By Estela Schnelle MS, RD

 Identifying Natural Hunger –

Are You Really Hungry or Just Bored?

 My approach to weight control is very similar to “Intuitive Eating”.  For those who are not familiar with intuitive eating, the main basis is to “eat when you are truly physically hungry and stop when you are satisfied, eat exactly what appeals to you at that time.” While I do firmly believe this, I also feel people need to have some structure and rules that work best for their body.  In working with my clients, I have found that identifying when they are hungry is not the problem; it’s knowing when to stop eating.  Some may find it challenging knowing “how much food is enough”.  This is where the rules and portion control start to come in. 

One of the main keys to reaching a healthy weight is identifying our natural hunger.  We should be feeling hungry each time we eat.  This is why it is so important to make your own rules.  Setting a rule such as eating every 2-3 hours regardless of our hunger is not the best idea.  If your body is truly hungry that often, then that’s was works for you.  A general rule I give is to space your meal between 4-5 hours apart.  We should not go longer than 5 hours without a meal.  

What is True Hunger? 

True hunger comes when your body has burned off the calories from the last meal.  Your stomach is basically empty.  Without getting too scientific on you, this is what happens:  Your brain sends a signal to your stomach that it needs food for fuel/energy to continue functioning.  This is what cues the growling in our stomach.  Our muscles in our abdominal wall start to contract, the gastric acids start to erupt, our stomach growls, and we experience hunger pangs.  This is what true hunger is. 

 I’ve worked with clients who have never experienced true hunger, or tell me they haven’t felt hungry in years.  Here is an exercise I give them to feel what true hunger is:  For on day only, go at least 5 hours without any food or calorie containing beverages, only water.  This should be long enough to trigger hunger.  This should not be done every day, just once, so they can experience hunger. 

Are You Hungry or Bored? 

Have you ever noticed that when we’re really busy we tend to push our hunger aside to get our work done, but when we’re bored, we often imagine ourselves feeling hungry and can easily find a reason to eat?  This can be the case for many of us.  When we’re bored, we try to find something to do, and eating is at the top of our list.  As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, weight gain occurs when we consistently eat for reasons other than hunger.  Mindless eating and snacking is a quick way to pack on the extra pounds.  This is where the rules come in.  Here some basic rules to get started:

• Make it a point to eat something healthy for breakfast:  It doesn’t have to be a big huge breakfast.  Play around with different breakfast ideas.  Make sure the portion size is moderate.  If your starving 2 hours later, recognize that you need more food or fiber in your meal.
• Keep an eye on the clock:  Keep track of what time you ate your meal and know you should be eating again in 4-5 hours.
• Plan a snack:  If you know it will be longer than 5 hours until your next meal, plan to have a small snack to avoid feeling overly hungry.  Take a look at the “snack bite” page for ideas.
• Eliminate mindless noshing:  Before you dive into a back of chips, check yourself!  Ask yourself if you are truly hungry.  Think back to the last time you ate.  Always check yourself before you dive head in to a bag of empty calories.

 These are just some very basic rules.  You are the only one who truly knows what will work best for your body.  Hopefully these will guide you in the right direction.  What rules do you make for yourself?  How do you keep track of your food intake?  Stay tuned for Part 3!

By Estela Schnelle MS, RD

We are all looking for that magic solution to weight loss.  Whether we feel we have 5 or 50 pounds to lose, most of us have tried more than one “diet” with the hopes that it will be our last attempt.  I decided to start a series of articles on “How to lose Weight”… there will be several parts to this series… how many… who knows.  This can be anywhere from a 6 part series to a 12 part series.  There is so much information/education that I want to be sure all the RIGHT information is being delivered to you.

Sometimes The Harder We Try… The Harder We Fall!

No matter how hard we try, no matter how hard we want it… we always seem to fail.  The wrong way to approach this is by viewing it as a diet.  Permanent weight loss comes from permanent changes.  It can be hard work at times… especially if we eat for emotional reasons.  Change isn’t always easy.  It is VERY important to not view this as a diet.  I’m not going to tell you to eliminate dairy, give up carbs for two weeks, or give up your favorite foods.  What I will do is guide you in the right direction and help you set your own rules for your body, so you can live a healthy lifestyle, live your life, all while enjoying the foods you love.

DO NOT Set a Goal Weight!

Think about it… every time we decide to lose weight we set a goal.  We either set a goal of a certain “number” of pounds we want to lose, or we set of a goal of what we should weigh when the dieting is done.  This is absolutely the wrong route to take.  What we are doing is setting ourselves up for failure.  Here’s the deal… our body wants to be at a healthy weight for our body type, whatever that is.  An ideal healthy weight is different for each person.  Each body is different, each metabolism is different, each bone structure is different, and therefore, each body weight will be different.  So instead of trying to force ourselves to fit an “ideal weight” the focus should on making permanent healthy lifestyle changes.  As far your weight goes, a better goal or mentality to have is “your body will land where it wants to land.”  Start by making small changes, and your body will take care of the rest. This stops us from having an end to all the healthy changes we’ve made.  Instead of saying to yourself, “I want to weigh X number of pounds”, say to yourself “My body will land where it wants to land”.  As time goes on and we continue to change our lifestyle, our body will continue to change for the better.

Know Your Food Limits – Listen to Your Body

If we wanted, we can literally eat food all day long.  Does our body really need all that food?  Most likely NO!  One of the keys to reaching your Natural Weight is portion control.  Knowing how much food you really need and knowing your limits is very important.  Like I mentioned before, your body wants to be at a healthy weight for your body type, the problem is we stopped listening to our body.  If we only ate when we’re hungry and stop when we’re satisfied, we most likely wouldn’t have a weight problem.  The problem is we eat for so many reasons other than hunger.  Birthdays, family gatherings, social commitments, boredom, stress, loneliness… I could go on and on.  Losing weight takes more than just that.  It’s a combination of learning to identify when your hungry, eating the right food for you, and more importantly, eating the right amount of food. 

My next article will focus on how to identify your natural hunger.  Between now and then, try to identify your natural hunger.  What is your definition of hunger?  What are your views of weight loss?  I will be answering blog comments on Tuesday and Part 2 of the series will be posted on Wednesday.

If you have any questions about this article, want to know more, or have suggestions for future topics, add a comment in the comments section below.  If you know of anyone who may benefit from this article click on the “share this” icon below; from there you can post a link to this article or you can email it to a friend.