Week 4

Ceriusly1

Week 4! Saturday, February 1, through Friday, February 7!

The challenge starts on Saturday morning, February 1. Exercise, “Am I Hungry”?, Sleep, and Healthy Habit Focus completed before Saturday do not count!

Delete before posting on the teams.

😀This posting is for information only. PLEASE POST YOUR RESULTS ON YOUR CHALLENGE TEAM PAGE. Each team has a similar ‘set-up,’ yet each has its own ‘look & feel.’ Your team’s leaders will answer all questions. Another good source of information will be from your fellow teammates on your team’s discussion board.

2025 Winter: Race To A “Bright, Shiny New YOU!

🏁 Race 🏁

Once again, it's a foot race! Dust off your boots, skis, snowshoes, other shoes you use to move, and any other fun winter activities you enjoy, and get ready to help your team reach the Winter Finish Line! The winter ribbon is made of snow, so dress warm! Each team has a goal of 6,000 minutes and a " Ribbon to Break."

Exercise to break the ribbon before the end of the week as your team crosses the finish line. One minute of exercise = one minute closer to the goal. 120 minutes maximum per challenger per day counts toward your team's goal)

Healthy Habit 1: Visions of Satiety: "Am I Hungry?"

Important note about this Healthy Habit: The initial title of this HH was “Am I Hungry?” Snack Pack. Upon further discussion between the OALs we decided that title would lead members to think the lesson is about snacking. In the interest of clarity, this Healthy Habit is NOT about snacking, so Snack Pack was dropped from the title. What this Healthy Habit IS ABOUT is being prepared when the urge to snack strikes and finding ways to satisfy it.

Recently, I heard the statement, “Feelings can control you, or feelings can set you free.” I immediately thought, “Food can control you, or food can set you free! Do my feelings control the food I eat? “ The feeling comes first, but the priority is finding out what caused it and then making a decision to eat or not to eat.

The “Vision”for this Healthy Habit is “Satiety.”

Satiety is the quality or state of being fed or gratified to or beyond capacity or the revulsion or disgust caused by overindulgence or excess. (webster)

My understanding of that definition is that satiety is reached either in gratification or revulsion. When we are filled to or beyond capacity, are we gratified/satisfied? Why do we go for the “beyond” to revulsion or disgust? Self-Sabotage!

Self-Sabotage!

What is Self-Sabotage?
Self-sabotage is when you destroy your own ability to achieve your weight loss goals by working toward a goal and then retracting from it. Most commonly, your own mind becomes your biggest enemy, and your thoughts begin to severely affect your behaviors. For example, when you start your diet, you have a positive attitude, feel motivated, and believe “I can do this.” Over time, something happens, and your belief that “I can do this” is replaced by “I can’t do this” or “This is too hard.” Or, your initial thought, “I can change,” is overridden by “I’m unable to change.” This ambivalent and harmful attitude toward yourself causes you to unconsciously do everything in your power to destroy your new healthy lifestyle.

That is me! That is what I do! So now, I feel like I should stand up and say, “My name is Ceri, and I am a self-saboteur.”

After reading various articles about self-sabotage, I decided it’s worth more time than this writing permits. I settled on sharing the above paragraph along with the link so you can explore it further.

If you participated in Pre-Challenge Activity # 5, you explored Mindful vs Emotional eating. The MindfulEating.pdf referenced fact sheet is excellent reading and explores the different types of eating behaviors

Our Healthy Habit for Week 4 explores the differences between physical and emotional hunger and guides us to explore the emotions that are starving us.

The following information has been adapted from the MY NEW WEIGH OF LIFE, Participants' Guide Lesson 4, page 4
Note: You can download the participant's guide as a PDF for free. On the PDF lesson 4, page 4 is found on PDF #60.

Physical signs of hunger:
1. Growling (gurgling) sounds in the bowel and stomach; Actual twinges of "pain" throughout the digestive tract.
2. Light-headedness
3. Difficulty concentrating
4. Irritability
5. Feeling faint
6. Headache
7. Thirst

Emotional signs of hunger (and what these might be saying):
2. Anxiety: the need for exercise and movement
3. Boredom: the need for attention
4. Fatigue: the need for escape
5. Loneliness: the need for reward
6. Stress: any strong or submerged emotion. Ask yourself, “What am I afraid of?”

There is nothing wrong with feeling hungry for any reason as long as we are aware of what our minds and bodies are telling us. And there is nothing wrong with responding to these signals of hunger. You need not have guilt, anger, or frustration at feeling either kind of hunger or your response as long as you maintain awareness. If you are feeling physical hunger, your challenge is determining how hungry you are. Are you ravenous or only slightly hungry? Do you continue to eat even after you no longer feel hungry?

Look at the list of emotions related to emotional hunger. For example, suppose your best friend leaves town on a two-week vacation. Suddenly, you are starving for a big ice cream cone! Are you really "food" hungry, or are you "hungry" for your friend? Are you lonely rather than ravenous? Recognizing your feelings will make it easier to choose not to eat and to find an alternative activity to relieve the emotions behind your "hunger."

Five Ps to Help Appease Your Hungry Feelings

1. Pause: Take a few deep breaths and relax for a few minutes
2. Perceive: What were you thinking or feeling before you began to feel hungry
3. Pinpoint: identify the feelings causing the emotional hunger
4. Ponder: Ask yourself if you still feel hungry after considering your feelings. Remember, food won’t fix your feelings. The feelings will still be there after you eat.
5. Plan: Consider alternatives to food to satisfy the emotion.

Here is the list for review, along with ideas to counter the emotional hunger. If what you are feeling is not on this list, use the examples as a guide to determine what is happening to you in those moments. If you need help recognizing your emotions, reach out to a team leader, chat about it on your team’s chat thread, or ask questions on the topic on the Community team.

Emotional signs of hunger (and suggestions to counter them):
1. If you are anxious, move. Exercise, dance, or walk, it’s an endless list.
2. If you are bored, call or visit a friend who inspires you
3. If you are fatigued and need to escape for a while, take a warm bath, read a good book, or watch an inspiring movie. Fatigue differs from being tired or sleepy, but that’s another topic for another day. If you need to sleep, please refer to the great suggestions you learned in week three. Hopefully, you are continuing your healthy sleep habits as the second healthy habit this week. Please see the notes on fatigue at the bottom of this section.
4. If you are lonely and need a reward, first, be kind to yourself and don’t listen to your inner critic. Volunteer, join the choir, or take a class. Spend time with your fur baby. If you don’t have one, I can promise you that rescuing an animal in need is a rewarding way to fill this need.
5. If you are stressed, asking yourself what you are afraid of can help you understand previously unidentifiable emotions.

Notes on Fatigue:Fatigue is different from being tired or sleepy and is a deeper topic than the leaders of this challenge are qualified to address. However, I think it is important to recognize the symptoms of fatigue because they could be caused by a medical problem.

Fatigue Symptoms
You can think of fatigue itself as a symptom, but here are some more detailed terms to describe what it might feel like.
1. Lack of energy. This is a kind of mental or physical exhaustion that makes it harder to move through daily life. It can impact your ability to work, spend time with your friends or family, or do other activities.
2. Drowsiness. You may feel like you have to fight to stay awake, but your tiredness may still be there after you sleep.
3. Difficulty thinking. Also called brain fog, you may have trouble paying attention, remembering things, or focusing on detail-oriented tasks.
4. Apathy. This refers to a feeling where you lose interest or motivation to do things.

"When I am nearing fatigue, I begin to self-sabotage and eventually quit. I go back to doing what's easy until I feel rested or inspired again, and then I start over."I actually said this to myself as I was writing this.

Remember: (Some of these emotional conflicts are beyond the scope of this challenge. We encourage you to consult a therapist to help you work through these issues. Becoming a mindful eater takes time, awareness, and practice, but it’s worth the investment.)

Once you recognize that you are not physically hungry and can identify the feelings underlying your emotional hunger, you can consider alternative ways to meet your needs. If you cannot develop other effective alternatives, ask yourself, “Am I hungry”? If the answer is yes, Eating Is Still Self-Care! You can give yourself permission to eat.

This is where the snack pack becomes an important component of the "Am I Hungry?" Healthy Habit. Have a bag or some sort of container to keep healthy snacks at hand. I have one in the fridge with cut-up veggies right next to my cheese sticks and yogurt. When I am “on plan” (which rarely happens), I pre-measure dry snacks into snack-size plastic bags so they are ready to grab, and I also keep some in the car.

Healthy Habit 1: Pre-measure and prepare a container(s) of healthy snacks. After using the above strategy, “The 5 Ps”, to determine whether you are physically or emotionally hungry and still need to snack, choose something from your designated “Am I Hungry? snack pack”.

If you are someone who plans your snacks when you plan your meals, that’s great! The "Am I Hungry? snack pack" is still an important tool for you to use. Add your planned snack to your Am I Hungry? pack. When it comes time for your planned snack, use the above strategy to determine why you are snacking. “I planned it, so I’m going to eat it!” What if you don’t want the planned snack when it comes time to eat it? You can choose not to eat the snack if you are not hungry or choose an alternative from your Am I Hungry? snack pack. If you eat the planned snack, you can still claim points.

If you never snack or have the urge to snack, congratulations! You have conquered something most of us continue to struggle with. Claim your 10 points.

Healthy Habit Focus: Vision of Success

The end of week 4 marks the halfway point of our 2025 Winter Season. The halfway point is a significant time for review. Are you halfway to your goal of losing 5% of your weight? Reflect on your progress, or lack of it, so far. If changes are needed, what are they?

How are you doing with the Healthy Habit you chose to focus on for the eight weeks of winter? If it has gone by the wayside, pick it up again! You decided on that habit because you wanted to change it. Work at it with a renewed sense of commitment! You will cross the finish line strong and with a sense of accomplishment!

If you didn’t start the 8-week focus at the beginning of January, you still have 4 weeks to focus on some-thing that you struggle with. Perhaps you can choose one of the Healthy Habits from weeks 1 through 4 or something else that applies to your current circumstances.

Recap: Choose one Healthy Habit that seems difficult to maintain and focus on it daily for the eight weeks of the challenge. This habit may not be changed. However, you may join this activity at any point during the challenge to start adding points to your team.

Exercise Summary: Each minute you exercise moves your team closer to “Break The Ribbon” and reaching your team’s goal of 6,000 minutes! Remember, it’s 120 minutes max to count. You may choose to do more exercise, but what is counted for the challenge is maxed at 120 minutes.

Healthy Habits Summary:
1: "Am I Hungry?" snack pack: Remember the points are for determining if you are physically or emotionally hungry first, then choosing a pre-prepared snack. 10 points, all or nothing
2: Sleep: starts Friday night, 9 hours max
3: Healthy Habit Focus: 10 points all or nothing, note what your focus habit is

Your post should look something like this:

Saturday (Please always note the day/days you are posting for)
Exercise: 120
"Am I Hungry? snack pack": 10
Sleep: 9
Healthy Habit Focus: 10 journaling

Important Notice: If your 8-week focus happens to be the same as a weekly habit, you get to claim points in both places!

NOTE: Do the best that you can. We are inclusive of all but realize that not everyone can participate fully in everything because of health/dietary restrictions and/or physical restrictions. If there is an exceptional circumstance, let your team leader know. They can reach out to the OAL team, and perhaps together, we can come up with **suggestions** for an alternative.[/b

Ceri (Ceriusly1)
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