Body Signals

The talk lately about hunger signals and eating has been rather interesting...at least a few of the comments made me realize I have new readers and some others made me realize I’ve probably never talked much about my path to reach a healthier lifestyle.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Once upon a time, there was a young, slightly chubby girl, who spent many hours repeating the refrain “I’m fat”. She had an entire special wail and the perfect little lip pout to go with the refrain, which when applied appropriately would receive a resounding “You aren’t fat!”

Eventually, this process began to bore the chubby girl. She was ready to be more confident, to wear a bikini, to stop saying those awful words which NO ONE wanted to hear. So she embarked upon losing weight…first there was the fat-free eating plan, which at least was combined with calorie counting for an absurd, but thoughtful approach to shedding a few pounds. This resulted in too many slices of fat-free cheese which tasted like day old plastic and handfuls of candy that were eaten in secret to avoid feeling like she was “cheating.”

As the fat-free wore off (for fear of products like oleo that caused ummm issues), she started a new path…no, no not the low carb, no no not the Hollywood Cookie Diet…just the calorie counting, paying attention to food in general diet. However, there was a fear of fruits having too much sugar and no real consideration for adding vegetables. This allowed her to lose some weight…but really the refrain of “I’m fat” remained. It seemed so impossible to be losing weight and still having those thoughts

WHEN VEGETABLES ARRIVED
One day, an idea occurred to the no longer all that chubby girl that maybe focusing on what she SHOULD eat rather than what not to eat. Instantly, her out looked changed and food fear abated. The process began slowly with the vegetables she knew so well…carrots…broccoli…but then came the farmers market. The colors were so brilliant, the prices so cheap and the atmosphere so exciting. After finding her way home with too many bags of veggies it was time to embark upon an adventure in cooking…something she previously considered a punishment.

BODY SIGNALS
Amazingly after eating fruits and veggies for awhile, the need to say I’m fat completely disappeared. Her size and weight may or may not have changed, but it really didn’t matter. The feeling of health and beauty grew stronger with each delicious, healthy choice that she made.

During all of this, hunger signals were never the main driving force for food. Unfortunately, she will never be a eat solely for fuel kind of person…she enjoys it for the texture, the feelings and damn it for the chocolate. Hunger fueled choices were the mainstay of any day, but often accompanied by joy and pain and boredom. The guilt over emotional eating has subsided with the healthier choices because now her body doesn’t want to feel stuffed or greasy….so an emotional bowl of peanut butter and high fiber cereal is less detrimental to her overall life.

The morale of the story is that there may be no perfect meal plan, other than the one which allows you to feel your best.
THE END….
All right, it’s clearly not the end because I continue to embark on better eating every day with every choice I make…but I’m very happy with where I am now. And I will actually post more on my weight loss story later because I said I would and because I know we are all at different places in the baby steps to a healthier life, so who knows something in it might trigger a new plan for you!

If you were writing your own health story…how would it go? Are you happy with the ending or do you need to keep writing?
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Gratitude Journal
Feb 04
I am grateful for gratitude journals
I am grateful for giveaways
I am grateful for running shorts
I am grateful for my spinach surviving the plane ride
I am grateful for massages