One of the most powerful tools I learned in my Life and Weight Coach training was actually one of the simplest. I want to share it with you because it has had a profound impact on my life and the relationship I have with m myself. It was the start of a true mind-body connection, something that I craved but did not know how to achieve, let alone know what it even looked like.

Let’s go back in time for a bit. Back when I was pudgy. Well, I was more than pudgy. I have the pictures to prove it.  20 years old. 30+ pounds overweight and climbing. Sounds hot, right? Clearly, I was out of control, and it was starting to scare me. Week after week, dress size after dress size my weight was slowly climbing and so was my appetite, or at least I thought that’s what it was. Easter was the worst. See, Aunt Pam has this huge spread every year: ham, potatoes, eggs, more ham. Can I interest you in sauerkraut and kielbasa? Why not. It’s homemade, and I’m Polish. And don’t forget dessert. I’m bursting out of my jeans, but there’s plenty of room in between my cheeks to take down some French silk pie, bunny shaped sugar cookies (who likes sugar cookies-but on this day, I do!), and cherry pie. I literally went hog wild. I ate so much that day, I was sick for the next two to come. I felt enormous, out of control, and the complete opposite of sexy. The worst of it all, I remembered that I was while I was pigging out, I missing out on spending time with my family and friends that day as I was alone in the dining room with my happy plate long after everyone stopped eating.  After day 3 of my food hangover, I decided I was done. I had shamed myself for 3 straight days. I couldn’t dare stand to look at my scale, and why would I as I knew what it would say.

Finally, I had enough. So what was I to do. Go on a diet! And go on a diet that’s the exact opposite behavior of what I was doing previously. Looking back, my response was brutal, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.  Which is why I am telling you about it here.

My initial approach to diet and exercise got me the ultimate result I wanted in losing weight, but it took a toll on my mind-body connection, which wouldn’t be fixed until I went to the Life Coach School. Basically, I lost 30 pounds by calorie restriction and an unhealthy approach to exercise. I met with a nutritionist who told me that in order to lose weight, I had to consume less than 1,400 calories a day and no more than 35 grams of fat. I took this guide to somewhat of an extreme on consumed maybe 1,000 calories and very little fat. I lost the weight over 4 months, but I was miserable. I couldn’t sleep because I was hungry, I was obsessed with the next time I could eat and I had so much chatter in my mind while I was doing this. In a nutshell-there’s a better, simpler, and gentler way.

The way is through the Hunger Scale which is explained in depth on video for free that can be emailed to you. In my coaching sessions I first help clients distinguish the true physical feeling of hunger vs. the sensation of hunger, which can take some time before moving into how and when to apply it. The idea is to start feeding your body when you get to a -2 on the scale and stopping when you reach a +2. Sounds simple? It is and it isn’t.I found that it takes some time to really find out what true hunger feels like and when you do it is a beautiful thing because at least for me, it was the first time I was really tuning in with my body. I wasn’t eating just because it was noon, like I had done my whole life, I did it when I was at a -2, which to my surprise sometimes came much later. In this I started reminding myself that I would eat again soon, there was no need to rush it, to consume too much. This started a trend of being kind to myself, to decreasing the chatter in my head and really starting to connect, to even love myself, and to appreciate my natural rhythms.

I would love to share more with you about this and for anyone interested who want to coach with me on it. It has been a true game changer and the big start I needed to connect the mind and body. If you would like to learn more I can email you the video and link to a free mini-session to learn more about my mind-body connection program by hitting the send now button on my website.

Wishing all you fellow gym rats and dieters and kinder gentler way. Mindyourstrength.com