Eating was over in a cramming rush. Thirty seconds, a couple of minutes for a big plate. It was good, then it was gone. And to add insult to injury, I felt bloated.
And my weight was slowly creeping back up, ounce by ounce, pound by pound.
I had reached my target weight and was trying to maintain it. I exercised, I ate moderately amounts of fat and sugar, I ate greens and whole grains. I was doing all the right things.
I didn’t know what else to do. My wife told me my metabolism was slowing down even more as I aged.
But there’s an exact moment to stop eating so you feel just perfect. I call it the Aaahhh Moment.
When does it come? Well, you know that feeling when you’re eating and loving it and you get to a peak of perfection and your whole being is saying “This is so good!!! The last thing in the world I could possibly do right now is stop eating.”
Er, that’s the moment I’m talking about.
It’s the moment when your spirit says, “Aaahhh.” and it’s usually accompanied by a desperate urge to keep the experience going.
But the very next bite doesn’t taste quite so good. And the bite after that is accompanied by the beginning of a bloaty tummy. You may finish every bite but you already feel blah.
To stop at the Ah Moment, you have to fight the urge to keep eating. But it’s worth the work to rewire that urge. Because a few minutes later, you start to feel peaceful and calm inside. You begin to feel a delightful sense of emptiness. At least, that’s how it is for me.
And emptiness isn’t quite the right word because that implies lack. It’s more a sense of having space inside, space for creativity, for new things. And that feeling often lasts for hours.
How do you make this work?
Start with Slow Patience. At first, I couldn’t tell whether or not I’d reached the Ah Moment. I’d stop eating, check how I felt, take another tentative bite, stop again. Like a dog trying to find where it buried a bone. I’d try stopping and after a half hour, I’d feel hungry again. But eventually I got to where I enjoyed each bite and could tell when the taste was building to the peak.
Don’t Tough it Out. Eating consciously is not about being hungry and miserable. If you’re hungry after a half hour, eat something else, but eat just enough and then stop again.
Drink Water. Lots of time I’d feel hungry and then after a nice big drink of water, I’d feel perfect. Sometimes you’re not hungry, you’re thirsty.
Classic Diet Advice: Take Smaller Portions. See, one of my demons is “finish what’s on your plate.” Even if I know I can put leftovers in the fridge, it’s hard to leave just a few mouthfuls. And if I know that the food will be wasted, like cereal with milk that’ll just sog, I spoon it on in, even if I’m full. But you need to eat until you feel perfectly satisfied, not until the food is gone. That’s easier if you take a smaller portion.
Eat Slowly and do Nothing Else No reading, or internet surfing or typing in a blog while eating (like I did just now, sigh). The more consciously you eat, the easier it is to enjoy every bite and stop at the Ah Moment.
At Least Notice the State of the Stomach. Even if you can’t tell ahead of time when you’re approaching the Ah Moment, you can stop at the first bite where you start to feel Ughh in you belly. No matter how good the food is tasting.
It took work to make this a habit. But now I feel good most of the time. And my weight has steadily dropped, right back to where I want it to be.
Try eating consciously. It can’t possibly hurt.
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