Being In Tune With Your Body vs. Subconsciously Undereating

is our Outweigh resident for four weeks. Where here we are on week number three and the last two weeks we've been talking about intuitive eating. So if you've missed those episodes, go back and listen to them. I'm The first one was about diet culture versus intuitive eating and you know how sometimes things show up on line, but really what is actually going to work for you? And then the second episode was practical intuitive eating and balancing life and meal prepping and what that looks like in

the intuitive eating space. And then today we're gonna talk about something we touched on one of the episodes that I was talking about as I was looking to learn how to live in this life recovery and not fall back into other patterns. I just didn't trust my body and I didn't know what means that I'm hungry. I don't know. I just restricted avenged for so many years that I don't even know how to trust my body. And what is hunger? What's subtle hunger? Am I eating enough?

What does that even look like? So that's what we're gonna unpack with Michelle today. Yes, it's very excited to dive into it. And I think that so so many people can relate to you to your story of like living in those extremes knowing, Okay, I'm so hungry, I'm gonna fall over, or I'm so full, i feel sick, and not having much awareness of the in between, which is really what helps you become more of an intuitive

either and just know your own body better. There are a lot of signs that I think we write off as just being maybe lazy or having some other problem that's not simply oh, I just need some food. What's like the number one thing you would say to someone if they're like, I have no idea if I'm hungry, but I mean I think about food, but I don't

really know. I don't like feel my stomach growling. So something I go through with pretty much all my clients is the hunger and fullness scale, and people have can google a hunger fullness scale. It's just a one to tend scale to rate where you are in terms of hungry or full by being like a true neutral tends super full, one super hungry, and noticing like the three and the stinks and the four and those middle numbers.

Often doesn't feel like your stomach grumbling or anything like that. Um, The very first sign of being hungry is usually just thinking about more. Your brain keeps bringing that thought up because it's telling you, okay, like I actually need this, and keep thinking about it, plan to eat something. And then other signs might just be feeling tired, unable to focus, maybe a little irritable, and that kind of like brain fog, feeling that people will blame on every food under the sun.

Maybe it's just a lack of energy, a lack of calories and nutrients, and so these more vague or subtle feelings. When you pay attention to those and try out like having a snack the next time you feel those things and then see, oh, does that actually make me feel a lot better as a mom. It makes me think of halt, where it's halt is H is hungry, A is angry, L is lonely, and T is tired. And so sometimes they may be I mean adults can have

it too. Or like if you're in any relationship and you notice that you're being a little feisty or you're like, what's going on with you? Might be one of those four things that you could address and then have the mood shift totally. I mean, being angry is a very real thing. And focus is something that a lot of people complain about or struggle with, Like I just can't focus on my work. Well, maybe you just need that energy boost, Like yeah, you might just not have the

calories on board to fuel your thinking. Speaking of thinking, what if I'm thinking about food all day long, but I'm not like having a sense of hunger in my stomach right well, I mean if somebody is thinking about food all day, you could be chronically under eating. So maybe you're eating consistently but just never having enough or

not having enough satiating foods. Maybe you're having like a large volume of foods that are very low calorie maybe you're only eating salads and so it feels like you're eating consistently, but it's not quite enough to satisfy you or you know. I think of restriction in kind of two different ways. It can be overall quantity or it

can be specific types of food. So if you have rules for yourself and you're eating enough quantity, but maybe you're stuck in that kind of clean eating mindset and you have strict rules about what you can eat and you find yourself thinking about food, you're probably feeling deprived and restricted in a different way, even if the quantity

is enough. Okay, I was learning this too, So I went from like restricting like and by that I mean maybe just green juice or nothing, and on top of that, working out way too much, and so I was definitely at a deficit when it came to caloric needs for my body. But even as I'm more aware and introducing all types of food to my days, I could still potentially be under eating. And the thought of food all the time is a sign of that, Yeah, okay, you

still could be. And I see it often where people are like close to enough but not quite there yet because maybe they're not allowing snacks. Maybe they're limiting portions of meals, or maybe it is just that mental trigger of a particular type of food taking up a lot of brain space because you have such an emotional like

mental reaction to it. Okay, because as some people might be new to them and they're navigating through this, just because I'm thinking about it doesn't mean I'm like obsessed with food and that some thing's like I may just need to add like more nutrient DNS foods to my to my lineup that day or maybe the day before, like and give it a few days and like then see what happens, right right, look at the patterns. And also I do want to clarify you know, this is

thinking about food in like a bother some way. If you're like planning your recipes for the week and thinking about it in terms of like what do I want for dinner tonight and it's you know, two hours from dinner, and like, yes, you want to plan so you can buy things. That's different. But when you feel like you're doing something going about your day and food keeps popping up, then yes, probably something to investigate in terms of your

overall diet. And if it's meeting your needs. How do you guide people if they have more active type days versus days where maybe they're not gonna be is active. We've been talking about intuitive eating and like even planning. Last week we were talking about the meal prep, but like, if I'm I'm trying to plan, I need to be aware of days that I'm more active and make sure

that I'm adding more to my plate. Yeah, I mean, this is a great topic because it's kind of a combo of what we talked about last time and today. Because yes, there is some planning. So for example, if you're going to do a workout, and depending on the time of day, you're probably gonna want to eat something beforehand because you want to have the energy to be active. So having like an extra snack that's going to be mostly cards to give you that energy, it's going to

be important. You'll hear a lot of rules and guidelines about eating a certain number of grams of protein within a certain number of minutes after a workout, and that's actually not necessary as long as you're eating enough in

total over the course of the day. So what you want to do to plan for activities and active days is have extra snacks you're probably going to need an additional snack at least one throughout the day, and stay really aware of your hunger and fullness because it's not this really straightforward equation like if you do x amount of exercise, you're gonna need x more calories. People experience hunger based on activity differently. Some people might be a lot hungrier the day after they go on a long

hike versus that same day. So having that awareness of your body lets you lets you continue that permission even

after that like busy active day. Yeah, And I love like giving myself the permission that no days have to look alike, and like when I'm going with the flow, I try to be as prepared as possible without it consuming me against the fine line when you've come from a world of like trying to prep and make sure that everything is just right, it's okay to still care about what you're putting on your plate or what you're putting in your body, but also having this permission to

go with the flow and be bindy and know that every day is going to be a little bit different or could be right. You're going to prepare and then your body is going to tell you what you need of what you've prepared, and even like the you know I'm thinking about last fall, I was marathon training and I ran a marathon and like the week after the marathon, I ran zero amount at all of course because I

was like no break time. But the hunger was still there, you know, so that permission continues, so like, Okay, I'm still recouping from this, still going to eat what I'm hungry for, is still going to have more than what might be typical outside of that like busy, intense season. Congratulations, by the way, that's two miles people. That the exact distance of a marathon. That's crazy. I ran one when I was twenty years old and I'll never do that again. Ever.

I'm forty one now or I'm going to be forty one in March, So congratulations to you. That's amazing. Do you like it's running something? Is that a goal that you said you knew you wanted to do for me? I signed up with some friends and I once I put my mind to it, I was like, well, I guess I should complete this, but I do not like running at all? Whatsoever? Is that like your where you it's my big Yes, I love it. I find it to be so much fun, and it's it's been a

bucket list item. And I randomly was able to gain entry to the New York City a marathon, So pass it up. That's so exciting. During the race, I said I'm never doing this again, and then afterwards I said, I want to do it every year. So do you think you'll do it again? I want to. Yeah. When did you start running? Um? I mean I was on the track team in high school, so I started, Like I've always played sports and run for sports. During high school, it was not a distance thing. I did the least

amount of distance possible. I did like hurdles and jumping, so I didn't get into more distance running until college. Once I wasn't on team sports. I just wanted to be active and I enjoyed it. Yeah, well good for you. Like I I like to hike and walk now, and like, that's what I used to put this pressure on myself to run because I thought this is what I need to be doing. I'm supposed to be running. And then yeah, I gave myself this permission to actually listen to what

my body actually likes. And I hope that others will find that too. It's like I used to kill myself at bakerm yoga all the time, and I actually had convinced myself that I loved it, and then I didn't go to a class for like a very long time, and I went back and I was like, well, my body does not like this, and like, yeah, I'm so glad I don't feel this pressure that this is what I have. I have to go sit in a hundred and five with fifty percent humidity room, which for some

people it's amazing, and that's great. It had its time with me. We weren't going to talk about workouts, but I think that that's another big thing that can show up as a disordered pattern. Just like you can look at food and you can look at your workouts and be like, wait, is this really? If this is this really at my core what I want to be doing, you may find that it's not actually serving you and you're kind of shackled to it, and you you might

have to take the shackles off totally. So now with hiking, how do you notice hunger and activity? Do you have go to hiking snacks? Like, how do you plan for that? Yeah? I mean I have to keep bars in my console. I keep different nut bars in there that I like, and it's trouble because sometimes they're there. It actually used to be worse, like when I had a more disordered behavior, I restricted certain things, but if I put food in my car to hal for later, I would always end

up eating it. I couldn't trust myself, even if I wasn't hungry can be there, and now I can have a whole box of bars in there and it might take a while to eat them. But I just try to always have snacks on hand. I always try to make sure I have plenty of water. And even brain function is something that I'm thinking a lot of because I'm doing some brain work. Um, I have a d h D and I don't medicate, but if some people do, that's totally great. I think medicine has its time and place.

I have medicated before, but I no longer am, and I'm trying. I'm doing some neurofeedback, and I'm realizing how important water and fat are for my brain function. And one of the reasons why I'm hiking out in nature too is for my mental health. Like it's no longer just this, like I'm out doing this as a workout for my body. It's like my exercise routine has shifted into more of a mental health category and I'm doing it for my brain. It's more of a mind, body

soul approach. Yeah, that's how running has been for me too. Ever, since I always ran by myself, and since joining a running club, I'm like, this is such a social thing and like makes me feel so good for that reason

as well. Yeah, and I think that when you can get to a place, and that's my hope for everyone listening, is that you can feel good walking away from every meal, no matter what it was, and you can feel good walking away from every workout, and not every meal is going to be like awesome, like oh yeah, this is amazing, can't wait to eat that again, but you can feel you can feel good about it no matter what you you know we're able to eat that day, or what

you were able to do for yourself, Like, just just feel encouraged by the fact that, like it is possible. I just remember being so scared and seeing other people live a certain way and thinking, well, I'll never be to be able to live that way, Like I'm the only one that's this This quote messed up and I'm saying that about myself. I'm not calling anybody else messed up, but that's how I talked to myself. And I just want people to know the freedom that's out there when

it comes to food and working out. Yeah, I mean you said you can feel good walking away from a meal. You can feel good walking towards a meal, which is often scarcer for people. And I mean the fact that now you're sitting here talking about how important fat is, like fat can be such a huge fear for people, and talking about hunger like it helps keep you full, it helps keep you doing all the things you want

to do and focusing on those things. So yeah, it's it's amazing the change that can happen at Lisa and I did a whole episode about fat a few weeks ago, so people can go back and listen to that one. And you know, with time, you've got to give yourself grace and you have to be patient. Your body will

start to develop those hunger cues. And Michelle was even sharing some of the subtle ones, like you might not think that wells hunger, but if you give yourself a little snack and then see what happens, it's almost like you have a little your own little science experiment for yourself totally, and each person can do that, you know. I I encourage all my clients to make their own version of the hunger scale after like taking some time to to do information gathering. Because no two bodies are

the same. Some people might get a little bit irritable when they're at a certain level of hunger, where someone else might start to get a headache at that level of hunger, and someone else might start to get shaky at that level of hunger, and so learning yourself is a big, big part of it. Yeah, well I love that. And what tips do you have since you just completed

a marathon in the fall. If someone were listening right now and they're like, wait a second, I think that I could maybe do a marathon, what are some tips that you have for that person? Oh my goodness. You know, ironically, as a dietician, my fueling strategy was not the best. I realized it was kind of winging it. But I have learned a lot. So learn your body, practice, practice, practice the fueling on your runs, check in with your intentions, why figure out why you want to do it, and

make sure it's really coming from a healthy place. I would say, get involved in a running community. It's going to make it so so so much more fun. And reach out to me. Let me know, DM me on Instagram. We can talk about it. Awesome. Okay, well, thank you for sharing that fun fact. And I didn't know that about you until now, and that's very cool. Like, I know that that's such a huge accomplishment. Do you know not that times matter? But it took me four hours

and forty five minutes. It took a very long time. Well, I have never been a big fan of like driving long distances, and I had to go to a wedding that was like five hours away over the summer, and I was like, oh my god, I'm good. This was when I just started training, and I was like, I'm going to be running for the same amount of time that I'm driving on this trip right now, and I

think I'd rather run. That makes me crazy, I guess, however long it takes you, whatever your time is, like it is, you know, just setting your mind to something and accomplishing it, whatever that might be, is super awesome. And I'm glad I went ahead and did it something like that when I was because definitely not doing it now, I have new goals boks now, thank you so much Michelle for joining us again. She'll be back next week

for her final episode. I'm sure you'll be back as a guest again and in the future, but for this four week residency and in the meantime, you'all can find Michelle on Instagram and then definitely d m her if you are considering doing a marathon of sorts and Michelle, you want to tell everybody your Instagram. Yes, it's at Michelle Pillopitch Nutrition Michelle with two Wells and Pillo Pitch is very long, so you can click the link where

ever it's like to that. We'll have it linked in um the show notes so you can check it out there. And yeah, we hope you'll have a great rest of your day by