| How to Break the Weighing HabitFace it, if you weigh | | | | HungerRate your hunger level on a scale from 1 to 10 |
| yourself more than once a day, you are a serious | | | | with 1 being starving, and 10 being so full you'd |
| scale addict, and if you let the number on the scale | | | | explode if you ate another bite (most people should |
| affect how you feel, and whether it's going to be a | | | | never experience either 1's or 10's). On this scale a 5 |
| good day, you are probably a bit too involved with | | | | would be comfortable, 6 slightly above comfortable |
| that appliance. Danger, danger! Step away from the | | | | (maybe could have stopped sooner), 7 you over ate, |
| scale!The scale simply cannot tell the difference | | | | and an 8 is starting to be a bit ridiculous, especially if |
| between muscle and fat, and while fat is bulky and | | | | you supposedly want to lose weight. A 9 or 10 is flat |
| lumpy, muscle is sleek and shapely. Muscle also gives | | | | out crazy.A 3 could mean you're hungry. Not starving, |
| you strength, agility and power. Muscle tissue can be | | | | not going to come unglued if you don't eat, but |
| used as fuel, but it is not your body's primary fuel | | | | hungry. A two is waiting a bit longer than you |
| source.Fat on the other hand is a storage fuel for | | | | probably should, and a 1 doesn't occur except when |
| times of famine. It also shields our body's organs and | | | | you're simply tied up and cannot stop to eat or |
| provides a protective layer from the outside world. | | | | you've gotten yourself stuck in a situation where |
| Without some body fat we cannot survive, and | | | | there simply is no food long past when you've gotten |
| without some muscle you'd not have the strength to | | | | hungry. You should rarely feel the hunger of a 1 or |
| get out of bed. But while fat is necessary, many of | | | | the fullness of a 9 or 10.You must decide the levels |
| us have a bit more saved up than is necessary.Most | | | | for yourself, but I'd suggest making an effort to wait |
| of us never consider our body's ratio of fat to | | | | until you are a 3 or lower to eat and making an |
| muscle. We instead rely on the bathroom scale. | | | | effort to stop at or near a 5 or 6. Sometimes you |
| We've been told we need to weigh a certain | | | | may notice the sensation of hunger, note your |
| amount, or be within a certain range to the point that | | | | hunger level, and then choose to wait. Don't worry |
| many who start eating well and exercising | | | | about it whether you eat or not for now. The |
| consistently abandon their plan when they don't | | | | purpose this week is to make a chart and get used |
| quickly see a difference on the scale. Even when | | | | to keeping track of something besides your |
| their body is visibly changing, they still are | | | | weight.Reward Yourself for Doing the TrackingEvery |
| disappointed if the scale won't budge.If You Didn't | | | | day you successfully write down what time and your |
| Weigh Yourself, How Would You Know You Were | | | | hunger level, you get a gold star, or a smiley face, or |
| Losing Weight?Consider for a moment, those first | | | | some other "fun" reward. Rewards should not be |
| hints that something is changing: Your waistband may | | | | food. Instead make them be nourishing to your soul. |
| be getting looser, your rings may be slipping off, your | | | | Some people like stickers, some like to reward |
| face may start to look a little slimmer, and your | | | | themselves later with a massage, new outfit, |
| shoes, yes your shoes will start to become too big | | | | whatever you like is a-okay with me. I like to reward |
| for your feet. Many will start losing in the hands and | | | | myself with a massage once a month (I'd rather get |
| feet first. That's just dandy, I know. We all strive for | | | | one every day like Bob Hope, but that's another |
| skinny fingers and toes, but I didn't design the body, | | | | goal).Your goal is to achieve 5 or more "rewards" for |
| I just own and operate one.You may own and | | | | the week. If you only manage two is that bad? |
| operate a car? Do you take care of it the same way | | | | Heck, no. It's fantastic because it's an improvement |
| you take care of yourself? Do you store gasoline in | | | | over the week before. Next week make an effort |
| the trunk, in case you can't find a gas station? | | | | to at least achieve what you did the week before |
| Probably not. Do you stockpile extra oil and | | | | and possibly exceed it. Slowly you'll develop a new |
| batteries? No, probably not. Then why do you worry | | | | habit, until you're achieving 5 or more days every |
| about dinner when you haven't finished eating lunch? | | | | week of waiting for real hunger, and stopping at |
| Have you ever gone ahead and eaten something | | | | satisfaction. When you learn to understand your |
| because you might get hungry later? Why do we | | | | body's various hunger signals, you'll start losing pounds |
| worry so much about food when there is no scarcity | | | | and inches, I guarantee it.Inches lost, is what matters. |
| that I've noticed? Where I live there is food at every | | | | I couldn't care less how much I weigh. What if my |
| corner, 24-hours a day, at the bank, the gas station | | | | body was solid gold? It would weigh a lot wouldn't it, |
| and even the neighbor's garage sale.Interestingly, I've | | | | and would I care? No, I'd feel pretty darn good about |
| found that when the scale suddenly showed a loss, | | | | it actually. I'm worth my weight in gold, and so are |
| greater than expected, it seemed to induce in me a | | | | you.Putting Hunger In PerspectiveI recently read a |
| desire to remedy the situation. I'd overeat that day | | | | book by the only man to have survived alone on a |
| and the next, somehow unraveling any good I'd done | | | | raft at sea for more than a month - Steven Callahan. |
| previously. Even with all the knowledge and sense in | | | | In Adrift, Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea, Callahan |
| the world, we still become unsensible in the face of | | | | recounted how while slowly starving he dreamt of |
| that judge, the bathroom scale!What Happens When | | | | food, "My body knows what it needs. For hours on |
| the Scale Shows a Loss? Usually Congratulatory | | | | end fantasies of sweet ice cream, starchy baked |
| Eating.I think the problem isn't that we are unhappy | | | | bread, and vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables water |
| by the numbers so much as we expect certain | | | | the mouth in my mind."Reading an account of |
| numbers. If you are dieting, then you are wanting to | | | | Callahan's survival in the face of sure death was |
| see a lower number, but what happens when you | | | | inspiring to say the least. My husband is making |
| do? Do you reward yourself for a job well done? Do | | | | arrangements to build a boat designed by Callahan, a |
| you decide you've done so well, you might as well | | | | 22-foot sailboat so he too can take off on a |
| have a treat? The scale habit can adopting other | | | | singlehanded sailing adventure across the seas. My |
| ways to measure your progress, and starting a daily | | | | husband believes he could survive as Callahan did, |
| journal which gives you a way to chart what you are | | | | while I'm telling myself I'll die of starvation if I don't |
| doing. You're not stopping one thing so much as you | | | | eat in the next half an hour. Adrift puts these things |
| are starting another. Ending one habit always involves | | | | in much better perspective, I'd say.By Kathryn |
| beginning another.Get a small notebook or journal to | | | | Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, |
| take notes. If you want a fancy, leather-bound book | | | | author of Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to |
| that's fine, but don't stall on starting this exercise | | | | Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of |
| with the excuse you don't have the supplies. Use a | | | | OneMoreBite-Weightloss.comGet the Daily Bites: |
| scrap of paper you found on the ground if you have | | | | Weekly Mini-lessons Using EFT and NLP to Stop the |
| to, but starting today, you are going to track your | | | | Struggle with Weight Loss. |
| hunger levels all day long.Tracking the Elusive | | | | |