Mindset

For me, the Weight Watchers experience has been about re-learning how to live.  How to care about how I treat myself and how the choices I make (food, exercise, socializing) affect my overall health and well-being. 

A woman named Retta who posts to an online weight loss support group I belong to posted this message and I wanted to share it with everyone I know who is also trying to learn how to make the best choices for their own overall well-being. 

At my Weight Watchers meeting last week, someone asked me what the biggest psychological change I made was.  I have been thinking about that question all week and I really think the following sums it up very well.  I have learned when to say no, when to stop eating when I am full (even if I want more because it tastes so good), and that the feeling of hunger is not a bad thing to be corrected immediately. 

I made a few spelling corrections and added the title:

We No Longer Fear Hunger
 

When we are overeating, our bodies seem to signal constant cravings.  Now that we are practicing a sane way of eating, we find that our bodies are more responsive to what we put into them.  We discover we are more satisfied with small amounts of food than with vast quantities of junk.  Our bodies function better and we begin to hunger for wholesome, natural foods rather than the refined sugars and starches we formerly craved.  Before we never had enough.  Now we eat slowly and give our bodies time to signal cessation of hunger.  We finish a meal replete and energized, rather than over-stuffed and sluggish.  We wake up refreshed after fewer hours of sleep.  Now we can accept periods of hunger before meals as good, rather than something to be feared and avoided at all cost.  There is no law against being hungry at times – it adds to the enjoyment of our meals.  As our bodies become healthier, we experience them with greater awareness and pleasure. 
 

Make me responsive to the signals of my body.   
 

(Source unknown)