HUNGER PANGS!

Helpful hints....

I want to begin sharing some of the things that I learnt along the way which have really helped me. These tips will not be in any particular order, just as they occur to me. Today's tip has just occurred as I have just eaten my lunch and remembered that I have to give my stomach time to register that it has had enough to eat, NOT that it is FULL. 

In the bad old days I was always hungry! Yes, I always felt that I was hungry and that I needed to have something to eat. The problem was that I always answered my whiny stomach's cry for food without really considering if I really was hungry or just bored or wanting a 'hit' of something sugary which would give me a (temporary) high. This problem was a growing one as was my stomach. If you keep feeding your stomach your stomach will stretch to accommodate all the food, hence, your stomach will require more and more food in order that you feel sated.

I had got to a place where I would make myself a sandwich and have a couple of biscuits while I was preparing our evening meal. Then, I would eat a large meal, have pudding and then within an hour I would be reaching for a bag of crisps...a few peanuts...chocolate....I feel embarrassed to admit it but I was eating all the time, grazing, chomping and not feeling satisfied. I seemed to go from feeling STARVING to feeling STUFFED!

So when I began at Rosemary Conley and was looking at the first two week eating plan which was 1,200 calories I received one of the first really helpful pieces of advice: Jill the class leader said "You will feel hungry!"

This seemed to contradict the advice of other famous slimming clubs which maintain you can eat as much as you like as long as the food falls into the correct colour group! (My rough interpretation of the rules, I know!)

But that was the point! I no longer really knew what it was like to feel hungry.

I knew what it was like to want to eat, but was I really hungry? Could I possibly be hungry after what I had already consumed not so long ago?

I realised that I had to retrain my stomach to know when it was actually hungry and I had to allow it to shrink to its correct size again, the size of my clenched fist! So my stomach was the first thing that needed to lose weight! 

I had to begin to differentiate between real hunger and 'fancying something to eat'! I had to give my stomach time to communicate with my brain and vice versa; to reestablish this channel of communication in my body.

So, the next bit of advice which helped...when you think you are hungry...drink a glass of water and wait ten minutes.Examine your feelings.

This is what I have just done before I had my lunch.

Well, it was coming up to one o'clock and I had breakfast at eight so, yes I was actually hungry but the water was a good thing as it did fill me a little and we need to drink two litres of water a day so...good habit!

So, I made my lunch. Tip two, eat slowly and savour every mouthful and DON'T do anything else as you eat as you will tend to be distracted and begin to gobble your food down without appreciating it. Have a drink of water midway. I know there are differing opinions on this but I like to drink water with my meals.

So you finish your sandwich, or whatever and now the tendency is to rush on and have your yogurt, fruit or whatever but WAIT. You have opened the floodgates of appetite and you could go on and on eating. Allow the food time to go down. Wait twenty minutes or so and then ask...do I really want anything else? I truly believe that we eat much of what we eat out of habit rather than need. Have another drink of water. 

Yesterday I rushed straight on to yogurt with berries and still 'could have done with a bit of something else..!' because I was in overdrive and could justify overeating because I had swum 64 lengths (which is a mile in my local pool) and then walked a couple of miles home but...I DIDN'T NEED IT!

So try to get into the habit of taking time and waiting and listening to your stomach. I actually feel well sated and won't be having any yogurt today. I don't want it! 

"Well, a yogurt is only just over 100 calories", you may be thinking. "It's not as if you were going to blow it on a 300+ calories Snickers bar!" 

But as the old adage says: 'Look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves' and this counts for those other pounds too! Every little really does help to make the difference.