The other day, one lady working on losing weight told her instructor that she’d been “starving” while waiting for lunchtime to come around.
Of course, she didn’t mean that she was literally starving. She was just trying to say she was feeling “especially hungry.”
But would it not be cool to always discourage people from using that word, because — aside from being insensitive to the fact that lots of people really ARE starving — it just creates a terrible mindset for anyone who’s trying to eat purposefully and lose weight?
Whenever you say that you’re starving (even in jest), some part of you begins to panic. And that feeling of panic can lead to bad decisions — like choosing to eat the next thing in sight.
And when the next thing in sight is a bag of chips or a sugary snack — that’s a choice that won’t help you reach your weight-loss goals and probably won’t even alleviate your hunger for long.
Because the more junk you eat, the more your body will continue to hunger for nutrients, and if you don’t feed it with nutrients the vicious cycle continues.
So before switching into panic mode, take a breath — and instead of saying “I’m starving” say “I’m okay. I’m just hungry and I need to eat something nutritious.”
Start by drinking water first (because most hunger is very often dehydration in disguise!) and remind yourself of WHY you are trying to lose weight.
After that, it will take you just a few minutes to think of healthy, filling options that will satisfy your hunger, nourish your body, and still help you reach your weight-loss goals.
Remember, you’re always in control of the food you eat — that’s an amazingly liberating idea!
Learn to eat because you’re hungry — not because you’re “starving” — and you’ll take a giant step down the path to a positive weight loss and mindset.