I am going to highlight 2 tools that will help you build awareness so you can lose weight.
- Weigh Every Day
- The Hunger Scale
I’ve defined them for you below, after you read through, join me on Facebook where I’ll answer every single question you post.
Weigh Every Day:
This one will be controversial for some of you. Do it anyway.
That scale doesn’t know anything about you that you didn’t already know or that didn’t already exist when you got on it. It doesn’t decide how you feel or if you are good or bad – it just gives you a number, a data point.
Some people will tell you (I used to tell you!) to throw the scale away. Here’s the deal, I want you to know you can handle anything. That you know the facts, tell the truth, and you are still in control and choosing what is right for you and your life.
That scale has nothing on you! Use it to your advantage – as one place you get a piece of non-emotional data so you can make decisions about what is working and what is not working for you and your body.
One of the questions the scale answers is “Am I getting the results I want?
Hunger Scale:
Every time you eat anything you’ll assign a number to your hunger/fullness when you start and when you stop eating.
The numbers laid out below have some description to help you get an idea of how to label your hunger, but you’ll need to define them for your own body. A +4 for you might feel different than a +4 for me. Print this sheet out and take notes as you go along.
10 – You just had the biggest Thanksgiving meal of your life, you want to unbutton pants.
9 –
8 –
7 –
6 – You’re likely uncomfortably full. You don’t feel energetic, you’d rather stay sitting.
5 –
4 – you can tell your stomach is full, you don’t need more food. You aren’t uncomfortable
3-
2 – you could eat more, you could jump up and go for a walk, not lethargic at all.
1 –
0 – neutral
-1 –
-2 – You’ve been noticing a few hunger pangs, you could eat.
-3 –
-4 – You’ve been hungry for a bit, you are ready for food.
-5 –
-6 – You’re ‘starving’ – you would likely eat way too much after being this hungry.
-7 –
-8 –
-9 –
-10 – you are so hungry you’d eat anything at this point.
That’s it for this week – building awareness is getting to know your body. Know where you’re at, what you weigh, and how hungry you are – or aren’t – when you start and stop eating.
These tools will help you pay close attention and learn things your body has to teach you. Here are a few examples:
- I noticed that I always want to eat at 9pm, but I’m never actually hungry then… It is when the last kid goes to bed though so I thought that was interesting.
- I am STARVING at 10:15am, but I don’t get lunch until noon, and by noon I’m not that hungry. It’s weird.
- When I got on the scale I was feeling really good – like I’d lost weight, but it said I was up 2 pounds. That ruined my whole day, I was so bummed.
Tell me what you are noticing on the Facebook page – I want to hear from you.
Ciao!
Caryn