EDIT: I had a powerful experience while on a walk after I posted this and it lead me to identifying 2 new types of hunger that have played a powerful impact on my life and I had been confusing it with Emotional Hunger. The reason I wanted to identify each of these is because they 1) each present differently and 2) have different needs that they meet. Some of the solutions may be the same as others but there are distinct differences that I feel are important. DM me if you are interested and I can email you the newest version as I keep making updates as I am learning. Original Post: Wow. This community sure has grown!!! I believe I was the first or second member and I haven't checked in for a while. I spoke with Vasi about a program that I have been working on and she encouraged me to share some information here. I created this brief introduction page to my program. I call it Metabolic Rehab; The Feasting/Fasting Method. I believe that a lot of the problems that people have with food and weight stem back to not recognizing hunger. I started developing a theory years ago that seems to have proven true through my experience and work. I am an addiction counselor and I see similarities with my clients to what I experienced trying to heal my metabolism. Then Dr. Jason Fung published his book The Hunger Code which I read as soon as it came out in March 2026 to see if it validated my experience. He shared his idea that there are 3 types of hunger. My experience identified 6; his first three types seem insufficient to what else I see going on so I started to create my program. This is the briefest introduction to what I plan to cover in my program. I plan to introduce each type, provide strategies to help people identify each type and eliminate some so that they don't have to fight hunger and cravings. After all, if we aren't hungry... it's easy to say no.

What about for this week? Do you have one thing, or is it 2-3? Either way is fine. Would love to hear what your focus is for today and for this week! Asking yourself this question regularly can help you get clarity around your next steps, and keep you on track. Asking myself this question often helps keep me focused and prevents overwhelm. My most important thing this week is getting ready for our trip to Bulgaria. I’m excited to connect with family I haven’t seen in over 8 years! All meetings are off the calendar. Other priorities can wait. My focus is on packing, cleaning the house so we don’t come back to a pig sty, getting animals ready for caretaker, etc.

1.) Spend time daily in deep relaxation, at least an hour throughout the day...more if possible. This is a powerful way to balance and decrease the stress hormone cortisol. The more cortisol you have running through your body, the more your body will gain and hold onto weight like there's no tomorrow. 2.) Take longer pauses between your meals. You can do this by eliminating snacking throughout the day, or extending the time between dinner and breakfast. Doesn't have to be the same pause every day, it's actually great to vary it up, but more time pausing between meals will help you lose weight. Some people call this intermittent fasting. Don't matter what you call it. It works by decreasing insulin and countering insulin resistance. Insulin resistance can make weight loss almost impossible. Similar to cortisol...the more insulin you have running through your body, the more your body will gain weight and refuse to let it go. 3.) Start a Food and Mood Journal. Write down everything you eat, and how you felt while eating and afterwards. No judgment, just data. You can use dirty napkins to write it down, or a fancy journal. Don't matter, just write it. No need to analyze, or think about it after you write it. Simple, straightforward, just write it down. Anything we bring awareness to, we naturally and automatically start to change for the better. As long as we don't judge it and bring shame to this process. 4.) Eat more vegetables and low sugar fruits. If you are looking to let go of weight, strive for at least 50 percent of each meal being veg/fruit. The nutrients from these foods prevent cravings that come from malnourishment. The fiber helps you get full faster and keeps your digestion humming along nicely. These are some of the basic steps I took to let go of over 70 pounds in just a few months. I had an aunt that also let go of a lot of weight during the same time. She worked REALLY hard...exercising daily, for an hour or more, eating special foods. I respect her immensely. I felt guilty sometimes that I was doing less and having similar results. You're welcome to chime in here, in the comments, and share about your amazing transformation, if you'd like @Bev Elton :)

Did she just say that?! Oh YES she did! If you’ve been in this group for any length of time, you know that I’m a huge proponent of intermittent fasting. It’s helped me to release over 70 pounds and to feel healthier than I have in many years. And I love supporting interested folks in finding their own rhythm with intermittent fasting. Yet, I do have to be brutally honest with you all, and with myself….intermittent fasting can absolutely make you lazy. If done mindfully, it can work so well for releasing weight that we feel less motivated to do things like focused exercise and strength training sessions. But those things are important too! In my case, I didn’t feel that I needed much exercise because I move around our ranch every day. But, the moving I do daily is task-oriented. There’s something different about just moving for the sake of moving, whether it be yoga, dancing, biking, lifting weights, or something else. Exercise is so helpful for our mental health and wellbeing. It balances the stress hormone cortisol, boosts our immune system, and can bring so much joy to our lives. The good news is…we can do both exercise and intermittent fasting! I had to ease into exercise with the 10 Day, 10 Minute Challenge since thinking about adding 5 one hour sessions of exercise per week just felt overwhelming. Now, I move daily and it feels great! The 10 Day Challenge can be a really great way to ease into new habits you want to bring into your life without overwhelming yourself. What’s your favorite way to exercise, fellow Thriver?

I was walking with my Undefined today and we stopped to talk and he brought up a topic that made my mind race. It took me to all sorts of places in my mind. The topic seemed innocuous so I was shocked when I suddenly felt lightheaded, weak, almost faint and in sudden need of food. Having been working on my types of Hunger the last few weeks I knew that it couldn't be genuine Energy Hunger because, although I was fasting, I had just tested my blood sugar and ketones and they were normal and really good. There was no way it was real hunger. I started tapping just to see if it helped and it did. I paid close attention to my body and mind and what they were telling me about the experience and I realized some powerful differences between that experience and what I had described in each of my 6 Hunger Types. I was a bit concerned but mostly just curious. What IF this was something new and not part of the others I had identified already. I came home and read my guide, discussed the differences with my Undefined and AI. Did a lot of reading and writing on the topic and realized that there were two more types that were becoming more clear. They weren't clear yet but I saw how they were different and distinct and I have updated my Hunger Types Guide to include all 8. If you saw my original post it had 6 types, now there are 8. I edited it to be more accurate. Because of the changes I have been making, let me know if you are interested and I can email it to you. I am creating a course to help people who struggle with eating when not really hungry to identify WHY they want to eat and what to do instead. There are several different ways to address them and I think there are important distinctions. I like to use car analogies when counseling my clients who struggle with addiction and one that I use a lot is about what to do when the oil light comes on in your car. If you pull over and get gas, the light won't go off. If you put air in the tires, it won't go off. If you get it painted or get new tail lights, the light won't go off. Hunger is the same way. If you have a hunger for connection, pleasure, safety, and you eat, the hunger won't go away.