinks at the girls night out.
– You want to fit into that new dress, but you’re out at a fancy restaurant and it would be a shame to miss out on pudding.
– You want to lose weight, but there’s that last slice of pizza and it’ll be cold and wasted in a minute…
A lot of these contradictions might stem from your upbringing. When I was growing up, we didn’t have many evenings out at a restaurant, so when we did, we’d go crazy: starters, main and dessert. We also didn’t ever waste food. We’d be made to sit there until it was finished, but then we only had 3 meals a day. No snacks. No treats (and I was a skinny little runt!)
Consider how different it is nowadays. Most of us probably eat out once a week. Add in takeaways, meetings friends for coffees or cocktails, family birthdays or events… Which means we probably have multiple “special occasions” each and every week.
So if you look at all your FOMO-based (poor) food choices at each and every one of these occasions, you can see how this adds up!
The key to changing this is to change your beliefs:
– There will be many more restaurant meals or drinks with the girls
– There will be many more coffees, lunches and birthdays…
– I can actively CHOOSE my eating habits. I can actively choose to NOT feel left out.
– I take pride in the fact that I don’t let my environment dictate my choices.
