Differentiate Between Hunger, Desire, and Cravings

Most dieters have difficulty distinguishing between:

True hunger(when your stomach is really empty)

Desire..(not being really hungry but eating when
there is food around.

craving..(a physiological and emotionally intense urge to eat.)

These are examples the book gave...
..You hadn't eaten for many hours and really felt ravenous..The empty sensation in your stomach, often accompanied by stomach rumblings, was HUNGER..
..You ate a big meal and yet you still wanted to continue to eat more. That was a DESIRE.
..You had a very strong urge to eat, which was accompanied by a feeling of tension and an unpleasant yearning sensation in your mouth, throat, or body. That was a CRAVING.

Before you sit down to eat each meal and snack, notice how your stomach feels..Rate it with a scale of 0-10 on how hungry you feel...

About half through your meal, again stop and rate how your stomach feels..using 0-10...10 feeling the fullest...

After you have finished your meal..think about how you feel...Do you want to eat more because you are still hungry? Or do you just want it just because it was good?....About 20 min. after you finish your meal...again rate how you feel... When you are finished eating you may just be mildly full. It seems like a few minutes later, you seem more satified as the time goes on..

Tip....'If it has been anywhere from 20 minutes to up to 3 hours since you've eaten a reasonable-sized meal, remind yourself that any urge to eat is probably due to a desire to eat, not to hunger'.

You are wondering why this is important as long as you are able to stick to your diet plan and still lose weight. Well, when you do finally arrive at your goal weight, you will have an easier time of maintaining your weight if you know how to tell the difference between hunger and desire...If you can master this..it will be much easier to maintain your weight without a weight gain.

Set a Realistic Goal

Ok, to start, did you read your Advantage Response Card today??? How many times,when you got up, during stress, before you ate, before you went to bed???? Remember to keep your eye on where you want to be and where you want your road to lead you....

What kind of goal did you make for yourself? Are you making a goal of maybe 100 pounds or are you making a mini goal of maybe 5 or 10 at a time...If you make a goal that is too big, you might become overwhelmed if you set a goal that seems too hard or will take too long to achieve.. You need to make smaller goals and when you achieve that goal you need to reward yourself with some nonfood item...Maybe you could think of something that you could keep and always remind you how hard you had worked and how far you have come...

You are probably like the rest of us...you want to lose 10 pounds a week, wouldn't it be great??? But we all know that isn't possible...I'm sure you have heard that 1-2 lbs a week is as much as you should lose weekly..The first week you may lose more than that since that usually is mostly water.. But the fact is..the slower you lose it the more apt you are to keep it off..Why?? Well, as you go along you will learn a much healthier way of eating...The longer you stick to eating healthier, the more it will become part of your life. If we could lose lots of weight each week, you know after we lost it, we would probably be right back to eating the same way that we did before we decided to eat healthier and lose the weight..We have to do something lots of times before it becomes a habit..I know you have heard that, too...

I'll end by saying..If you think losing 1-2 lbs. a week is too slow... think about this....

'How much will it matter a few years from now how long it took? I need to remind myself why it's important to lose weight slowly. My long-term seccess depends on it.'

Select an Exercise Plan

Here is what they had to say about losing weight through dieting alone...'Although many people attempt to lose weight through dieting alone, research clearly supports that your long-term success depends on also getting regular exercise. A study of thousands of participants who have lost more than 30 pounds and maintained that weight loss for at least 1 year...show a combination of diet and exercise; only 10 percent use diet alone, and 1 percent rely on only exercise.'

Exercise helps you stick to your diet...

Exercise might help control appetite.

Exercise burns calories

Exercise perserves muscle tissue

Exercise makes you feel better physically

Exercise imporoves your health and helps prevent disease

The Centers for Disiease Control report that only 17.5 percent of dieters combine dieting with exercise..No wonder it's so difficult for most people to lose weight, much less keep it off...

2 kinds of exercises..
Spontaneous, that is when you go to the grocery, mall, or work and park out at the end of the lot so you have to walk further to get to the store...Taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Instead of putting stuff on the bottom of the steps all day and taking them up at night,(I'm guilty of that one), take each one up as you accumulate it..
Planned Exercise...
We all know what this is...making the time to plan some kind of exercise into your daily routine...

If you currently exercise fewer than 3 times a week, your goal is to try to get into the habit, then you might find you would like to increase the frequency or maybe just lengthen the workout...

Prepare To Diet

Create Time and Energy.
You have to make time to plan meals, make lists, to shop for food, and to cook..(that sounds pretty easy, huh?..well it does take lots of time)
Remember to read your Response Cards,(the reasons you listed why YOU want to lose weight)
How about the time you need to plan how you are going to exercise and then you have to spend the time doing it..
How about your WW. meetings if you attend...takes more time...
Of course you have the usual chores around the house, working and don't forget the kids, if you have any...It all takes lots of time and planning.....

Ok, I know you are asking where you are going to get all this extra time this new "diet" is going to take..Let's see...maybe you could get up a few min. early in the morning so you could jump on the treadmill or take a walk before going to work..You might want to take a Smart One or low cal. micro dinner for lunch to save the time that packing a lunch would take...Maybe you could ask a little help from your husband or kids so you could get out of the kitchen early after dinner. You also would have less temptation in the kitchen if everyone pitched in and help clear the table and load the dishwasher...

How about if we make a schedule for the day, hour by hour...Plan the night before so you know exactly what you will be doing each hour..You might have to give up a little on doing other things, but aren't YOU worth it????? By organizing the day, you will accomplish much more than if you just did whatever jumped in your mind...You will be surprised at how much you have squeezed into the day..Getting organized is one of the most important things you can do you help yourself.. You may have to reduced some activities to make room for more healthy ones, but you will get a big reward at the end.

Arrange Your Environment

This chapter starts out by talking about removing temptations...Where do you keep your snack food, on your kitchen counter, in your car, on your desk or locker at work??? Not a good place if you are trying to remove that temptation to grab when you aren't hungry.... Maybe a better place would be out of site. How about putting it in your freezer so it isn't staring back at you... , maybe on a high shelf, or maybe just don't buy as much and buy healthier things that you can keep in plain view...If you don't have the unhealthy stuff, can you eat it????

Changes at Home.
Open your cabinets and throw away everything and anything that could make you go off your new eating plan...They mentioned..you aren't wasting it, you would also be wasting it if you ate it anyway, since it is bad for you... (never thought of it that way)
Rearrange your dishes. Get rid of those large dishes and keep the smaller ones that makes it easier to really see the right portions of food. On a big plate you would think you have to eat more since it looks like you don't have much to eat...
If you don't live alone, try to get the rest of the family to help you by keeping junk food or things you wish not to eat, out of site...Explain you are trying to eat healthier and you would like them to help you...Explain to them it would be really nice if they also would choose to eat healthier(who couldn't benefit from that?)

Do creative problem solving.
This pertains to buying snacks in portion control pkgs. like the 100 calorie pkg.. You can ask your family to just buy what they want in a 1 portion, not a 6 pkg. of candy bars where they would have some left over and lead to temptation for you..

Changes at Work..
We all know that food around the work place is a common thing..Everyone is bringing in donuts, cookies, brownies, you name it and it will show up...How about all that Christmas Candy...Wow...what a temptation. Then you have all the vending machines. How about "Maggie" who just HAS to have someone try her new recipe for chocolate chip cookies?? Working in an office I bet you could gain 20# a year if you ate everything anyone brought in, piece by piece...Maybe you could have a little talk with a couple and explain you are trying to eat healthier, I bet they have all noticed by now. Decide if there is a place out of site that would be a good place to keep the food someone brought in for the day. How about a cabinet with a door on it and put a note where usually you put it, saying, 'chocolate chip cookies located at ?, Dawn made them for you all to enjoy. For that candy that is always in an open dish on the desks, how about a jar you can't see through. Get a few at the dollar store and pass them out to the ones that are near your desk...If you ask, I just bet you will get lots of them to be very helpful..maybe you will even get some buddies to change their eating habits, too.

Find A Coach

Studies have shown that people who have someone to support them along the way are more successful than someone who does it all alone or doesn't want anyone to know what they are doing.

A Diet Coach:
Keeps you motivated
Builds your self-confidence
Helps your solve problems when they arise
Keeps you accountable

'Few people who have struggled with dieting can lose weight and sustain that weight loss without help and encouragement from another person'

'Knowing that you have to report on your progress to someone else can motivate you to stick to your plan.'

The book suggest that you decide who your 'diet coach' will be before you start your new eating plan. You might not need them when you are the most motivated which is usually during the first couple weeks. Try to choose someone who believes in you, very supportive, motivating and will be proud of you. If you can find someone who is all the above and who also would like to be your weight lose partner, you both will get off to a great start. At times when one of you are feeling a little weak, the other will boost you along...

Others find being a part of a group such as Weight Watchers or others groups is a very big help. It holds you accountable for your weight, also it helps to hear other peoples stories. The internet is a great place also to connect with people who are going through the same journey...

Well, that is a quick look at Day #6.
Don't forget to read your Advantage Response card a couple times a day...You need to keep reminding yourself why YOU would like to shed those pounds and become healthier.

Eat Slowly And Mindfully

There are two very beneficial reasons that it's important to always eat slowly and to pay attention to what you're eating..
. When you eat slowly, your brain has time to register that you're full.
. When you notice and enjoy every mouthful, you feel more satisfied when the food is gone.

They conducted at study at Louisiana State University with a group of overweight people. They gave them a lunch of chicken nuggets and timed how fast they ate.(this was done over several days). They used a series of beeps to tell everyone to take a bite. They ate by very slow beeps and very fast beeps..They could only take a bite when they heard the beep. The faster the beep the more it took for them to become full and stop eating. The slower the beeps, the faster they felt full and stopped eating, eating less food...The results were... all the participants ended up eating less whenever the beeps were slower...So, they feel like most overweight people, as a rule, probably have learned to eat fast. Maybe due to not enough time to eat, having to care for children and feed them, or maybe it's just a habit. Well, for today..we are going to sit at the table without any distractions, eat slowing, taking sips of water every couple of bites. Don't forget to put that fork or spoon down between every bite. Stop eating when you feel satisfied and BEFORE you feel stuffed...If you have small children, maybe you could feed them before you eat. We will all try to make this a conscious effort and before we know it..we have made it a good HABIT.