Eating to Hunger

I've had another good week, down another 3 pounds since the last time I weighed in. I keep waiting to hit that brick wall, but am remaining optomistic. I am continuing to eat to hunger, which means I only eat when I am hungry and only until I have had enough.

Once you learn to recognize when your body is actually hungry and to recognize when you have had enough . . . it is really easy to do.

I know when I am hungry because I get a gnawing feeling in my stomache . . . I start to think about food and my tummy starts to growl. It is not because I am bored, or because I am anxious. It is because I am genuinely hungry. That is when I know it is time to have something to eat.

It's not good to wait until I am ravenous though . . . those are the times when I am more than likely to over do it, and so I try very hard to never let myself get that hungry. Being ravenous is almost actually painful. It's not a good thing.

When I am eating, I concentrate on my food and I enjoy every mouthful. I eat slowly and consciously. I am aware of every spoon or fork ful and they are all delightful to me. I know I have had enough when what I am eating starts to lose it's appeal. I know that if I eat much more than that I will begin to feel uncomfortable and that's also not a good thing.

For years and years I never knew what it was to feel these two things. I was almost always hungry and never, ever full.

I cannot imagine ever being like that again. That IS a good thing!