Do you lose your senses whenever those hunger pangs start creeping in? Our coaches are here to tell you: It’s all psychological. In today’s blog, our San Jose personal trainers reveal why this occurs and how you can handle the situation when it arises.
Overabundance: When Food Is Readily Available
We all know this scenario: You are about to cook dinner, but you’re “starving.” You grab some crackers or chips and think “I’ll just have a few to take off the edge.” Before you know it, half the bag is gone. Afterward, you go on to eat a full dinner. Food is all around us. That means we can have it whenever we want. But because of this over-abundance of food, we’ve forgotten what hunger actually feels like.
The Myth of Frequent Feeding for Fat Loss
One practice that has become popular in the weight loss community is to eat every two hours or so. But it actually takes your body closer to 3 hours to metabolize your last meal! Those gurgling sounds you hear during that time are part of the digestive process, not signs of hunger! Most of us are completely out of touch with our bodily processes, so much so that we are mis-interpreting it’s signals and feeding ourselves before we actually get hungry. What that means for your weight loss efforts is this: If you never allow yourself to truly get hungry, you decrease your chance of achieving your weight loss goal and increase your chance of gaining fat.
Before you start panicking, there are things you can do to change the game.
Learn About Your Hunger
The best way to turn things around with your eating habits is to be a scientist when it comes to your own hunger. Observation is key. Here are a few ways you can do this:
- The next time you want to reach for something to eat, rate your hunger level on a scale from 1-10; 1 being not hungry at all, 10 being you absolutely have to eat or you will pass out (you won’t unless you have medical issues, I promise!). Try to eat when you are about an 8 on the scale and stop before you’re stuffed. By practicing using the hunger scale, you will learn for your body exactly what it needs, when to eat, and you will learn that being a little bit hungry is ok and even a good thing.
- Practice eating mindfully.
- Seek the guidance of a personal trainer or a nutrition coach, who can help guide you along the way.
If there’s one big lesson we hope you come away with after reading this blog, it’s this: It’s okay to be hungry. And in fact, it’s a sign that your body is working the way it should. If you continue learning what the best habits are to optimize your nutrition for weight loss and your health, it will only get better.
Stronger for Today,
The Method3 Fitness Team
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The Method3 Fitness blog is updated weekly. All content is designed to improve the way you move, eat, and think so you can achieve your goals and live stronger for today. Check back here each week and LIKE our Fan Page, to stay up to date on the latest tips, strategies and methods to get fit, lose fat, and build confidence. Ready to get started with us? Click here to get a free week of workouts!