Is it Time to Eat? Listening to Hunger Cues for Weight Success

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Hunger: it's a tricky thing! Striking that balance and eating the "just right" amount of food is one of the most challenging parts of eating. You'd think that, as evolved humans, we would have mastered feeding ourselves by now. But no, we all struggle with figuring out what, how much, and when to eat.

I cringe when I hear people say that a diet plan worked for them because they "never feel hungry." If they are never hungry, how do they know when to eat?

And I wipe away a tear when someone tells me that they hardly eat because they never get hungry. Their mind/body connection is so severed that their body has completely given up trying to communicate and gone into survival mode by slowing their metabolism down to a crawl to compensate for the lack of fuel. That is just a damn shame.

Then we have the flip side: allowing ourselves to get so hungry that we'll eat anything in sight. As a chronic "go go go" gal, I used to fall victim to this one a lot. I would stall on eating, trying to hold out until my next meal because I was counting calories, and enter my house a starved maniac at 5:45 PM. Then I'd eat an entire meal's worth of calories while I was preparing dinner, and sit down no longer feeling hungry but eating a meal anyway because I had just prepared it. That's just plain stupid.

So over time, a few valuable lessons about eating managed to get through my thick skull:

1. My body will tell me when it needs food, and I need to respond even if it's not "time to eat."

2. Not having healthy food prepped ahead of time to eat when I get hungry is a bad, bad situation.

3. Eating food actually helps me lose and maintain weight, and not eating food keeps me fat. Or "fat," whichever applies at the time.

And then over some more time, I actually started implementing these lessons into my life! The result: I more easily manage my weight when I respond to hunger signals, and I feel annoyed and irritable and "fat" when I don't. That happened enough times in a row to convince my brain that the first plan is better and we should just stick to that.

Hunger is our body's way of trying to be our partner in health. It's saying, "hey, I could use some more food." Instead of pushing it away, its our job to respond by giving it some food. Actual food, not processed junk posing as food. But that's another soapbox for another day.

Today, the trick is listening for that signal and answering back. If its been a long time since you have felt hungry, that signal may be a whisper. Hunger should feel like a definite rumble in your stomach. Not quite burning, but distinct. When that feeling strikes, its time for part two: eating food.

Success happens here when you have taken the time to prepare a snack or meal just for this kind of situation. An example might be some raw almonds and a sliced apple. Or, some unflavored yogurt with a chopped up peach and some walnuts mixed in. Maybe a chopped bell pepper and some cherry tomatoes with hummus. Whatever. Just have it handy and eat it. Then when the feeling hits again in a couple of hours, do it again. 

I know, its not quite that simple. Waiting to get hungry can be scary, and sometimes we really aren't sure if we're hungry. If you haven't felt hungry in a long time, start eating breakfast. You should feel hungry again in a few hours. That's not a signal that eating breakfast is bad because it makes you hungry. That's a signal that eating breakfast is good because it makes you hungry! And being hungry means that your body is burning fuel, not storing it. That's a good thing.

Decoding (and sometimes, getting to) hunger can be tricky work, and developing a trusting relationship between you and your hunger cues can be difficult. If you feel like you need help, seek a Certified Wellness Coach. It just so happens that I am one. How convenient! A coach can guide you through the process of becoming a partner with your body again. How nice!

Get out there and get healthy today...even - and especially - when you get hungry.

Have fitness, will travel: being healthy on the road

For the past five days, I have been doing some hard-core hotel living. One of the easiest ways to derail your fitness is to disrupt the routine, and going out of town can easily do it. Unless!  Unless!  Unless you think ahead and make a plan for staying true to your goals despite being in a less-than-optimum locale!  Believe it or not, you can be healthy on the road.  Here's how: bring your food.

Hold on, hear me out.

One of the obvious things I do is to pack my food in an ice chest and bring it with me. And it's not as much of a hassle as you think! And really, which is the bigger pain - packing your cooler or having to decipher restaurant menus and do damage control later?  Automation is a key to success, and having your regular food on hand keeps your fitness automatic. PS- this is also called  consistency.

In this case, though, I was flying so couldn't bring my ice chest. So, I called the hotel and arranged for a fridge in my room.  It was free, and usually is because hotels have guests who need to store medications. And really, food is the ultimate medication, right? Then I packed what I could in my insulated lunch bag, hit up a grocery store when I got to town, and stocked my fridge.  My co-workers tease me when I do this, but by the end of the trip they feel run-down and sluggish after eating catered food for days, and I feel great. Plus, my expense account is a lot less than theirs!

This is living!

Here's what I packed:
5 ziplocks with 1/2 cup dry oatmeal, raisins, cinnamon, and whole cranberries
Lara bars and Clif bars
5 ziplocks with 100-calorie portions of raw almonds
a small bowl and a spoon

And here's what I bought:
Spinach, oranges, and 2 bags of chopped raw veggies
Toufayan low-carb wraps
Boar's Head Ovengold turkey breast
Sabra hummus (4 pack)
Paper towels and Lysol wipes (hotels are nasty, yo)

Mmmm....breakfast!

I cooked my oatmeal each morning by making hot water in the hotel room coffee pot and stirring it into my pre-packaged oatmeal packs.  I had fruit, almonds, and bars on hand for quick snacks, and I had spinach-turkey wrap fixings and veggie/hummus combos for lunch or dinner. I figured I would end up eating one meal out each day, and when I was there I followed my number one restaurant rule: Keep It Simple!  I ordered things with the shortest list of ingredients, which usually amounts to a nice big bowl of delicious fresh vegetables with some grilled fish or  chicken.  If I have dressing with it, I keep it on the side and dip my fork into it instead of pouring it on the food.

If you're on a short trip, a supply of lara bars, almonds, and fruit in your purse can be a lifesaver. But if you're gone more than two days, it really pays off to get the hassle part done early and plan out your food so you can enjoy your time away and not have to face the big reality check when you land back at home.  It's definitely worth it!

I'm back now, which means I have a reality check of my own...finally having time to focus on strength training!  I will not miss hotel living one single bit!

Good day!

Healthy Holiday Tip: Get Stubborn!

Okay yesterday was really long so I'll keep it short today!  Here are a few tips to help you accomplish what we talked about yesterday - achieving a calorie deficit (AKA progress) or break-even if you want to avoid gaining holiday weight when you're at those food-laden parties.


That's right, it's Healthy Heather's Holiday Hints!


The first step, of course, is to make a plan.  Always make a plan. Write it down and stuff it in your pocket if you have to.


Then, channel your inner three-year-old. That's right, dig in your heels and get stubborn!

Learn to say “no” creatively. Save the three-year-old routine for your internal dialogue, however, unless your plan to avoid holiday weight gain is to not be invited to any more parties. Instead, when you’re confronted with something that is not on your plan, use positive language to redirect the attention away from your refusal to indulge. 


For example: 

• Express gratitude (thanks for offering! that looks delicious!)
• Acknowledge the effort (it is so thoughtful of you to make these for me!)
• Suggest an alternative (I’ll have to try some a bit later.)

And then DROP IT. Stop talking. Move on. Drink some water. Smile.  Tell a joke.


Remember – no one can force open your mouth and make you eat something. Well, they can but they won’t. Don’t engage in a debate over whether you “should” or “need to lose weight.” It’s your decision, and they don't want to hear it anyway. 


If all else fails, tell them you are allergic.


Happy holidays!

GoWearFit: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has never been so rewarding

So I've been wearing my GoWearFit for a little over a month now and have not lost any of my initial enthusiasm for it.  Where has it been all my life?  I will tell you what, if I had this thing 10 years ago I could have saved myself a lot of time in the self-help section of the bookstore. 

But I don't want to dwell on the past.

Or do I?

You see, my GFW (we're BFFs now so I can call it that), tells me about my past.  My immediate past, that is.  It allows me to look back over my shoulder (or my left tricep, since that is where it lives) and see if I really did burn what I thought I did.  And then, it allows me to make a better plan for the future by showing me in black and white what my body is doing, within a 5% margin of error.  So, for example, yesterday I burned a whopping 2,443 calories (give or take), which gave me an approximate calorie deficit of just over 900 calories, which means that vacation weight is going bye-bye. yay!  Today I estimate I'll have about 800 calorie deficit, based on my workout plans for the day and what I plan to eat.  I'm going to a party this weekend, so I will workout Saturday morning, sync the GWF up to my reporting software, and decide on a calorie goal for the day that will result in a break-even (if not a small deficit) so I can relax a little at the party but stay within maintenance.  If I don't hit my mark, GWF will tell me and I'll adjust accordingly on Sunday.

And in a week or so, when I am back in my happy zone, I'll go back to eating more and exercising a little less, so I can break even around 2,000 calories a day.

What is so exciting about all of this (for me) is that it is a completely sane way to manage my fitness.  A little compulsive, yes, but come on.  Being compulsive is like Christmas morning to me.  I love it!  Seriously.  I can obsess about so many other things now that my GWF tracks all of the stuff I used to obsess about.  Thanks, BodyMedia!

Speaking of compulsive, here's a little peek into my report from Sunday.  See the spike at the beginning of the day?  That's me exercising.  See where it is WAY higher in the second hour?  That's me doing sprint intervals outside.  The first part is an elliptical-and-weights circuit I did, and the second is this interval podcast.  Seeing the difference in the effectiveness of different workouts is golden to me.  That little flat part around 4:00 is when I was swimming with my kiddo.  GWF doesn't do water, yo.

Okay, I'm rambling.  Bottom line - if you're a control freak perfectionist tired of wondering if you really are burning what those formulas say that you are, go get a GoWearFit already! 

Be a control freak perfectionist about something else for a change. :)

Why to weigh your food

I stumbled upon this video yesterday and it was the perfect reminder for why to weigh your food...on a digital food scale...in grams. 

Now, the grams thing is just me being a freak, but the digital thing is for real.  Seriously, people, we all know our eyes play tricks on us when we think we are having a serving of something and it turns out we just ate double what we thought.  When I started weighing everything in grams, it took about 24 hours to realize I had been eating about 300 calories more a day than I thought.

Take time today to consider whether you are recording your food accurately.  Remember, studies show that keeping a food log is a key success factor to weight loss and maintenance...but only if it is what you actually ate!

Good day!

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Vacation, Healthy Heather Style

I've been on vacation (well, what passes for vacation in my family, which means all us crazies piling into my aunt's house in the middle of a cornfield to drink wine, swap stories around the campfire, and play bingo with the carnies at the fair across the alley) so workouts were a little hit and miss.  In fact, I said I was going to take a break from exericse but come on, be serious.  Did anyone really think I would do that?  No, I took advantage of a late start getting on the road to eeek out a workout with Capt. Awesome before we left, and cranked out 90 minutes of cardio the next day while hubby and son slept! 

The next morning I woke up thinking it would be a rest day.  Every one in a while I try that whole "relaxation" think I keep hearing about.  But by 3:00 I was itching for some activity so I hopped on my aunt's one-speed and biked to the local grocery store to pick up some 70% cacao chocolate for the s'mores and the ingredients for my Black Bean Turkey Burgers.  It's a short trip and the weather was gorgeous, and by the time I got back I felt appropriately challenged. It was the perfect vacation workout - blood pumping but not sweating, challenged but not fatigued. It was a vacation from my vacation!

As I pulled back into the yard with my backpack full of groceries, my sister called out, "I thought you were taking a break this week!"

Ha!  I just did! :)

Good day!