July 3rd, 2014 The Hunger Dynamic
I enjoyed the morning off today. I slept late, had a good breakfast, got a haircut and went into work despite the day off and worked for a few hours. I had stuff I needed to get done. Strangely, I wasn't hungry for a midday snack. In fact, as a little experiment, I waited to eat until I was. I finally had a super late lunch at 6pm. My breakfast wasn't any thing big or unusual. Two eggs, one egg white topped with swiss, inside a Joseph's pita, an apple and a peach. It held me all day.
I bought a french fry cutter today. I received a discount on a heavy duty stainless steel model. I couldn't wait to try it out on my sweet potatoes. I tried and tried and I couldn't get it to cut the solid sweet potato. This is the only reason I bought it--specifically for sweet potato fries! I ended up cutting them by hand, baking up a batch for my late lunch.
My evening was fantastic! I made it to the Y for a great elliptical workout followed by a very nice visit with my grandson Noah. He started walking yesterday! I couldn't wait to see him walk in person. It's just about the cutest thing I think I've ever witnessed!
Noah turns one year old on Sunday. We're having a big party at Irene's house with a bunch of family coming. I'll be driving to Stillwater to pick up mom and bring her back for the party. She'll stay with me Sunday night and Monday it'll be "take mom to work" day. The "Sean In The Morning Show" will become "The Sean and Mom in the morning show." That is, if I can get her to relax and visit with me on-air. She gets shy sometimes. She has a wonderful "radio voice." Her voice sounds incredibly young. If you want to listen in LIVE, I'll post the link in Sunday night's blog.
Continuing my little, only eat when I'm hungry experiment--yeah...midnight...I had a midnight dinner. That's crazy!! I kept it super simple too. I had a few bean and cheese crispy tacos topped with light sour cream. I'll be honest with you, I almost opted for a few fast food tacos. It would have been my first fast food in over 70 days. When I thought about it a little more, I decided I didn't want to break the streak...but I also didn't feel like cooking. Driving by Taco Bell and seeing the drive through ten cars deep was enough to push me in the direction I was leaning anyway. I decided to cook--but as described above--very simple, fast, tasty and calorie dense to get close to my budget's end. I still left over 100 calories on the table.
The experiment was interesting. I'm not sure what to think about it, really. If I only eat when I'm hungry, I may not eat enough on a regular day--when I have to get up early the next. For the 2nd consecutive day, I get to sleep as late as I desire tomorrow morning. This means the calorie management issue might be like it was today.
Do you stick to eating on a relatively set schedule or do you wait until you're legitimately hungry?
If you've experienced this "I'm just not hungry" issue, please leave your answer and opinion in the comments. I'd love to read how you handle this lack of physical hunger dynamic.
Thank you for reading,
Strength,
Sean
I try to eat my planned snacks even when I'm not hungry, because otherwise hunger can hit me suddenly and I've been known to make some bad choices. I think being insulin resistant might have an influence, my blood sugar can drop leaving me weak, dizzy and irritable.
ReplyDeleteI too have been choosing to only eat when hungry, in an attempt to get a handle on emotional eating- before I go to make something I have to evaluate my motives. It's been interesting I haven't been concentrating too heavily on the calorie counts ( as evidenced in my fitness pal as of late- or the health level of the foods, even made a box of Mac n cheese earlier this month so not even sure of the
ReplyDeleteThis wouldn't work for me. My 'hungry button' doesn't work so good. If I get too hungry, I might want to overeat, that's my pattern.
ReplyDeleteI've learned that many small meals is better for our metabolism than to stretch it out. The body will start to store calories to protect itself from me. Might be interesting to see how this works out, if you do it for an entire weigh-in period, Sean.
I think you're doing a great thing. I know there are a lot of people who are sure that if they don't stick to a super regulated diet they will eat themselves into the grave. I find it sad. There's not a single infant on the face of the earth who overeats. Babies know exactly when to eat, how much to eat and when to stop. Dieting often leads to our actually "training" ourselves to totally lose contact with our innate ability to self-regulate. Of course, life and crazy schedules don't help either. Sometimes we have to eat earlier than we want to, just to avoid getting into a situation where we're truly hungry but can't eat.
ReplyDeleteNow, this being said, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. If someone is deeply against (and in fact afraid of) listening to their own hunger signals, no one will be able to convince them otherwise.
Congratulations on having the courage and ultimately the faith in your ability to re-connect with the skill you had as a baby! You're doing amazingly well and you're a real role model for so many people.
I have the exact opposite issue. I get hungry far too often and it isn't a light hunger. It is a legit and urgent hunger. I have considered going to the doctor to ask about it.
ReplyDelete