There are many cues or signals in our daily lives that we tend to misread. When trying to reach and maintain weight loss success, these cues can completely derail us. Understanding the signals that you often misinterpret and learning how to better understand them can go a long way toward helping you reach your goals and avoid sliding back into old, bad habits.
Food Cues
Physical hunger is the best cue for determining whether or not you should eat. It usually happens about two to four hours after the last meal you ate. It can show itself as a lightheaded feeling, stomach rumbling, or an emptiness in your stomach.
Psychological hunger is more of an emotional need for food than a physical need, and it often tricks us into eating when we don’t actually need to. You can recognize psychological hunger easily, as it brings no physical signs that you should eat. Instead, you become fixated on a certain food. You want it, but your body is not telling you that you need it. These cues can be brought on by emotions, loneliness, boredom, or habit. You must learn to ignore them, distract yourself from them, or find out why they happen and work on eliminating them at the source.
Social hunger strikes when you’re at a party, out to dinner with others, or in some other social situation and are offered food or find yourself around other people who are eating. This could make you want to eat also, even if you’re not hungry. Assertiveness will really assist you in these situations. If you’re not hungry, an assertive “no thank you” when offered food will solve that. If you’re hungry, then you need to make healthy choices. If others make jokes about your healthy choices, ask them not to. If they do so anyway, let them know that they need not invite you in the future.
Physical Activity Cues
It’s important to understand which outside factors keep you from sticking to your commitment to physical activity. Recognizing external inactivity cues can help you avoid them and subsequently take more opportunities to be physically active. For example, common labor-saving devices like elevators and escalators should signal you to be more active by taking the stairs.
Depending on your personal support system, social cues can either remind you to be more active or encourage you to take the easier, less-active options. Friends or family members who want you to watch television with them instead of going to the gym, or coworkers who encourage you to enjoy snacks instead of taking a walk bring up negative social cues. On the other hand, friends who support and encourage your healthy lifestyle bring up positive social cues. It’s important to recognize these signals and ignore the negative ones.
Internal cues are those everyday events, illnesses, and injuries that can interrupt your activity schedule temporarily. Remember that these are only temporary and that, as soon as you are well and able to, you should hold yourself accountable for starting to exercise again. Write down your goals and plans for the re-launch of your physical activity routine and stick with them.