Is it Possible to Honor Hunger in a Prep?

I was recently asked how do you truly honor your hunger when you're in a deficit or a prep, because you would think you're going against your hunger cues and fullness cues since you're in a deficit which really means you're likely not at homeostasis.

When 'dieting', you're not maintaining or in a surplus where you're usually more full. What I like to really reinforce with a lot of the girls that I work with is that you are safe.

That's, of course if, you know you're safe to be hungry.

Another thing to keep in mind is if you are hungry, notice the benefit of hunger. Maybe it's a deeper connection with your body.

Maybe it's a better understanding of those hunger and fullness cues altogether.
Maybe it is even recognizing what a strong communicator your body is. 

It's also showing you "Hey, maybe the foods I'm eating or choosing aren't as nourishing as I thought or need them to be."

The last thing I'll share with you guys, and there's a lot of different directions we can take this, is psychological hunger.

Sometimes we get a macro drop or a calorie change and we instantly associate that with an increase in hunger when in reality it hasn't made a big difference, especially if you're working with a coach you trust or if you, yourself are creating a program that you feel good about.

You really should be able to see your plan and go, "You know what? I'm still nourished. I'm still taken care of and I'm eating to achieve these goals."

And psychologically, if those goals mean a lot to you then you can understand "Okay this hunger cue is likely going to pass and I'm going to be closer to my goal and this is temporary, it's impermanent."

The concept of impermanence is super important as well, but more than anything, consider if it's physiological or if it's psychological.

If you have this belief that "Oh well, my macros are lower than so-and-so's," or "Oh, my macros just got dropped this amount...I'm sooo hungry all of a sudden. I'm going to be super hungry."

You're going to be hungrier, it's just how it's going to be.

There's a lot of different tools and tactics people like to use to avoid hunger, extremely voluminous meals for example and, while I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing at times, I think if we develop a reliance on it we're putting ourselves in a rough spot

Eventually you're going to be coming out of that phase of prep or your diet and you're going to go into a surplus or more of a maintenance and you're going to be thinking you always have to eat a lot, you always have to eat in a surplus or you always have to eat a high volume meal to satiate yourself because you've created this story that 'it's not enough unless it is a high volume meal' or you leave stuffed.

So there's a lot of thought processes that can change with that constant reinforcement of needing volume or the macro change making you hungry.

Honor your hunger by maybe changing up the meal times that you have, maybe changing up how many meals you eat in a day in a prep, maybe even communicating that with your coach and determining if you're pushing too hard too fast.

And you might hear me say that and think "Well, I want to be successful, and if you want to be successful you can't do that"

But what about your longevity?

If you get so so hungry to the point where then you're ending up binging or you end up going off on your goals after the show or after the diet because it never really mattered to you in the first place, you're just trying to 'get through it and get to the stage', then you're not setting yourself up for a long-term success.

Communication is really key, not just with yourself but also with your coach.

One way you can honor your hunger is by recognizing it's there, changing up some of your meal times, meal sizes, things of that nature, and never creating a reliance on volume by reminding yourself:

"I'm taken care of. I'm well nourished. I trust the program I'm on. It's getting me to where I need to be. I'd never be put in a position where my health was compromised or my life was compromised."

Now there's obviously red flags you'll need to look out for and that's going to come down to doing some research, but those are some really great things to remind yourself of in this process because you will think those thoughts about "I should be hungry right now. I should be feeling this way" or "Oh, I'm going to be feeling this way."

That's going to impact how you actually feel.

Your thoughts will become the things that you experience so it's important to remind yourself you are nourished, you're satiated, you're taken care of but never to the point where you're truly putting your health at risk beyond repair or your longevity at risk.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. If you have any more questions like this or in regard to food relationships in general, I'd be happy to put together more videos for you on it.

I will recommend that you check out the food relationship program I have if you are struggling with this. I've developed it specifically for athletes, competitors, people who love fitness and don't want to give up their physique goals but also want to develop a healthier relationship with food because they know that's ultimately what's holding them back.

And of course we go beyond surface level. It's not just about the food and that's exactly what I'll do with you. If that's something you're interested in you can apply for it. I take the work that I do very seriously so you have to apply for it to make sure that I can absolutely help you.

I don't just say that because it is important. If I can't help you I will refer you out to someone else and if I can and you feel like it's a great fit and I do too then of course we'll work together.

You can find that information at celestial.fit/foodfreedom. I also have a free food series that you can find at celestial.fit/foodseries.