Amanda of Eat Like a BearTM talks often about building evidence, in fact she made it one of the primary tenets of the Engage! group (see sidebar for info on that group).
I want to talk a little about exactly WHAT we are building evidence for today.
First, I don’t mean evidence in terms of what the scale says or even the NSVs. Those are the results, the consequences of our behavior. When I’ve heard Amanda discuss this, I think she means building evidence of who we are.
For example, I have lots of evidence that I am not the sort of person who enjoys liver. I have lots of years of evidence of that, going back to childhood. In fact, I have so much evidence that I just don’t need any more – I’m certain of this fact about me, having tried all the tricks and tips suggested and scores of recipes. I don’t need any more evidence that I am not a liver-eater.
I’ve been at this ELAB thing quite a while now, so I have evidence of my bearhood – that I eat keto, all the time, even when I “cheat.” I’ve over two years of evidence that I don’t eat bread, potatoes, rice or other starchy foods and even longer evidence that I don’t eat sugar. It’s not as firm as the evidence that I don’t like liver, cause that goes back to childhood, but it’s pretty strong evidence nonetheless, in that I don’t consider those “foods” to be Jackie food at all.
I have significantly less evidence that I don’t eat outside my designated eating window. I definitly need to work on that.
See, the problem is, it’s too easy to convince myself cause I had a bad day or whatever that I “deserve” a snack. I don’t *know* that I’m the type of bear that doesn’t eat outside her window. I don’t have enough evidence yet.
And the only way I’ll know that, ever, is by *doing* it and thus building evidence.
We’re all building evidence of *something*.
I want to build evidence that I am the kind of bear that is growing fitter, stronger and healthier. For me at this time, this means sticking to my window and my chosen exercise routine (Simple Six + hiking).
What does it mean for you to build evidence?
Thank you for discussing this. I was always a bit unsure of what Amanda was referring to as evidence. Your perspective on it rings true for me. I guess it’s time to sit down and get clear on what evidence towards a healthy lifestyle I’m trying to build up and to acknowledge what is already there.