Cloudy damp morning "A lesson from my experience”

Woke up to a cloudy sky and a very light rain. Yesterday was a welcome rest from the day before. The only real thing we did was go to a meeting about the POA election that we are going to help with the counting. My weight is up a little this morning and I believe it is due to the few chips that I ate late last night. While I am trying to lose some weight I refuse to allow myself to be deprived of food that I love. I am learning to manage what I eat and to control the amount that I eat. I also have my budget set lower that I really have to have it set. I do this so I do have the room if needed to as most of you say cheat. For me I am teaching myself to eat intuitively. All eating intuitively means is to eat the way we did when we were kids and we stopped eating and left food on our plates, yes if you are like me your mom and dad did tell you to clean your plate. My mom did not push me to eat more than I wanted and did allow me to leave food on my plate as long as dad was not at home. I cannot remember many times my dad was not at home for our evening meal, and my mom would put less on my plate and tell me if I wanted more to serve myself. That was her way of letting me eat the amount I wanted. As most of the kids my age back at that time I was a tall and skinny kid. I was allowed to eat anytime I felt the need to eat. But I was also a very busy kid working on the farm and orchard, and also after the age of 16 I worked in a country town grocery store. I was also busy with the FFA, and other school activities such as basketball, baseball and track. I was never really good at sports, and I believe it was due to not having the time to really commit myself to sports. It was a different time back then sports was just another class at school, it was not extra credit it was required. It was a very small school so everyone did their part so we could have sports. 

So why is intuitive eating so important? If you are really into eating for your body’s needs you eat to fulfill the body’s needs. You eat to fuel your body. You do not really eat to entertain yourself. Food is for survival first and for entertainment last. I am finding it easier that I expected to get back to eating for my body’s fuel. And in doing so I am finding that my body needs more than I was giving it at times. And I am finding that my body needs food that I was refusing to allow it to have. I am also finding that with the different seasons my body needs different foods. Intuitive eating is all about listening to your body and understanding when your stomach is full enough. It is reading the little messages that are telling you that you are becoming hungry and to eat a small snack or meal before you are starving. When you are overly hungry is when you binge. You also binge when your body is demanding some nutrition that you are depriving your body of. I found that most of time my body felt deprived of carbs. You see carbs are very important to your well being and nutrition. And your body’s real fuel for being active is carbs. Proteins are for rebuilding your muscles. And fats believe it or not are needed to help prevent your body from storing fat on your body. 

The key is to eat slow so you know when you have had just enough food to satisfy your needs. And also to listen to your body to read the messages that you need something to fuel yourself during the day between meals. 

Now I am going to add this because this is very important. Even with intuitive eating it is still about “Calories in and Calories Out” But if you are really good at intuitive eating you know how to balance the calories. I have to say I am not there yet. I am working on it. I am also very much a person of habit and logging on loseit is a habit that I am not ready to break and may never break.