A little while ago we talked about eating habits (I think it was at one of our weekly Q&As). So I thought it would be fun to practice the “eating when hungry” habit together - for those interested, of course!
You might be thinking… but wait, isn’t it obvious that we eat when we are hungry? Not always! Often times we eat when we are bored, anxious, sad, nervous… Or when the clock “says” it’s time to eat (it’s 12 o’clock!! Lunch “time”!)
You might be surprised to see how your eating habits might change when you tune in to hunger signals and eat when you are truly, physically hungry. The tummy is grumbling, you have that feeling of emptiness, or a hole in the stomach.
So here is the habit if you want to start practicing it:
Eat when you are physically hungry (I use the mantra “hunger is not an emergency” )
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not hungry at all, and 10 being “I’d eat tree bark I’m so hungry”, eat when you are at a 7 or higher.
I was doing this for a while and lost weight on that alone, but then fell back into my old habits of eating at times when I am not truly hungry. To help me keep track, I will write down my hunger scale when I eat for the first week (either on a small notebook or the notes on my phone). It doesn’t have to be 100% compliance, and simply taking note of it every time is progress!
Exceptions to the habit above happen when:
Fuelling for a workout, ride or event, or eating right after those for recovery. At those times, we might not be that hungry, but need to eat for performance.
Schedule restrictions depending on work, for example.
I’m in. I will start today. It’s lunchtime but I’m not actually hungry yet.
I also eat when I’m bored. Or scrolling. Or doing nothing. So maybe this will curb that!
I’m in. I just have restrictions on when I can eat when I return to work. We have a scheduled lunch. I can’t eat in front of students so it’s then or after school.
I just ate and I was because, not necessarily hungry.
I also have a problem at night when I’m not hungry. Suggestions. I will give this a try.
I was starving by the time I had lunch. So after lunch I was still feeling kind of hungry… then I remembered that it can take 15 minutes for the brain and stomach to fully talk to each other and get the message that “food has entered the system” so I waited and the hunger was gone.
@Covi I think that can be classified as a habit in and on itself!! Eating while watching TV (or on the computer, etc.) gets so ingrained and it’s a hard habit to break. Take one habit at a time. Or get raw carrots to eat in front of the TV! hahahahaha
Oops… totally missed that one!! So please help me understand, and this is probably part of my problem as I am learning all these new things… so for fueling for a workout is that just say an hour before and after? I have heard it mentioned to start fueling the day before? Is that just for a major hard effort of some kind? I am just really confused about when to eat! lol So I have adopted the eat all the time method!! hehe This challenge will help that!!
when in doubt… I understand completely, Barb! And I know it can get confusing. So within 2hs before and 2hs after the workouts the focus is on eating for performance. Meaning, eating carbs/protein (as we discussed elsewhere) even of you are not hungry. Then for all other hours of the day, it’s on #7!
The “night before” / day before eating is simply - eat extra carbs the night before if (1) you workout very early in the AM; and/or (2) you have a special event the next day.
I want to try this, I tried intermittent fasting earlier this year and while I did lose some weight, I found if I waited too long to eat then I ate way too many calories and especially carbs. I do most of my eating at night so I’m bored… I need to figure out some snacks that are healthy rather than sweet or salty
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