This is what I know for a fact: your appetite and metabolism have been consistently decreasing since you’ve been 20 years old.
In other words, if you’ve been eating the same amount of calories you did when you were 20, you would have gained 30 lb. by age 50. This is a fact, ladies.
Here’s the question I pose to you: why do some women gain this amount of weight and more, and some women stay the same?
My experience says some women are tuned into their body and always have been. Let’s call them the naturally thin woman. AND some women are disconnected.
My clients and I fall into the disconnected category. But learning to think like a thin woman is imperative to staying at a natural weight.
The thoughts a naturally thin woman uses are: “I’m hungry and I need to eat” and “I’m full and I need to stop eating.” PERIOD!
If they’ve been listening to this their whole life, it’s not rocket science. BUT if they stopped listening to this most basic instinct due to deprivation, ignoring their appetite, and constant dieting, they’ve taught themselves how to put their attention on an outside source and have learned to ignore their most inner source: their body mind messages.
I know this scenario too well, as I was always on a diet to lose weight or off a diet and gaining weight. OR throwing up on a regular basis for ten years. (Total disconnection from my body.)
When I learned the work I teach now, it changed my whole life around food, appetite, and LIFE in general. The day I threw my lifetime Weight Watchers card away was one of the scariest days of my life. I carried that card in my purse for 30 years regardless if I was actually following Weight Watchers or not. I knew this was my saving grace, and would always keep me from getting too fat.
When I threw that card away, it’s because I decided I could now make this basic connection I had worked a long time to learn. I had learned to trust myself and my appetite, and this is foremost what I want you to learn also. Of all my great tools I teach, this is the most important. So, this is where WE start.
Eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full, every single time you sit down to eat.
And… this is what the first episode of my new podcast series is all about.
Listen here. If it’s helpful to you I would appreciate if you would give an honest review here. It’s the only way people like you will be able to hear it.
This is what one of my beloved clients had to say about our time together:
“I did not think it was possible, but I no longer crave junk food, nor do I play Russian Roulette with a bag of cookies. (‘Will this one kill me? Nope! How about this one?’) Instead, I actually enjoy showing myself some love by taking care of my body and letting myself experience emotion instead of numbing everything with food or some other distraction. It has taken time and effort, but Dr. Deb has been there with me throughout and amazed me with her insights every time we talked. I am losing weight steadily, my mood has stabilized, and I have enough good energy for myself and those around me.
Even when I screw it all up sometimes, I have the tools to understand what happened and learn from it, not beat myself up about it. I don’t know if Dr. Deb ‘saved’ my life, but she has definitely helped me feel once again like it is a nice place to be.” ~Gretchen Donehower
Dr. Deb
