Why Clutter is Detrimental to Weight Loss

Yes, why is clutter detrimental to weight loss? When people often think of clutter, they picture a house with too much stuff around. Not being able to find room, or a space where you can’t find anything you are looking for. So what does that have to do with losing weight anyway? There are actually different kinds of clutter we live with, so let’s look at those first and see how it can negatively impact our weight loss efforts.

What Kinds of Clutter Are There?

Physical Clutter

This is the type most people associate with. Basically too much stuff. Too many belongings in your physical environment. Things like clothing and accessories, books and papers, kitchen utensils, dishes, cookware, food, office supplies, electronic gadgets and accessories, momentos and “knick knacks”, family heirlooms, furniture. Any belongings that might be deemed as “more than necessary”.

Emotional Clutter

This type of clutter creates emotional stress. It can stem from personal or family medical problems. Marriages that aren’t working. Broken relationships with children. A job that isn’t satisfying. Financial difficulties. Situations that have become an emotional burden to you. These tend to manifest themselves in a constant form of repetitive statements you say about yourself such as “I’m not good enough”, “no one understands all I do around here” and “I can’t do it”. These are all a form of emotional clutter.

Social Clutter

This kind of clutter comes from the inability to say no. Joining organizations, volunteering, enrolling yourself or your kids in many activities, agreeing to take on more at work when your schedule is full. This person can be amassing this type of clutter to attempt to avoid emotional clutter.

Digital Clutter

This kind of clutter happens with over indulgence of TV, phone, computer or online activities including much emphasis on social media. These individuals spend many hours per day in front of a screen (beyond job requirements).

Why Is Clutter Detrimental To Weight Loss?

When you think about clutter think about excess baggage. Something that holds you back in some way. You can’t find something because you have too much stuff and its everywhere! Focusing is hard because you have too many things on your mind all at once. No one thinks you are able or worthy of losing weight-least of all you. These are all examples of different forms of clutter we carry around. Clutter makes us feel inept, inadequate and unworthy. Having feelings like this make the process of losing weight that much more difficult. That is why clutter is detrimental to weight loss.

How Conquering Clutter Can Help Conquer Weight

To look at this, we will look at a few examples of how the various types of clutter can inhibit our weight loss goals.

Physical Clutter

You can prepare and perform tasks better in a clutter free environment. Preparing meals are easy when the area to prepare food is clear of clutter. Easily accessible baking utensils, dishes, pots and pans and appliances is one less obstacle to easy meal prep.

Having clothes accessible in your closet or dresser drawers and not overcrowded in those areas makes them easier to see. Keeping clothes picked up and in their proper place creates less aggravation when you are looking for them. It makes your day flow smoother.

Emotional Clutter

Becoming aware of how emotions are affecting you is the first step. This article written by Erica Layne for No Sidebar, “The Weight of Emotional Clutter-The 4 Steps To Letting Go” shows the process of identification through action beautifully:

• identify the harmful scripts playing out in your mind
• make small shifts to more positive thoughts
• Repeat, repeat, repeat
• Reinforce your efforts with self-love and self-care

When it comes to weight loss, the Noom Weight Loss Program understands this concept all too well. They understand how our behaviours affect our eating and lifestyle patterns in general and how to overcome them.

Social Clutter

Ways of overcoming social clutter is thinking through what you are ready and able to commit to, and what you will respectfully decline. Think of requests that come from charitable organizations, your church, your child’s school, extracurricular activities for your kids, or your commitments to them, parties to attend. Even within your own family. You don’t have to do it all. Ask for help. Reduce your stress from over-commitment.

Reducing your commitments can open up more room to devote to your own needs such as weight loss. Making the time for exercise, planning and prepping meals, self-care activities are all things that will aid you in your quest to lose weight. Lose the commitments and commit to losing weight instead.

Digital Clutter

It doesn’t take long for digital clutter to build. Time seems to get away from us sitting in front of screens these days. Being mindful of the amount of time we are spending online can be done with as little as a timer. Set a time frame for being online. Turn off notifications. Only open your email at set times of the day. Unsubscribe to newsletters that don’t serve you. Reduce the clutter and create the time and focus you need for the important things in your life.

The Common Denominators

There are a couple of common denominators that seem to come up when talking about clutter and weight loss. One is the idea that reducing clutter opens up time availability for other things. When we don’t have the clutter, it’s so much easier to accomplish what we need in life because we have the time for it. Secondly, we are less stressed and more focused. Clutter is overwhelming and creates a lot of static in our lives. It’s hard to focus with so much on our radar. When the clutter is reduced, the pathway is clearer for us. We become less stressed and more focused. We are happier and have more confidence with this new found clarity.

So if you are on a weight loss or health journey, pay attention to the clutter in your life. Reducing any clutter you have, can make your journey a lot smoother. One way to do that is to plan a self-retreat. Take some time to think about what clutter is in your life and what you can do to change it. Read about it in my article “Simply Your Life-Plan A Self -Retreat and Profoundly Change Your Life”. Enjoy the journey-clutter free!

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