It’s a new week and we are rocking right along! This is week four in our Finding Fullness series and I’m really excited to help you get even more dialed into your fullness so you can eat, be satisfied, AND watch the scale go down. It’s possible, I promise!
This week I decided to name this class Get Out Of Your Head because we spend SO much time in our head, working out all the situations we face and weight loss is no different. It’s staggering how many thoughts we have each day. The last estimate I read was somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 a day – it’s just amazing! Our brains are constantly running, solving problems, considering situations. Actually, by adulthood we’ve learned to spend most of our time thinking instead of moving, sometimes I think we treat our body like a transporter to carry our brain around from one thing to another!
Our brains are powerful. We are problem solvers, and we’re really good at this work. When it comes to weight loss, we are fully ready to apply all the brainpower we have to find the solution. We think that if we apply all the knowledge we have to the problem of being overweight, we can solve it – it’s just an information problem. So we try to figure out the best combination of foods, the right intervals to eat, the combination of macros we need, and the cardio and strength training workout that will get us the results we want. if we can just find the perfect formula, the excess weight will just fall off and we will finally be living in a body that we want! If we can find the formula…
But, you have more than your brain working for you on this problem. Even though we like to rely on our brilliant brain, you also have another helper to help you reach your goal: Your stomach! We’d like to think that we can measure our food and choose the times we “can” eat, but if you’re using hunger and fullness as the gauge for eating, your carefully crafted plans are often not going to line up with what your stomach says. So who wins, your brain or your stomach? I vote for the stomach! First, all the fancy diet plans that you’ve attempted with your brain haven’t been all that successful in the long run. Second, your stomach was created to give you the sensations you need to govern the times and quantities of food that you need – why not use it?
I can hear you arguing with me already. “But I want to eat all the time and if I did that, I’d just gain weight like crazy!” Yes, you would. But I’m not suggesting that you eat whenever you want, just when you’re hungry. It’s not the same thing. If you missed it, go back to the last series on finding hunger and you’ll see exactly how to identify true stomach hunger. Finding fullness requires us to pay attention to the physical sensation coming from our stomach while we fill it during a meal. So how do we do it?
First, it’s easier to hear that quiet signal if there are fewer distractions. Turn off the TV, close your laptop, lay down your phone. While you’re eating, don’t do anything else, except enjoy the company you keep. If you’re alone you’ll hear the signal more clearly, so don’t fall into the trap of multitasking during your meal. You waited to be hungry, so enjoy the food you’ve been waiting for!
Next, check in with your body. Most of the time you’re thinking about things while you’re doing others. While you’re eating, you want to make every effort to be present. Taste the food, feel it beginning to fill your stomach. Ask yourself how full your stomach feels. Is the hunger going away? How much more do you need? One way to do your check-in is to put your fork down every few bites. While you’re not looking at your plate to choose the next bite, feel your body. Is it satisfied yet? Make sure you’re asking your body if it’s satisfied. Sometimes your body is comfortable, but your mind wants more food!
The process of dropping into the body is about awareness. I like to think of it as actively moving my attention from my head down into my body. It’s a shift from my casual normal awareness in my thoughts to sensing what is happening in my belly. What sensation is coming from my stomach? How full am I? Is there any pressure or tension in my stomach? Is my stomach feeling peacefully full yet? I want to leave room for a square of dark chocolate at the end – if I take another bite, will I have room for it?
The more you practice shifting your awareness and observing the sensations from your body, the better you’ll be at it. We learn over time to ignore the signals our body gives us. We hold it when we ought to go to the bathroom, we stay up when our body wants to sleep, we wear high heels because they’re cute even though they hurt our feet. The entire shapewear industry is built on us learning to ignore the discomfort of being enclosed in a lycra casing all day! Of course we’ve gotten away from our hunger and fullness signals because we’ve gotten those scrambled too. But we can get them back!
Keep practicing – you CAN do this! Getting to your goal takes practice and commitment, but you will get there if you don’t give up. If you have questions or need support, drop a comment on this post and I’ll be happy to respond. And if you’re ready to invest in yourself with personalized one-on-one coaching, I’m here. I can take one or two more clients while I’m getting the online course launched (and once that’s out, no more private clients until my class is well taken care of!). So if you know you want the accountability and customized support of your own private coach, email me at drandreachristianparks@gmail.com, and let me know you want to schedule your free consultation!
Here’s your video help for the week!
(describe dropping into the body, checking in, clearing away distraction)