Saturday Quick Tip: Visualize Yourself Thin

Visualization is a powerful tool in life. During weight loss we can use this tool to create a mental self-portrait of a thin and healthy being enjoying the spoils of weight loss and improved quality of life. Visualization exercises are powerful motivators to keep us head hungry for the goal of a healthier more enjoyable life through weight loss and obesity recovery.

Re-visit pre-surgery days when your head hunger was for a healthy weight body and all the things life held in store for you as you lose weight and become healthier and more energetic.

"We didn't ask for obesity and we didn't ask for the fight of a lifetime to keep it under control. Treat yourself kindly. Find your personal hell-bent determination. You already know how courageous and powerful you are: you learned that when you underwent bariatric surgery. The 5 Day Pouch Test will help you find that place again through the course of five days focused on your mental and physical wellness. Pull out your strength and reserves and let's do this together." ~ Kaye Bailey: The 5 Day Pouch Test Owner's Manual

What does your visualized image look like? Are you on track to see that reflection?

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Four Truths About Weight Regain After Weight Loss Surgery
Nobody undergoes weight loss surgery thinking weight regain will happen to them. But statistics indicate that 80 percent of those who undergo gastric bypass, gastric banding, or gastric sleeve weight loss surgery will at some point regain some of the weight they lost initially with the surgery. Learn four truths about weight gain after weight loss surgery. Link to Article

Test Your Hunger with a Carrot!

The 5 Day Pouch Test: Express Study Guide

I came across this terrific hunger test on the well respected website: Lap Band Doctors. The concept is a simple self-question to determine the true nature of feelings of hunger in the moment we are feeling "hunger." We all feel hungry at times, sometimes physical, sometimes emotional. In an effort to remove the confusion between emotional hunger and physical hunger try this simple question and answer test as presented here by Dr. Ron Hekier:

How to use the carrot test to stop snacking.

By Dr. Ron Hekier October 11, 2014

"We’re all victims to emotional eating.  No one is immune to emotional desires that encourage eating.

Myself, I find that I’m most likely to make a poor food choice and eat snacks and junk food that I normally don’t when I’m under stress or feeling negative emotions.

In my experience, a significant amount of people have weight issues because of an emotional connection to food together with a rational detachment from food.

I want to share with you a great tip I just learned of while listening to a podcast about changing one’s state of mind. It can help you avoid snacking and reduce eating by incorporating a habit to change your frame of mind.

I’ll call it the carrot test.

Next time you are hungry and about to eat something outside ask yourself the following question: “Would I eat a carrot right now?”

That simple question “Am I hungry enough that I would eat a carrot now?” makes us mindful eaters.

I just learned this technique but I think it has the potential to work very well. If every time we’re about to eat a snack we ask ourselves if a carrot stick will satisfy us it makes us mindful eaters.

Before you grab any junk food or snack if you take a moment to ask yourself  “I’m hungry.  Would I eat carrot sticks now to satisfy my hunger?”

If the answer is no, then you aren’t hungry, but instead there is some emotional trigger driving you eat."

More Tips and Advice from Lap Band Doctors

 

Carrots Are Good!

If you are truly hungry have a carrot stick or two! Carrots are the leading source of beta carotene in the American diet. They also contain flavonoids, phytochemicals that function as antioxidants. A 1-cup serving of raw carrots provides 52 calories, 4 grams fiber, 1 gram protein, 686% of your Vitamin A Daily Value, 18% Vitamin C Daily Value and 13% potassium Daily Value. Carrots are an economic treasure at just .80 cents/pound. They keep well in the refrigerator and are easy to take on the run. On the Glycemic Index carrots score a 41 which is low-glycemic, making them a good addition to low-glucose-impact diet.

Hunger is Not an Emergency - Really!

From our archive:
 (LivingAfterWLS Blog April 22, 2008)
 

"Just this week I had a breakthrough moment when I read that naturally slender people do not treat hunger as an emergency. "Most of us who struggle with extra pounds tend to view hunger as a condition that needs to be cured - and fast," writes Judith S. Beck, PhD, author of the Beck Diet Solution. "If you fear hunger, you might routinely overeat and avoid it," she says adding, "Thin people tolerate hunger because they know hunger pangs always come and go, buying them some time."

Hunger defined: the painful sensation caused by a lack of food that initiates food-seeking behavior.

Hunger is not an emergency. Interesting, don't you think? Since publishing the 5DPT I've received tremendous feedback. Some people are amazed to not feel hungry, even on those difficult first two days. Others report "climbing the walls" hunger. I believe each of us responds differently to the 5DPT and there are certainly extremes between lack of hunger and ravenous hunger.

Here are some tricks for learning to treat hunger the way slender people do - a condition that comes and goes.

- Drink water or flavored water the curb hunger pangs.

- Ignore the hunger and acknowledge that you will survive.

- Establish a predictable and consistent eating schedule so your body becomes accustomed to when you will eat.

- Eat protein first thing in the morning and again at lunch and dinner.

-Supplement protein intake with Total Protein.

- Minimize visual cues that trigger hunger pangs (avoid/ignore media advertising, place snack foods in closed cupboards, avoid the office break room, etc.)

- Exercise. Take a brisk walk before giving in to hunger (this will rev your metabolism).

Finally, just as hunger is not an emergency,

it is also not a failure. 

 

If you feel hunger during the 5 Day Pouch Test then take one of the steps above to ignore it. And if you are still hungry then eat something from the approved list of foods for the day. Associating hunger with feelings of failure often leads to destructive eating and inappropriate food choices. The 5DPT is a powerful tool and a great step toward building a better relationship with food and your weight loss surgery."

5DPT Bulletin: Hunger is not an emergency

Published today: 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin

Is your post-WLS hunger a crisis? 

View bulletin in our archives: 5DPT September Bulletin

 

Opening Article:

 

"Greetings -

Thanks for joining me for the September 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin, our first of the fall season. For me, now seems like the right time to review my understanding of body hunger and remind myself of the difference between hunger and appetite. In hearing from you in the weight loss surgery communities I know that many of us struggle time and again against hunger -- or what we think is hunger.  One of the best breakthroughs in understanding my food relationship came in 2008 when I read the words, "Hunger is not an emergency." My goodness! Who knew? Read my blog post account of that enlightening moment:

(LivingAfterWLS Blog April 22, 2008)

"Just this week I had a breakthrough moment when I read that naturally slender people do not treat hunger as an emergency. "Most of us who struggle with extra pounds tend to view hunger as a condition that needs to be cured - and fast," writes Judith S. Beck, PhD, author of the Beck Diet Solution. "If you fear hunger, you might routinely overeat and avoid it," she says adding, "Thin people tolerate hunger because they know hunger pangs always come and go, buying them some time."

Hunger defined: the painful sensation caused by a lack of food that initiates food-seeking behavior.

Hunger is not an emergency. Interesting, don't you think? Since publishing the 5DPT I've received tremendous feedback. Some people are amazed to not feel hungry, even on those difficult first two days. Others report "climbing the walls" hunger. I believe each of us responds differently to the 5DPT and there are certainly extremes between lack of hunger and ravenous hunger."

link to continue reading 

Featured Articles:

Understanding Hunger
Hunger: Don't think about the food
Understanding weight regain
Recipe: Easy Beef Stroganoff

Hunger is NOT an Emergency

Just this week I had a breakthrough moment when I read that naturally slender people do not treat hunger as an emergency. “Most of us who struggle with extra pounds tend to view hunger as a condition that needs to be cured – and fast,” writes Judith S. Beck, PhD, author of the Beck Diet Solution. “If you fear hunger, you might routinely overeat and avoid it,” she says adding, “Thin people tolerate hunger because they know hunger pangs always come and go, buying them some time.”

Hunger defined: the painful sensation caused by a lack of food that initiates food-seeking behavior.

Hunger is not an emergency. Interesting, don’t you think? Since publishing the 5DPT I’ve received tremendous feedback. Some people are amazed to not feel hungry, even on those difficult first two days. Others report “climbing the walls” hunger. I believe each of us responds differently to the 5DPT and there are certainly extremes between lack of hunger and ravenous hunger.

Here are some tricks for learning to treat hunger the way slender people do – a condition that comes and goes.

- Drink water or flavored water the curb hunger pangs.
- Ignore the hunger and acknowledge that you will survive.
- Establish a predictable and consistent eating schedule so your body becomes accustomed to when you will eat.
- Eat protein first thing in the morning and again at lunch and dinner.
-Supplement protein intake with Total Protein.
- Minimize visual cues that trigger hunger pangs (avoid/ignore media advertising, place snack foods in closed cupboards, avoid the office break room, etc.)
- Exercise. Take a brisk walk before giving in to hunger (this will rev your metabolism).

Finally, just as hunger is not an emergency, it is also not a failure. If you feel hunger during the 5 Day Pouch Test then take one of the steps above to ignore it. And if you are still hungry then eat something from the approved list of foods for the day. Associating hunger with feelings of failure often leads to destructive eating and inappropriate food choices. The 5DPT is a powerful tool and a great step toward building a better relationship with food and your weight loss surgery.

Read: Understanding Food Intake, Hunger, Appetite and Satiation