Kettlebody Tip #62: Thin people HATE overeating
Are you watching For The Love of Ray Jay 2?
No?
Congratulations.
I, on the other hand, am completely sucked in. It is my crack these days.
So you can imagine how happy I was to actually learn something useful from the show. Something I can share with all my cluddies.
You saw it in the title: Thin people HATE overeating!
Let me say that for you one more time: Thin people HATE overeating!
Now here is the context. All these girls are competing to become Ray J’s girlfriend, kind of like The Bachelor. And they are all very thin and experts at applying make-up. Ray sent them on a scavenger hunt through Los Angeles a la The Amazing Race. The winning team of two girls would win one-on-one dates with Ray J. And let me tell you, these girls were desperate for a date with Ray J.
The first challenge was for each team to eat four chili dogs at Ray J’s favorite hot dog shack, Pink’s. That is two chili dogs per person.
Now I always thought it was universally accepted that chili dogs are delicious. And in my day, eating two chili dogs wouldn’t be a challenge, it would be a reward! But for a lot of these girls, it was like he was asking them to eat twenty pounds of boiled turnips!
They looked at the dogs with disgust! They said things like “How will I ever eat that much food!?” I expected them to start scarffing them down as bad as they wanted to win, but they took their time before taking the first bite. One girl could barely even finish ONE! Her partner was begging her to eat more and to eat faster because they were going to be in last place.
As someone who has struggled with overeating and now helps others overcome it, I found this insanely profound. There was incredibly delicious food right in front of them. And two chili dogs per person is not even that much!
But they did not want it!!
And they did not enjoy it!!
The question is why!! Why do thin people hate overeating?? So many people seem to love it so much and have such difficulty not doing it!
My belief is that thin people are much more in tune with their bodies than people who overeat. Let’s face it, overeating is uncomfortable. Sure, the food might taste really good in your mouth, but having too much food in your stomach hurts. It’s painful.
But the more you overeat, the more you ignore the physical pain it causes. And the more you ignore the pain, the less connected you are with it and your body. And sometimes the temporary pleasure of having the food in your mouth outweighs (no pun intended) the longer-lasting discomfort that results.
Fortunately it is possible to get back in tune with your body. You can learn to honor physical cues that tell you when you are reaching that level of discomfort. That is exactly the key to managing your weight effortlessly.
The first step is simply to start being aware of your physical sensations before, during, and after eating.
Just for the record, none of the girls said anything about the food being fattening or unhealthy or calories…at all! All they kept saying was stuff like “That’s so much food! I’ll never be able to eat all of that!”
By Charlie Fields of kettlebody.com. Charlie is a San Diego personal trainer known for his pleasure-enhancing approach to exercise and eating. For more tips like this or to learn about Charlie’s bootcamps, eating workshops and coaching, or personal training, visit kettlebody.com.