Week 2 of No More Weight Loss Resolution
If you think hunger means you’re eating the right amount of calories, fullness means you’ve eaten too much and that you have to be super strict with yourself in order to stay healthy and consistent, then this is for you.
We’re going to debunk ALL of that for you and start really working on changing your relationship with food.
Last week we took a look at how balanced your life is, what your goals are, and explained how the Food Experiment is going to work. If you need that refresher, you can look at Week 1.
But now that you started to experiment with food, and become a little more aware of how you feel throughout the day, we’re going to start building off of that and give you a few more things to work on.
Check out The No More Weight Loss Resolution Plan for more the full 6 week plan
As always, make sure that you’ve joined the Diary to get access to the weekly updates and extra bonuses as we go through this together live! Joining is free and we’re working through our full Year and Health and Hobbies so you won’t want to miss it!
Let’s dive into Week 2 now!
Embracing Intuitive Eating
Say what you want about intuitive eating, but it works, can be done properly and just needs to be given some structure.
I know that if you just ate whatever you wanted to, you’d eat all the chips, cookies, fast-food and everything else you’ve denied yourself up to this point. And yes, you most likely will, but that’s not intuitive eating.
Those are cravings, and I think checking out Cut Cravings in 3 Days will be super beneficial for you to better understand.
I also think it’s good to eat what you want. We’ll dive into it later on, but there’s a reason you have those cravings. Your body is trying to tell you something, and since you’ve been super restrictive with yourself or not open to trying new things, it’s sending out those cravings to try and fill the missing pieces.
For example, sugar cravings could be not getting enough food, needing more protein or micronutrients that it finds in fruit and since you don’t eat fruit, your sweet tooth for something that tastes like it will be higher.
This is where experimenting, trying new things and writing them down is really going to help you better understand everything.
Challenging Your Food Beliefs
This goes right along with Intuitive Eating.
You’ve been following certain rules and parameters with food for so long, you aren’t willing or able to look outside of yourself.
If you’ve been dieting or following one specific diet plan for years, you’re going to forget that there are other food options out there. This is where looking through your Recipe board on Pinterest or going through all of those recipe books you have can come in handy.
Just because something has extra fat or carbs doesn’t make it bad. Try it!
If it doesn’t fully sit right with you but tasted great, then maybe you need to adjust some things. Reduce the fat, up the protein, make it 2 servings instead of 1, etc.
The goal is to see what actually works for you NOW. Not 5 years ago or even last year. Things can change which cause you to need or want to eat differently.
Do you ACTUALLY know that you have a dairy intolerance, or have you been restricting yourself for so long, that your body doesn’t even know what that is? And then maybe a week later, you’ll be fine.
Of course if you have a medically diagnosed dairy intolerance don’t try it!
Hopefully you understand what I mean here.
Food Freedom = Nothing Off Limits
So going back again to Intuitive Eating and Cravings, what I want you to work through is realizing that nothing is off limits. You’re safe to eat food without guilt.
Will you eat more “junk” or sweets because you can? Probably, and I honestly hope you do!
The more you allow yourself to eat the foods you fear WHILE being intuitive and checking in on yourself, the quicker you’ll be able to trust and decide for yourself.
Is a whole bag of cookies too many? Yes.
But maybe 2 is fine, and then you don’t have the uncontrollable craving for them anymore. But you won’t know until you start letting yourself eat food.
I got to a point when I was working through this where I would get the 2 pack of cheese cakes from Aldi. They were AMAZING! But, they were also too good for me, and I would eat both in one sitting and feel awful for the next 24-48 hours.
I did that 3 separate times before I decided I couldn’t get them anymore.
Not because they were “bad”, but because I didn’t have control to just eat one, and I didn’t like how I felt if I ate 2. So that was something I couldn’t get.
This is the kind of stuff you’ll realize when you take the pressure off of yourself and challenge your current food beliefs.
Check out What to Do If You’re Tired of Counting Calories for more info on the food experiment
YOU get to decide and have the final say. Based on how you want to feel and what your goals are. This of course will take a few times of trial and error, but that’s what we’re here for!
Experimenting with Energy Levels
This goes along with what I talked about above.
I chose to not get the cheesecake anymore because I didn’t feel good, I was tired and lethargic, I wanted a nap after eating them rather than feeling like I was ready for the next thing.
You get to decide what foods you eat based on the amount of energy you want to have. And by Experimenting and staying aware, you’ll be able to pinpoint what foods those are.
Cookies make you tired but you feel fine after eating 1-2? Maybe that’s a treat at night.
Blueberries taste refreshing and feel light in your stomach? Maybe that goes with your eggs you have for breakfast.
Pasta dishes are more filling than rice dishes for you? Then maybe you eat the rice dishes for lunch when you need to get back to work after, and pasta can be enjoyed for dinner more slowly so it has time to digest before you go to bed.
The more aware you are for how food sits with you, the more control you have for the energy you can have throughout the day. That doesn’t mean that the work stress won’t keep zapping your energy, but you’ll at least know how you can best fuel and prepare yourself for those days.
The goal here is to find and create a solid baseline of foods you can always fall back on. Not that you need to stick with only the foods you try out in our time together, but you’ll at least have a starting point.
Because life isn’t perfect or easy to keep a routine consistently. Sometimes things happen outside of your control and you have to be flexible.
So if you know that this one brand of chicken nuggets that’s high in protein and a microwavable bowl of Goodles give you energy and make you feel good, then that’s the food you can eat when you’re short on time due to work stress, family stress, or just a bad headspace day.
We won’t always feel 100%, so now is the time to create a baseline that you KNOW you can survive on and feel good with now, so you can keep growing and adjusting from there.
Using Hunger and Fullness Scale
This is the last piece we’re going to focus on today. And that’s while you’re Experimenting and being more intuitive about your food, I want you to stay aware of your hunger and fullness.
Everything your body is telling you is information. It’s not trying to sabotage you or keep you from your goals. It’s actually trying to keep you alive. And whether you’ve had bad life experiences in the past or a very negative relationship with food, that’s going to affect how your body is talking to you.
So being aware of hunger and fullness just from curiosity is going to help you more than anything.
Why am I hungry now when I wouldn’t normally be? Oh yeah, I wasn’t able to have my breakfast yesterday so my total food intake was lower, that’s why I’m starving today. Or, I’m getting closer to my period and I notice I get REALLY hungry leading up to it. Or, I didn’t sleep very well last night.
Why do I feel super full after eating this meal I’ve had before and I normally feel satiated with? Oh, the serving of pasta was for 8 when the box I normally get is for 6, and that’s how many servings I based it on. Or, I had coffee and a treat this afternoon with a friend. Or, I added avocado and beans this time where I forgot them before.
I’ll also insert a couple thermometers to help you visualize actively being aware of how you’re feeling before and during eating.
We tend to eat quickly or forget about food until it’s too late, so our hunger and fullness cues are going to be off.
If you can slow down, even a little while you’re eating, you’ll be able to notice when your body is starting to get full. If you feel like the last 2 bites are going to make you too full, toss them.
It’s ok, you won’t get in trouble, you aren’t wasteful, and this is going to be a hard lesson to learn if you grew up being on the clean plate club and never wasting.
If it’s going to help your relationship with food and eating, toss it.
Also, don’t wait to eat until you’re hangry, where you either will eat the whole kitchen or go on hunger strike because you can’t bear the thought of having to microwave popcorn to hold you over.
Eating at the same time each day will help your body feel more safe and trusting with you. When it does, then it will let go of any unnecessary weight that it feels it needs to keep in order to survive.
I know you can’t always prepare for that, so having snacks available for those in between times can help.
This is going to be a process and one of those harder weeks to work through. Not because what I’m asking you to do is physically hard or time consuming, but because it’s going to challenge the beliefs you’ve held for years. And that’s a hard thing to change.
So give yourself grace here! Each day, each meal is a moment to test and experiment. And each time you’re open to being more aware, you’re making progress.
You’re doing a great job!
And that’s it for Week 2 of the No More Weight Loss Resolution Challenge!
Keep your eyes peeled for next week and be sure to join the Diary where I’ll be sending you everything right to your inbox.
You’ve got this!
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