Does This Clutter Make Me Look Fat?

Rid yourself of the clutter in your life and on your hips

Is there a connection between the amount of clutter in your home and size of your butt? Peter Walsh says in many cases there is. "There is this weird connection between clutter in all areas of our homes and clutter we carry in our bodies and on our bodies," he says. The clutter and weight connection is the focus of Peter's latest book Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? An Easy Plan for Losing Weight and Living More.

Many people wish to free their homes and waistlines of unwanted excess. "Your head, your heart, your hips and your house are all interconnected, and I really believe that," Walsh says. Peter offers this advice for ridding your home—and body—of clutter: 

• Clarify what you want. "You need to make a list of things you want from your life," Peter says.
• Focus on the clutter in your home before focusing on your weight. "If your house is not the sanctuary it should be, the haven it should be, then there is no way any other area of your life can come into sync," he says.
• Remove "clutter foods" from your pantry. Foods you bought for entertaining friends, such as fancy crackers and special olives, comfort foods like macaroni and cheese and trendy foods that you bought on a whim but never tried, should all be thrown out or donated.
• Create a magic triangle in your kitchen. The area of your kitchen connected by the stove, refrigerator and sink is the magic triangle. This area of the kitchen should be used only for cooking and cleaning up after cooking Peter says. "Keep the things you use the most often closest in that triangle—that will help you keep your kitchen clutter to a minimum and also it will help you work more efficiently in your kitchen."
• Eat out less and cook in your kitchen more. "When you can control the portions that are not laced with salt and sugar, [that] really makes a huge difference," he says.

Although no two piles of clutter are identical, Peter says there are some universal strategies that anyone can apply towards conquering their clutter. Here are his four foolproof steps for eliminating extra junk in your home:

·       Again, ask yourself, What do I want from my life? Then narrow it down and assess your expectations for your home, or even a specific room.

• Ask yourself, What's the permission I want to give myself? So often, people feel they need permission from an outside force in order to make changes in their life. Instead, try granting yourself permission by listening to your heart once again and to that inner voice inside each and every one of us. "Stay tuned to that voice," Walsh says.
• Stop buying stuff. You'll never make a dent in your clutter unless you stop the influx of new items coming into your home. This includes junk mail, magazines, newspapers and anything that is not a bare necessity for living.
• Take small steps. Use this effective yet simple action step to ridding your home of clutter: Have each family member fill two trash bags a day, one for garbage and the other with items for charity. "That can really make a huge difference," Peter says.

 Peter Walsh found that when clients focused on the lives they wanted to live, they were able to free themselves of years of stuff. When they focused on the lives they knew they deserved, they were able to free themselves from years of gorging themselves.

Consider for a moment that where you live, what you own, how you interact with others, what you eat, and how you spend your time are all intimately linked. You can't change one piece without affecting all the others.

Are smaller dishes the key to weight loss?

Maybe, says food psychologist Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating. Wansink held an ice cream social for 85 food experts and gave them a small or large bowl and a small or large scoop. Even these pros, who are supposed to know better, served 31% more ice cream (that’s 127 more calories) in the large bowl and 15% more (60 calories) from the big spoon.

Researchers Andrew Geier and Tim Zintz conducted Similar experiments at the University of Pennsylvania, thinking that if students were given a small ice cream scoop, they’d take more. But the students took only one scoop, regardless of size.

The bottom line: Downsize your dinnerware. Eat on 8-inch plates instead of the usual 10-inch ones. And divide fattening items like gravy and salad dressing into small bowls with small spoons. To load up on low-calorie veggies, place them in a big bowl with a large serving spoon and then dig in.

Declutter your mind, declutter your home, declutter your relationship to food. Then watch the ripple effect this has on every aspect of the way you live. Clear out the junk, and in doing so clear out the patterns of thought and behavior that prevent you from living the life you want. If you try to clear the clutter by focusing on the stuff, you will fail to get organized. It's not about the stuff.

If you try to lose weight by focusing on the food, you'll never change your body for good. It's not about the food. First define the life you want to live. Acknowledge the issues that clutter that vision. Clean up your priorities. Create a world where those priorities can thrive. Learn how to honor and respect yourself. When you do, the ability to take control of your body will follow.

You want to have long-term results that improve every aspect of your life and, trust me, that can't and won't happen overnight.