No Room Left in the "In"

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No Room Left in the “In”—The Hunger Number Tool

Have you ever gone through the holiday season feeling that there was no room left in the “in” of your stomach?  I have.  I hate that feeling, feeling so full and gross that I don’t want to do anything but sit in a stupor  and listen to Christmas Carols on the radio.  The sad thing for me was that as soon as there was room left I would fill the empty spot with more food!  When I struggled with weight, this was certainly a time of year that I had portion distortion.  There just seemed to be no end to the amount I could eat and there were times I gained anywhere from 10-25 pound over the month.

Could it be that as a society we have portion distortion? Every holiday season I pull out my mother’s big huge thick notebooks full of recipes from newspapers and recipe cards that she had collected over the years.  I pulled out a recipe for gingerbread that was very similar to a recipe I had seen in a modern cookbook in my cupboard.  I took the 2 recipes one from my mother’s book written in 1957 and the one in the modern cookbook—they had the same ingredients, same size pan to bake the cake in.  The only difference was the 2013 recipe served 8 people and the 1957 recipe served 24!!!

TUNING OUT “ENOUGH” Our ideas of sizes and serving have changed dramatically over the years and so have our expectations of how much food we need in order to “be done”. The holiday season is a time when we go to parties and events and often our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. 

When we go through the holidays the added stimulus of people, music and holiday cheer (or lack thereof) often tune us out to our shut off valve of when we have had enough.  Especially nowadays when serving sizes are so large and disproportionate to our body’s true need for calories it is going to serve you to be able to distinguish hunger from other feelings and to be able to stop when you have had enough—otherwise the tendency for the scale to creep up over the next few weeks will sneak in.
 
We have been working on special tools for staying focused in the Monthly Mastery Group and one tool that we had a great online class around  being able to stop eating at “ENOUGH” by using Hunger Numbers.

THE HUNGER NUMBER TOOL Let me give you the holiday gift of the hunger number tool. It may just be the least fattening gift you get all holiday season .

The hunger number scale goes from 0-10 zero is starving—stomach growling maybe even light headed—very empty—and 10 is thanksgiving (or holiday season) stuffed full.

Take a moment now to tune into your stomach.  Put your hand on your stomach and take a Shift breath.  On a scale from one to ten where are you?

As I mentioned zero is starving. 1 is hungry and need to eat now 2 is hungry –1-2 is the best time to begin eating  3-4 is satisfied—and very light—this means the hunger feelings have disappeared and you are lightly satisfied. 5-6 is satisfied but not full—6 is usually where you want to stop eating.  This is where naturally thin people stop eating.  I have a friend who is naturally slender—I see her push the plate away and do this sort of little magical wave over her food—it means she is done and she doesn’t touch the food again.  It is sort of her own personal shut off valve.  What can be your shut off valve?

For me, as for many masters of long term permanent weight release, I come from the clean your plate club.  So when I am at home and even at holiday parties and events—I try to put only the amount of food and calories that my body requires for me at that time.  I just don’t tempt myself with more.  When dining out—I will usually ask for a second plate and put the food amount I need on the clean plate and have them bag up the rest or offer it around to others at the table.

Begin to think of what you can do when you reach that 5-6 which feels like you can get up from the table and feel fed but feel no physical discomfort at all.

Now 7-8 that feels a little uncomfortable—that is definitely full and 9-10 is discomfort full the kind of full where you eat everything and then have to unfasten your pants and go lay down full—it’s the kind of full where you groan—I can’t believe I ate the whole thing—I know you know that feeling—I certainly do—but I also know that I never want to feel that full again—how about you?  So use your hunger number as you are eating. 

When you start eating gage where you are at—the  as you begin eating note when you reach a 3-4 stop and tune into your stomach—at this point you can remind yourself that you only need a few more bites of food to take you to a 5 or 6 and then you will be done.  Think ahead to finish—even if you are with people it only takes a second to tune in.  We eat up to 50% more food when we are with others so tune in to your stomach and prepare to finish at that 5-6.
PROTECT YOUR ZERO

If you take anything from the hunger number tools take this—protect your zero.  What does that mean??Many people who struggle with weight will wait until they are at zero to eat—they either try to not eat early on and then end up too hungry and eat too much or they get too busy and don’t think about food until it’s too late.  Both ways work against you as when we reach a zero once you do start eating it is very hard to stop eating. This happens a lot at holiday events.  People starve themselves before a party and then eat far too much.

So  Protect your 0!—Never get too hungry—a huge part of weight management is blood sugar management—if you keep yourself fed with steady blood sugar levels throughout the day—you rarely get hungry.  This is an essential tool is keeping your calories within your daily budget easily and effortlessly.  So never get to zero-plan ahead—bring some quality protein and or fiber based snacks with you.  Keep a bag of apple in your car.  Think of how you can protect your zero before heading into that holiday party.

Protecting my zero is so important that I will eat a bit before going out to eat—this way if it takes a long time to be seated or be served I am not ravenous when I order and therefore order too much—and then eat too much.  Eating ahead also allows me to sit with the bread or chips basket and have some power over it—often the main reason people overeat bread or chips is they are simply too hungry.  Do yourself a favor—protect your zero at all times. And have yourself a merry little portion this holiday season!!

Oxox Rita