We think weight loss is all about getting ourselves to eat the right things or exercise until we “feel the burn”.  But weight loss starts with our beliefs.

 I've had quite a few people jump on consult calls with me over the years, and for most of them, the number one reason they don't go ahead and pay the $395 for the first month of coaching is that they don't believe lasting weight loss is possible for them.

They believe it's possible for me of course.  All you have to do is scroll through my Facebook photos and you can see I used to be bigger, that I lost weight about a year ago, and that I seem to be keeping it off.

If they've been on my YouTube channel they will have seen the testimonials out there, so they likely believe that it works for my clients as well.

But they don't believe it's possible for them.

“I've always been heavy.”

“My whole family is overweight – I'm doomed genetically.”

“I lack willpower.”

I get it.  For the longest time, I thought there was something wrong with me as well.  In fact, I ended up with low thyroid (which has now cleared itself up).

But here's the thing.  I don't care about your genetics or your willpower or your diagnoses.  I know if you eat less, and if what you eat is healthier, you will weigh less.  And I know how to get you to cut out the stress eating and the emotional eating and the unconscious habit eating you are doing.

So change your mind about what's possible for you.  Be willing to invest in yourself.  Thanks to my money back guarantee, the only thing you have to lose is the weight.

Are you ready to lose with Lisa?  Click here to schedule a free initial consultation to learn more.

Today I’m going to share the four types of hunger and how to beat them to lose weight.

So, there are 4 different things that we may describe as hunger. I’m going to teach you how to deal with them so they don’t stop you from losing weight.

Now, let’s be clear, I don’t teach starvation. I eat food and I recommend you do, too. But most what I am going to describe below is actually false hunger that we let stop us from losing weight because we think they are emergencies we need to deal with by eating immediately.

1. Low blood sugar.
For most people, this is a light-headedness and a sort of hangry “feed me now” violent sort of emotion.
What you are actually feeling is NOT hunger. It is the symptoms of withdrawal from your drug of choice, sugar.
There are some people who truly do suffer from medical low blood sugar, but if you don’t have a diagnosis from a doctor, what you are actually feeling is what we expect any addict to live through when they quit their drug of choice. If you quit using sugar (and flour, which breaks down into sugar) and break your addiction, this feeling will permanently go away.

2. Cravings.
A craving is an intense mental urge, either for a specific food or a category of foods. It usually is more mental than physical. If you pay attention to your mind, you will likely start to hear the thought that goes with this. It may be a thought like “I’d like just a little something sweet” or “two mint Milano cookies won’t hurt anything.” The best way to deal with this is to shine the light of awareness on these thoughts and realize where they are leading you – to a continuation of your weight problem. Then treat them like an urge (check out my other videos on how to deal with urges).

3. Emotional discomfort.
Again, we’ll need to get a little more introspective to pick up on this one. Most of us have been trained (or trained ourselves) that if we are feeling an unpleasant emotion, the solution is food. A great time to observe this is when we are sitting on the couch in front of the TV after dinner and have the desire to go get a snack. What emotion are we also feeling? Is it boredom? Restlessness? Loneliness? Let yourself actually feel that feeling instead of covering over it with a snack.

4. Physical hunger.
Physical hunger is a sensation that starts in the body and then lets your mind know something is going on. It can be a growling stomach or other feeling, perhaps in the throat or mouth. This is the most legitimate of the 4, because it is at least a physical sensation, so it makes the most sense to give that a physical solution, like food.

One thing to note, here, is that physical hunger, while it is legitimate, is like a warning light coming on the dashboard. It’s like needing to pee. It’s not healthy to completely ignore it, but you can wait a little while until you get to a safe place to address it.

It’s also important to note that sometimes physical hunger is programmed. If you eat at noon every day, you may start to get hungry at noon every day. It doesn’t actually mean that you will die if you don’t eat right that minute. It just means your body is reminding you “hey, we usually eat now.” It’s the same way the dog knows when it’s time for him to be fed. So while you may choose to pay attention to it, if you are 40 pounds over weight, you are unlikely to die within the first 5 minutes of feeling hunger. You do have a reserve source of fuel on your body that you stored for a moment just like this that can be utilized.

So now let me ask you: when’s the last time you felt a feeling you thought of as hunger? Knowing what you know now, what was it actually? Do you have some different strategies you can use going forward? 

If you’d like to learn more about how I can support you in your weight loss journey, make an appointment for a free initial consultation using my online calendar at https://lisauke.net/schedule