Listen To Your Body...It Will Talk To You!
Remember back to some Thanksgiving Day or other holiday in the past. Do you remember how you felt? Perhaps over-full (stuffed)? In pain? Or were you just satisfied? Do you remember if you were satisfied, but the food was SO good that you just kept eating? Do you remember how you felt afterwards? Did you promise something like, “Oh, I’ll never eat that much again!”
We can easily disregard out body's natural signals "that we've had enough food" and continue eating because of a variety of factors. Investigate Learn to Effectively Manage Social Gatherings and How to Manage Special Occasions, Holidays, Travel, and Vacations!
PHYSICAL HUNGER is an obvious and essential reason to eat. Hunger is your body's natural signal to help you balance your body's energy needs with how much food you eat. When this mechanism is in balance, your body will naturally stay at a constant weight. Delve into Healthy Reasons To Eat and Self-Destructive Reasons To Eat.
To be able to "reduce excess energy on your body (lose weight) I encourage you to consume slightly less food than your body needs to maintain your usual weight. Eating meals and snacks at regular times can help you avoid getting over hungry and keep your blood sugars and emotions stable. If you choose to cut back too much, your metabolism may slow down, and you could also promote food cravings and binges. This is what we usually do when we "go on a diet." Check out the Dieting versus the Non-Dieting Approach section.
As you look at the BODY FUEL GAUGE below, what are the common characteristics of being a #1 or a #10 on the scale? Pain and discomfort? What happens to you when you allow yourself to get too hungry? Do you find yourself eating too quickly and ending up overeating?
I encourage you to START eating when your hunger level is a # 3 to #4. Don't wait until a #1 or #2. Eat slowly until you just feel satisfied, a #5 and then just STOP eating. Wait and give yourself some extra time to see if you might need anymore food. It can take up to 20 minutes for your body to notify your brain that you've had enough "body fuel."
Body-Fuel Gauge
Hunger Scale: How Hungry Are You?
#5 - Satisfied
#1-Starved! (you may feel faint and dizzy)....#2-Really Over Hungry...#3-Lessening Hunger Pangs...#4-Slightly Hungry...#5-Satisfied--you feel NO hunger anymore!..#6-Slight Pressure Felt, just slightly over-full (you may have eaten too quickly and feel this way about 15 minutes later)...#7-Getting Uncomfortable...#8 & #9-Much More Pressure Felt and you are ill at ease...#10-(OF) Over-full, stuffed, in pain, uncomfortable, not pleasureful!
Check in BEFORE you eat, and FEEL how hungry you are as you're about to eat a meal or a snack. Follow your physical hunger cues instead of your emotional triggers and Emotional Eating.
To learn to adjust Your Body’s Fuel Gauge, one technique to try is:
BEGIN: WAIT extra time between normal meal times (3-5 hours). See how you feel. Do you experience hunger pangs or gurgling in your stomach? Do you feel a change in your emotions or moods? Are you light-headed?
CONTINUE: Start eating really slowly. Continue eating just until the empty or starving sensation has left you (#5 on the hunger scale). Notice how your body responds to the food that you are eating. Do you feel energetic, or numb and tired after eating certain foods?
STOP: Stop eating even though there is FOOD left on your plate, or if there is still some of your sandwich left, etc. Remember, It’s Not Your Last Meal! You Will Be Able To Eat Again!
When the "eating awareness procedure" linked below is followed on a REGULAR BASIS, it helps fine tune your body’s food intake mechanism. As you become attuned to these messages (and FOLLOW their guidance), you will much more EASILY maintain your ideal body weight.
Pay a visit to Eating Awareness Training section for ideas on eating more slowly and with greater awareness--so that you eat LESS and enjoy it MORE!
Your stomach is an expandable bag with stretch receptors in the walls. As you eat smaller meals and snacks, your stomach will adjust to the smaller portions, and you will feel satisfied more quickly. Then if you overeat, you will notice an increased physical discomfort when you eat larger portions. This will automatically help you consume fewer calories and you will lose weight! What really helps this process is to eat slowly, while savoring each bite.
Eating adequate amounts of fiber and water also give you a fuller feeling while helping you consume fewer calories (so you can more easily lose weight). This concept is called Eating Large or Volumetrics.