You Can’t Believe You Ate The Whole Thing!
You find yourself eating something in a quantity that you can’t believe is okay. And, to top it off, the food you are eating is “bad.”
Then, after you have eaten it, whatever it is, you feel bad because you can’t believe your body would ask for it.
Well, my body asks for non-nutritious food sometimes- and it doesn’t worry or frighten me anymore. Here’s why:
Example 1: If I eat something when I am hungry for it and it is truly delicious to me, down to the last bite, there is no problem. I just move on with my day.
Example 2: If I eat something because “I might as well finish it because I already blew it” there IS a problem because:
This kind of rationalization is not part of a healthy Thin Mentality.
I understand how difficult it it is to eat something “bad” and feel “good.” But remember, my body, and yours, knows exactly how much energy (food) you took in, and will ask for future energy (food) based on that.
Give your smart and fabulous body a chance to show you that if you eat a 1000 calorie sundae in the middle of the day, for example, you will have much less hunger for the rest of the day. You must respect that lack of hunger by not eating. That is the key to eating with freedom, no stress, and pure enjoyment. You respect hunger AND you respect non-hunger.
And it is the key to returning to your ideal weight.
The biggest change in my eating patterns since going from a diet mentality to a healthy Thin Mentality is that I notice I eat more during the day, and less at night. That makes so much sense when you think about it. I used to skimp all day, to try to be “good” and then eat a lot at night. The daytime skimping wasn’t good and the nighttime eating made me feel awful.
Now with a healthy thin mentality, I don’t skimp in the day. I eat what I need to stop hunger and to delight my senses. Then at night, there are times when I eat very little. Now I know you are saying, “Wow, I could never do that, I love a big dinner etc.”
BELIEVE ME! I would have said the same thing!!
But everything, and I mean EVERYTHING changes when you stop using a bunch of diet mentality reasons to eat or not eat. When your body leads you, you NEVER suffer deprivation. You eat when you are hungry. You don’t eat when you are not. And honestly, it is not hard at all to eat very little at night when you get used to hunger being the only reason to eat.
Folks, I used to be a wandering night-time eater, I know what it feels like! You open cabinets and the fridge in search of “something.” That goes away! Your appropriate response to hunger all day calms down your night. And it is such a relief!
You scratch your arm when it itches. You don’t when it does not.
You use the bathroom when you need to. You don’t when you do not.
You sleep when you are tired (hopefully) You don’t when you are not
You stretch your legs when they are cramped up. You don’t when they are not.
All these normal physical cues are paired with your reaction to them.
Eating is the same way.
Stay in the present, trust yourself even when you feel that diet mentality freaking out, and when you are not hungry, delay eating until you are. You CAN do this!!