How Do I Stop Eating So Much?
Does it feel like your hunger meter is broken? Like you can eat, and eat, and eat without limit? Right now, maybe you’re asking the BIG question:
How do I stop eating so d&!n much?!
If so, you’re in the right place!
Because today I’m going to share with you a technique you can use right now to take back control and learn to eat within limits.
The best part?
This approach is an easy (and powerful!) way to “retrain” your appetite, get in tune with your body’s fullness signals, and eat naturally!
Let’s jump in!
Why We Eat So Much
There are so many reasons we overeat:
It’s the enormous portion sizes served at restaurants,
It’s how we cope with negative feelings (boredom, loneliness, and anxiety),
We eat too light throughout the day,
Distraction takes over, and we eat ‘mindlessly.’
Or even:
We were taught to overeat!
Maybe you grew up in a house where you HAD to clear your plate before you could leave the dinner table.
Sound familiar?
Whatever the cause was, the point is: we’ve trained ourselves to eat past the point where we’re satisfied.
And through repetition, we’ve completely lost our natural, moderately full feeling. We’re at the point where all we feel is starving and stuffed.
But here’s the good news!
Just like we “trained” ourselves to overeat, we can “retrain” ourselves to eat reasonable portions - and eat for the right reasons!
The 3 L’s to Taking Control Over Your Appetite
Three L’s are what we’ll practice over and over until we’ve got this beat! They are Labeling, Listening, and Learning.
Step 1: Labeling
Labeling: The reason why we start eating.
Before we take the first bite, we want to ask this question:
"Am I physically hungry?"
Another powerful question to ask is:
“Am I using this food or am I eating this food?”
There are plenty reasons why we eat - and the far majority of those have absolutely nothing to do with actual hunger.
If you’re not sure what types of hunger you’re feeling, use “The Broccoli Test” to see if you’re actually hungry or if it’s emotional hunger.
The goal of this step is to: Label why we’re eating with each and every meal.
Once we know why we want to eat, we can make better decisions on what we need to do to keep from ruining our diet.
Once we’ve identified why we’re eating, the next step is to Listen.
Step 2: Listening
Listening: searching for the point where we feel satisfied.
Now, this is the tricky part! And here's why: our hunger signals are LOUD. Seriously. Like standing next to a tornado siren loud.
But our fullness signals are the complete opposite. They are like whispers from across a crowded room.
You really have to listen intently to your body to determine when we’ve hit the point where we’re ’satisfied.’
The key here is that we want to stop when we're satisfied.
If we use The Hunger and Fullness Scale where:
1 = We are absolutely ravenous, and
5 = We binged and are feeling terrible.
Then we are shooting for 3. This is where we've eaten less that we prefer, but we're definitely not hungry.
We want to hit "3" consistently!
Note: To find ‘satisfied’, we've got to slow the heck down and listen. We have to be mindful of what we’re eating and how we feel. If not, we’ll blow right past and overeat.
Step 3: Learning
Learning: Looking at the takeaways to see we can improve on.
The reality is: this is a process, and it takes practice. We’re not going to nail this thing entirely on Day 1. It can take 30 days or more. But the important thing is practice.
But learning and performing a lessons learned is where we make our money. It's like watching game film, we’ll break down what went well, and what we need to work on for the next meal.
Each time we eat, we’re going to learn a little more about the why we started eating, why we stopped, or why we didn’t.
Let’s use an example:
Say we ate too much for dinner today. Our lessons learned may look something like:
"I started out physically hungry, probably at a 2 on the hunger and fullness scale. But I got distracted halfway through the meal and kept eating until I got uncomfortably full.
Next time, I'll start out the meal with half of what I had today and put the other half in the fridge. If I still 'feel' hungry after the first bit, I'll give myself 10 to 15 minutes before I grab something else."
???? Do you want more practical, real-life tips from coaches that will help you make great decisions when life gets in the way?
Just read our success stories from people just like you that we’ve help get into the shape of their lives! We get the results we do by finding ways that work for you and your life.