Minimalism

The other day, I was thinking about reducing the message of Eating Coach down to its simplest form. It came to me today:

Omit needless foods.

That's it. Any bite of food you eat when you are not physically hungry, is stored in the form of fat. Those calories are not nourishing your body.

Any food that you eat when you are not ACTIVELY appreciating the taste, texture and smell are not nourishing your soul.

If food is not nourishing either your body or your soul -- there is no purpose to it!!! It is needless. Omit it. Save the calories -- lose the weight.

Work as Play

Leo, at Zen Habits, was talking about how he has turned his work into play. How it has transformed his world because he shifted how he looked at what he did.

When I teach classes, I try to emphasize the importance of curiosity in exploring eating habits. If you are curious about your behaviors, you create an environment of learning -- any kinder garden teacher will tell you that.

If you are judgmental of your behaviors, if you label eating ice cream "BAD!" -- it is not going to stop you from eating ice cream but it will stop you from looking at why you eat ice cream. Judgment shuts down the creative part of the brain.

How would your eating behaviors change if you viewed them through the lens of exploration? Looking forward to meals as an opportunity to learn something new about yourself.

Remember: Your goal for eating Mindfully is to maximize your enjoyment of the things you eat AND lose weight by eating 9 bites per day less than you do now.

So where are you going to find those 9 bites? Which 9 bites do you enjoy least? Which ones are the ones that leave you feeling guilty, too full, or uncomfortable? Wouldn't it be great to get rid of those (bites and feelings)? If you get rid of those bites, you would be left with feeling comfortable physically and mentally.

To find those 9 bites, put on your Explorer's Hat and get curious about yourself. Don't judge your behaviors -- just write them down. The 9 least enjoyable bites will be right there in black and white. Once you understand which ones they are, you can make a plan to leave them uneaten.

Fun in a box

I was having lunch with a friend from high school - just getting re-aquainted. Some how we came around to the subject of contentment -- what it takes to be content in this world. She described herself as being able to have fun in a box -- meaning she does not need a lot of "stuff" to be content.

Since that lunch, months ago, I have kept that phrase and reused it to describe myself. Yup, it's true, I can have fun in a box.

Fast forward to a working lunch with another friend. I was telling her about a project I have just dreamed up and it occurred to me...I can have fun in a box but it is very hard to maintain a decent amount of enthusiasm for a new project all by myself in that box.

When I get excited about a new creative exploit (whether or not it eventually comes to fruition), I like to share the idea with others. This does a couple things for me:
1. I get to hear their thoughts and brainstorm with them
2. If they get excited or at least moderately enthusiastic about the idea, that feeds my creative energy levels.

When I have to do without the enthusiasm of others, it makes the creative exploit seem more mundane and harder to sustain. More like work...less like an adventure. I am more likely to burn out.

Is your weight loss like that? If you lose weight in a box, does it make it harder to sustain? Might you need to get out of your box and find a tribe to be enthusiastic for you?

Why a Coach?

In yesterday's post, I commented that I am a coach not an expert. Perhaps that needs a little expanding.

Wikipedia describes coaching as: ...(a) method of directing, instructing and training a person or group of people, with the aim to achieve some goal or develop specific skills.

This is the way I approach clients. I work with clients. I work for clients. It is not about my imposing my will or expertise ON clients. You know what feels right and what feels comfortable for you -- you are the best expert of you. True, as a coach, I will ask you to step out of your comfort zone from time to time but not so far out that when you turn around you can't even see it.

So I am a coach. I guide and listen, direct and instruct. We negotiate changes. I challenge you and provide accountability. It's a give and take relationship. One that, when it works, gives you the tools and support to make changes you can live with and be content -- hopefully more content than when you came to me in the first place.

Random Acts of Traction

I was reading Gaping Void this morning. Hugh introduced the concept Random Acts of Traction. Now, sure, he is using this as a marketing term but let's expand the theme.

Random Acts of Traction (my interpretation): what really works for you when you are bumbling around trying to figure out what works for you.

Point is: There really isn't any telling ahead of time what is going to work to be in charge of your weight over the long-term. I can tell what you what has worked for my successful clients. I can tell you what I thought was missing for the clients who were not successful.

But for you in particular??? That is the point. Over the course of your time working on managing your weight, you have learned things about yourself. What piece of the Atkin's diet were you successful with? What about when you were working crazy-long hours at the new job and your weight was right where you wanted it to be? What little bit did you learn during that time that worked for controlling your weight? (not eating because you never had time is not a long term solution -- think harder, what else did you learn?)

Hugh goes on to quote Doc Searls and his idea of rolling large rocks up a hill (try after try of deprivation diets you play out by the book) and how much nicer it is to roll snowballs down the hill -- some of them don't go very far but sometimes you will get one that starts its slow roll, picking up more snow as it goes and using its own momentum to change the landscape.

Seems like a nice way to manage your weight doesn't it?

Collect little pieces here and there that work for you. Coordinate them into your life -- sometimes these things start out slow. But as you gain traction -- as things start to work for you, you will find more little changes to make. As you pick up traction, the whole thing starts running on the momentum you put into getting it started.

Where will your traction come from? You are the expert on this. That is why I am a coach and not an expert. -- Think about the small ways you have been successful in the past -- see if you can string some of those things together. Be on the look out for new Acts of Traction. Pay attention. Be Mindful about what you are doing.

Hunger/Fullness scale -- last one for now -- I promise

So...the magic number 7.

Yesterday, I said that 7 is the trickiest but possibly the most useful number on the scale. Here is why...

When you are physically hungry and start to eat, there is a space in time when you have eaten enough calories that the physical hunger is gone but you have no sense of fullness.

A good example of this is if you have ever run home to pick up the kids before heading out to some kind of kid activity and grabbed an apple off the counter. Before you start eating, you are at a level 3. You eat the apple (one of the smaller apples not the ones the size as your head)and when you are done, you are no longer hungry -- but you have no sense of fullness either. The reason you stopped eating was probably because the apple was gone -- had there been more, chances are you would have eaten more. But there wasn't, so you didn't.

Maybe you haven't ever paid attention to what that feels like but trust me -- it is possible, as you are eating a meal, to notice that you are no longer physically hungry and not full either.

The reason it is helpful to recognize a 7 is that if you are eating something that has no value to you (for me, an example is boxed mac and cheese -- gross but it takes care of the hunger). I do not want to spend my precious, hard-earned calories on boxed mac and cheese -- sometimes, it is necessary to eat it (if the kids cook it)to get rid of the hunger -- but I don't want to fill up on it!

Recognizing when hunger is gone, gives you one more opportunity to stop eating if the goal is just to get rid of the hunger.

Hunger/Fullness Scale continued

The last couple posts, we have been talking about the Hunger/Fullness Scale. We have covered both ends but how about the middle?

One of the questions I get asked ALOT is, "Do you expect me to only eat when I am hungry?"

NO! In our culture, there are any number of reasons to eat -- one of them is for the physical body but a great many of them social (think birthday parties, wakes, business lunches, graduation parties... Not to mention because you are happy, sad, stressed, angry -- need I say more?)

What I am asking you to do is be able to accurately label your experience. Be able to understand why you are about to do what you are about to do. That way, if you want to make a change -- you are working with all of the available information.

So...the middle of the scale.

4 5 6 Trigger Eating
Eating for any reason other than physical hunger

I use these three numbers all as one (456 instead of 4,5,6)

Trigger eating is eating for any reason other than physical hunger. (Bored, sad, etc but also because it is noon and that is lunch time even though you aren't really hungry, the piece of pie your neighbor offers when you go over to visit, the obligatory appetizer when you are out with friends)

Sometimes, clients get a little nervous about "admitting" to a 456. There is nothing wrong with eating for reasons other than hunger!! What I am asking you to do is understand this is your behavior -- learn to differentiate trigger eating from physical hunger.

The last number on the scale is a level 7. It is the trickiest but possibly the most useful number on the whole scale. More on the virtues of the 7 tomorrow.

Hunger/Fullness scale continued

Yesterday, we talked about the fullness side of the Hunger/Fullness Scale. But what if you are the person who never really gets full and is constantly snacking?

Let's look at the hunger side of the equation.

0 Extremely Hungry
Physically sick, nauseous from not eating

1 Very Hungry
Need to eat is very strong, may be light headed

2 Hungry
Sense of emptiness or hollowness in stomach

3 Physically Hungry
The first sensations of physical hunger but you are in charge and can start planning what you are going to eat

The most important thing to remember is that we are talking about physical hunger. If you ask yourself if you are physically hungry and you have to stop to think about it -- you probably aren't! Physical hunger is like a light switch -- you either are or you aren't -- there isn't a kind of.

Often, I have started coaching a client only to have had them call me a few days in and tell me they didn't realize they haven't felt physical hunger in years. With all of the available food around all of the time, many clients never wait to eat until they are physically hungry.

The goal I set for a client is to start making a plan for what they are going to eat and how full they they want to feel when they reach a level 3. At a 3, you are still very much in charge of your ability to make positive decisions for yourself. You could still safely make it through the grocery store checkout line without adding a couple candy bars into the cart ("Don't put those into the bag, please -- I will just put them here in my purse")

If you don't eat when you started to feel the first sensations of hunger, your hunger will become more intense over time. (this differs from cravings -- more on that in a later post). Once you start getting into the level 2 and 1, your ability to make decisions on what and how much to eat diminishes. You run the risk of getting so hungry that you get more full than you intended to.


Tomorrow, we will cover the center of the scale (456).

Hunger/Fullness Scale

Yesterday, I talked about not getting uncomfortably full -- ever. Simple enough in concept. How are you going to make that happen in practice?

One easy way to start this process it to understand how to use a hunger/fullness scale (think a 0-10 scale -- hunger 0-3 and fullness 8-10). For the sake of a starting point, let's start on the fullness side.


8 Full
You feel the first sensations of fullness
Anytime you have any sensation of anything in your stomach you are at least an 8

9 Very Full
Your stomach is starting to stretch

10 Extremely Full
There is a large enough volume to cause the stomach to feel significantly stretched

One of the ways to think about fullness is to visualize a balloon.

When you have gotten the balloon out of the package and put the first small breath of air into it and it has started to take shape, that is a level 8. The sides of the balloon haven't started to stretch but there is something in there.

After you put another small breath of air into the balloon, the walls will start to stretch -- when the stretch happens, that is the level 9.

With the next small breath of air, the balloon will be an entirely different size than it started out -- this is the level 10.

At a level 8, chances are you will still feel like you should/could/want to eat more. But the thing to keep in mind is the physical sensation of hunger is gone. Eating after that point is just for your head -- your body is taken care of.

The advantage of having scale numbers to write down in your journal is that you can't argue with them. If your goal at the beginning of the meal is to eat until you reach a level 8 -- you can eat to that level and then stop. If you are relying words to describe how full you are, there is some wiggle room for the extra bite (or 3)that your head wants to experience.

And remember:

The whole point of being Mindful in your eating, is to cut out a few bites so you can lose weight while still enjoying the foods you love.

What is an Eating Coach

A few years ago, doing research for my job as an exercise physiologist at a hospital-based physical therapy/fitness facility, I came across an article about people losing weight using an eating coach.

Really, I was looking into bringing a life coach into the facility for a Lunch and Learn kind of thing for our members but as often happens on the web -- I followed the links and started reading about coaching for weight loss.

The concept of using sensations of hunger and fullness (versus counting calories) to determine how much a person should eat to lose weight was brand new to me. The idea seemed too good to be true (weight loss without cutting out certain foods, counting calories, working out in the gym for 3 hours every day) -- who wouldn't want to lose weight this way?

Skeptical, I called the coach from the article and talked to her. The more she talked, the more I could see how this approach could work. In the end, I ended up taking the classes needed so I, too, could coach.

Now what?

Now I spend part of every week coaching clients who want to lose weight but are willing to think in the long term. They are looking for lifestyle changes they can live with -- not the" quick fix, lose 60 pounds in 6 weeks but then return to old habits and gain it all back" diets many of us have experienced.

Love your glass of wine when you get home from work? I am not going to tell you to give it up. I might suggest you sit down and relax while you drink it -- instead of gulping it when you first walk in the door and right before you start cooking dinner for the kids.

Love risotto (I do)? Not going to ask you to use low-fat soy cheese. But how about taking time to enjoy them smell of the first bite before it goes into your mouth. And once it is there, notice the texture and flavor. Experience the food you say you love.

How about leaving the table feeling light and ready to move on with your day -- secure in the knowledge you will be able to eat again so there is no reason to stuff yourself right now?

If you can eat 9 bites a day less than you do now, you can lose 1/2 to 1 pound a week. Can you find those 9 bites? The 9 that don't add any value to your life. The 9 bites of food that taste okay but not wonderful. The 9 bites you didn't even realize you ate (think about the things sitting in the breakroom at work that end up in your mouth without you making the conscious choice about eating them).

You don't have to leave out your favorite foods. You can eat in out. You can have it all -- you just need to reconnect with what your body tells you about physical hunger and fullness.