I JUST WANT TO EAT!

When you have been a dieter and you are trying to lose weight and build your Healthy Thin Mentality, HTM, the most important concept is connecting eating with hunger.

But what about when you want to eat but you don't think you are hungry? 

Here is what a dieter does:

1.  Stress filled eating

When dieters overeat, not because they are hungry, but because they just can't shake the thought of food, they frequently start making deals with the future even as they are eating!  "I'm going to work out tomorrow for 2 hours, or I am going to diet on Monday.    This makes for a stressful eating experience.

2.  Overeating without enjoyment

Those deals with the future cause dieters to eat more than they would if they simply stayed in the present and enjoyed the food!  "Well, I already ate this, so I might as well eat that."

Here is what a HTM person does.

1.  Accept the need to eat without stress

"I don't understand why I can't shake the thought of eating some cheesy puffs right now.  I am going to pour myself a bowl, and stay in the present and fully enjoy them.  I will not think past eating or future exercise as I do this.  I will simply experience them fully, without guilt.

And then, instead of eating a mountain of cheese puffs, as a binge-y dieter would, the HTM person calmly eats some cheese puffs without stress.  And that calmness, positivity and non-panicked feeling allows us to hear our body say,  "Enough."

That one bowl of cheese puffs doesn't turn into three bowls and 5 cookies.  It is simply a bowl of cheese puffs that for some reason you just couldn't get your mind off of.

 It may not be a day that you go into calorie deficit.   But it is still a good day.

What you have done is behaved normally around food.  You have done what a naturally thin person does, crave some junk food, had some, and gotten on with your day.