Last night, my live training on hunger and cravings went almost 2 hours, with about an hour of it answering some super intelligent questions from the attendees, it was awesome!

One question in particular piqued my interest and after I answered it, I thought it would be a great Q&A to do for you too:

First off, I want to normalize that feeling.

It’s completely natural to feel as though you “did something wrong” and hence “deserve” to punish yourself with more exercise as a result. The guilt and shame kind of feels useful. Like, if we don’t feel badly about overindulging that maybe that means we don’t care about our health or our eating.

Not true.

The cool thing about research into self-compassion is that showing yourself kindness—as opposed to self-berating—is actually a compliance tool.

Meaning, sure, guilt and wanting to make up for perceived “bad” behavior with extra cardio might feel useful, but they are perpetuating the exact cycle we want to break. And self-compassion is simply acknowledgement of what happened and then being empathetic towards yourself.

When you show yourself compassion it’s not to take yourself off the hook, but instead to help yourself move on faster so that you can quit wasting time and mental energy beating yourself up, and instead spend that time and energy implementing the healthy behaviors you already know to do.

At a high level, we know that the more we feel deprived, the more compelled we’ll feel to overindulge later. Not only is it simple psychology (the “white bear” problem—the more we think about something or restrict, the more we want that exact thing), but it’s also purely physiological.

The human body is built for feast-or-famine times. Which means that while self-control and willpower can mediate feelings of deprivation somewhat for a while, eventually, EVENTUALLY, we are going to be met with temptations we simply cannot avoid.

By the way, it doesn’t make you a bad person or weak or undisciplined if you can’t avoid temptation. It simply means hi, welcome to being human. Not only is your physiology wired to eat, but delicious food is everywhere and our willpower is constantly being drained by small acts of defiance all day every day.

Which is why I’m such an advocate for mindfulness practice when it comes to eating.

It’s the top grandfather of all nutrition tools because once you practice and master a level of mindfulness (which is just basically noticing that hey, I am hungry, or I’m craving something, or I could eat, or I’m pretty full, or I feel satisfied right now, etc.), you don’t have to rely strictly on willpower. You can be around any food any time and handle it. I’ve also written on mindfulness a bazillion times, just Google JillFit and Mindfulness if you want to read more.

First, back up and investigate.

Do a little Monday Morning Intake: what happened? Remove the emotion of “I’m bad,” or “I suck at this,” and instead just get investigative:

There are a ton of psychological and physiological reasons we might overindulge. And it’s all fine. To me, an overindulgence is a chance to gather information, to debrief. So first step is to take advantage of that opportunity.

Second, when you want to exercise more as a result, just notice it. And then, do it if you want.

Meaning, think about it. What is the normal response to over-exercising?

Overeating later, right? Insatiable hunger and ravenous cravings. And thus the cycle of deprive-then-binge continues.

Investigate why and then move the fuck on. Do your normal workouts, do your normal eating (not perfect, don’t try to “tighten up”) and show yourself some kindness.

This strategy might feel insufficient, but the results you’ll experience over time which is less binging behavior, less food obsession, less hours spent in the gym, etc., will prove to you that it’s precisely enough.

Besides, your future success depends on whether you choose to continue opting for behaviors that take you further down the deprivation black hole, OR stop the cycle in its tracks.

Also remember that shorter, more intense, weight-centric workouts leverage better for handling hunger and cravings in general. They help you maintain precious muscle mass, and they optimize your hormonal situation for metabolic balance.

Which is why I never do workouts longer than 40 minutes anymore. And I hardly do any traditional cardio. Back when I was doing 2-3 hours of moderate-intensity cardio a day, I was constantly starving! Every second of the day was spent trying my hardest not to eat everything in sight, lol.

But now, 5 years later, I train the least amount of time I ever have. And I hardly think about food.

It’s a practice! But it’s possible.

Which is why I created short-duration, high-intensity workouts in both the #treadLIFT and #FastPhysique programs, which are 50% off THIS WEEK ONLY.

Both programs will change the shape of your body, but #FastPhysique is a little more hardcore and advanced. Just a word of warning ;)

Grab either program this week only, for 50% off. The deal ends Friday at midnight PST.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Xo,

Jill