The "New Normal"

A couple of months ago, I thought I coined this phrase. I thought it was quite clever. Seems now, I must have just heard it somewhere and just picked it up.

New normal is what we are striving for. Clients tend to get frustrated toward the end of their first 6 weeks with me because everything requires so much thought. It was easier when they didn't have to put so much thought into every eating decision. But...I counter... they were putting at least as much energy into feeling bad about their weight or their eating decisions, it was just normal and natural to deal with the negativity -- so it didn't seem like as much work.

The "New Normal" comes when people develop the habit of asking themselves "Am I hungry?" BEFORE they eat. If you are hungry -- then eat. If you are not hungry, then you have the opportunity to decide if this is something you really want or need to eat. With practice this becomes the natural thought process. It becomes just what they do automatically. It becomes normal.

When paying attention to your hunger and fullness levels becomes the "New Normal", it will require a lot less energy and thought than it does now. And you will have developed an effective, life-long tool to manage your weight.