If I’m So Smart, Why Can’t I lose Weight, by Brooke Castillo
This book has been so helpful. I am continuing to learn the hunger scale, and my reactions to it. What’s a hunger scale? It’s a scale from -10 (starving) to +10 (so stuffed I feel sick). The goal is to eat when I get to -2 (a little bit hungry) and stop when I get to +2 (the beginnings of satisfaction.)
Being sick for the last week has certainly lowered my efforts to pay attention to this, but I didn’t get above a +4 (satiated) at anytime. Which is great. I used to aim for about +6 (completely full.) I did find a strong desire for comfort eating while I was feeling ill. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, but I was. And I decided to go ahead and comfort eat. I chose to have two to three sweet coffees a day. Usually two. I suppose the ultimate goal is to find comfort in non-food, but I’m not there yet, and this was a better choice than cookies or ice cream. (Which I also chose a couple of days, unfortunately!)
If I’m So Smart also introduces four types of eating. Fuel eating and joy eating are the first two. Understanding the difference between these has made a big difference! Fuel eating is eating good food for the purpose of feeding my body. Goal: make the fuel food high quality stuff my body needs. Joy eating is eating for fun. Chips, ice cream, cookies, sweet coffees. Foods that have no fuel value, but are fun to eat. Goal: Enjoy these to the max and stop eating as soon as they’re not worth it anymore. This is a little bit funny, because I would have bet that there was no satiation point for me on these goodies. But – when I paid attention, only the first few bites were pure bliss. And after that, I was just enjoying the treat. Then I can decide, “Do I really want this?” Compared to fuel food, no – I usually don’t really want it. Amazing.
So, reading this you are probably wondering if I am shedding pounds like a collie sheds in June. I have two answers: I don’t know, and probably not. I am wondering if my jeans are fitting just a little bit looser, but mostly I am setting a foundation to be able to manage my eating for life. And choosing tools for non-deprivation and enjoying food is something I CAN do for life!
(I am sharing some of my experiences with If I’m So Smart, Why Can’t I Lose Weight, not the whole program, nor how to customize the boundaries for yourself. If you’re interested in the ideas, take a look at the book! And let me know how it works for you!)