The Urge to Eat

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Full Episode Transcript:

The Urge to Eat

You know when you have that urge to eat more dessert or chips? Or the bread served with dinner, or even just dinner itself? And I’m not talking urges due to true hunger signals that you can feel. I’m talking about when it’s not true hunger.

Real quick, true hunger is when you actually feel hunger signals and they come on gradually. What’s known as false hunger is when you feel hunger signals but they come on very quickly because something triggered them like seeing a mouth-watering dessert.

Urges NOT due to hunger are when you want to eat and you don’t have any hunger signals.

That urge to eat, is a feeling in your body that’s caused by your thoughts. Which is great news, because you have control of your thoughts. So because you have control of your thoughts and thoughts cause your feelings, you also have control of your feelings.

It may not seem that way, because of thoughts that can come up very quickly, causing a very quick emotion and quick reaction, but hear me out, you can TAKE control of your thoughts, feelings and actions. Which is exactly what coaching is. Coaching helps you take control of those things. That’s exactly how I help my clients break bad eating habits, create new healthier, feel in-control, and lose weight.

In this episode, I’m going to give you a simple thing you can start doing today that is the very first step in this process. It’s easy too and requires like no energy.

I’m also going to share what NOT to do when you feel an urge. And what NOT to do if you respond to the urge by overeating.

So if you don’t want to keep eating in response to an urge, there are several solutions. One is to become aware of the thoughts that are causing the urge. Then, you can change them or counter them with a new thought.

This takes a little more effort than the step I’m going to give you today. And it often requires someone like me to help you. That’s where the coaching part comes in.

Another thing is to learn how to NOT respond to the urge. Either don’t eat that thing you have the urge for, or don’t continue eating the thing you have the urge for. This requires more as well, specifically tools to help you with this. Which is what I provide you in my coaching program. But I wanted to mention it today, because it is a must.

You MUST learn how to not respond to the urge. And I don’t mean by fighting or resisting the urge. That’s what you should NOT do. Remember I mentioned a little bit ago, I’d tell you what NOT to do? Well, that was it.

Here’s what’s wrong with fighting or resisting an urge. You’re using willpower for this. Willpower fails after a bit. Think of willpower like sprinting. It uses a lot of energy and therefore is exhausting. Because of that, it doesn’t last. You run out of that mental energy before you’ve overcome the habit of eating in response to the urge.

Instead, you want to learn the tools to manage the urge without responding to it. Then, you have the confidence that urges no longer control you. They’re no longer an issue for you. And it may sound like work learning and implementing these tools and skills, but I have a 5-step process that makes it pretty easy.

That 5-step process helps make it as easy as possible to follow through on practicing the skill or using the tools, helps find and overcome any challenges, plan ahead what will help you follow-through, create a back-up plan if needed, and reward you to keep encouraging you for consistency.

Consistency that actually results in habit change. Changes you can sustain for life. Your new habits. You’re essentially becoming the new, improved version of yourself. Because that’s what it’s all about.

You’re an intelligent career woman, so I know you want the lifestyle changes, rather than a quick fix like a short-term diet or weight loss program.

Now, here’s what you can do today. This will be pretty easy for you. You can start just noticing when you have the urge. Just noticing brings awareness to the moment. And awareness is what interrupts the habit, the automaticity.

Then notice if there are any patterns. For example, do you have an urge to eat when you’re feeling another emotion like boredom or stress? Or maybe when you see or smell the food?

Do you have an urge to eat when you know it’s a certain time and you feel like you should be eating then?

Do you have an urge to eat in a specific situation? Like when you come home from work? Or when you sit down to watch TV or scroll social media?

Maybe you notice you have an urge to eat when you’re happy or feel like you deserve a reward for the tough day. That was me back when I was working long hours as a PA.

So every time you feel an urge to eat, just take note and ask yourself why? What is prompting it? Maybe it is true hunger. That’s something I help you tell the difference between with coaching as well. Because depending on the person, you might have different hunger signals, or might not even know what your hunger signals are whether or not it’s TRUE hunger.

So here’s why I don’t want you to continue eating in response to urges. If you continue eating in response to urges, you’ll keep strengthening the habit. Making it harder to break over time. You’ll also likely be overeating.

Because when you’re eating due to another reason besides true hunger, you’re eating more than you need.

When you eat more than you need, that food gets converted into energy and several other atoms and molecules and then stored as fat. You end up gaining weight, having difficult losing weight, and can also feel sluggish, bloated, and other physical symptoms.

As these habits get stronger and you gain weight, you start feeling like it’s almost impossible to break them and to lose the weight. You might already be feeling this way. But the good news is, we can still break those bad eating habits and I can help you lose weight, it just won’t be overnight.

And with my assistance, it’ll take a lot less time than it would take on your own.

Right now, you might feel like your wheels are spinning. Leaving you feeling like you’re making very little to no progress. Or, you make some progress, then lose that progress. That’s very normal when you don’t know the skills and tools and have the strategy to implement those and actually change those habits.

But if you break the habit of eating in response to urges, and know exactly how to handle any situation where you may have an urge, you’ll be overeating less.

You’ll also eat less volume of the foods that aren’t great for your health or your body weight.

So, I can help you get control of your urges and stop eating automatically in response to them, so you can feel in-control, have a healthier body and lose weight if that’s a goal. Book a free consultation with me, so we can talk about your urges, find what’s triggering them, and I can explain the solutions to you.

You’ll walk away with clarity, insight, and a feeling that it really is possible for you.

Let’s change your eating habits for life. So you no longer have to deal with the frustration and the time that you’re currently spending on this pain point. I can help. Book your free hour-long consultation with the link below.