I have been thinking a lot about what it means to feel hungry. I am not sure if I know that feeling. I try to stay on top of my hunger with healthy snacks so I am not tempted to over eat. I definitely know what it feels like to be stuffed or full. I used to feel that way all the time. In the last year I have used different strategies to avoid over eating. Now I absolutely hate that stuffed feeling and I try to avoid it, but every once in a while it happens.

Today I am going to pay close attention to my hunger cues. I am going to really listen to my body. This isn’t about starving myself or depriving myself of food. It’s about getting in touch with what my body is asking for as opposed to what I think it should have.

I worked last night and went straight to the gym after work. I did 60 minutes on the arc trainer and a brief 10 minute lower body strength training work out. I got home around 9. For breakfast I had:

• 1 cup of plain nonfat yogurt
• 1/3 cup of pumpkin
• 1 small banana
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tbsp all natural peanut butter
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp craisins

I felt very satisfied after eating breakfast. In fact it is noon and I am still feeling satisfied. What prompted this post is that I just made my son’s lunch. As I was making his grilled cheese I almost tore off half a slice of cheese for me. Then I stopped and was instantly aware of how my stomach was feeling. I wasn’t hungry at all. Just taking that second to think made me realize that I definitely didn’t want a piece of cheese or anything else for that matter.

I know that my grazing typically starts when I am preparing Carlos’ lunch and it can last throughout the afternoon although it has improved greatly in recent months. I usually eat breakfast a little later than my son most days, but often eat lunch at the same time or as I just mentioned, start snacking. I doubt that I am even hungry most of the time.

I’ve seen a lot written lately about intuitive eating. I am finding that my weight loss journey is as much about losing actual pounds as it is about learning when and why I eat what I eat. I didn’t become overweight over night. I developed unhealthy habits over time and now I am trying to not only break bad habits but also develop new healthy habits that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I think that this mentality is integral to weight loss and maintenance.

My son is finished with his grilled cheese, banana and Triscuits and I have not had one nibble. I will be updating this post throughout the day to document my progress.

1:10pm – I just put Carlos down for a nap. I feel like a small lunch so I am having a small bowl of minestrone soup that I made the other day.

1:50 – Dang the soup was good but I felt a little munchy after that. I just had about 10 Triscuits and a piece of cheddar cheese. I am done for a while. I feel good, not stuffed.

2:15 – 4 mini meringue cookies just because I wanted something sweet

3:30 – We are leaving in 5 minutes to go see Hop. After the meringues I went upstairs to shower and get ready. I came down at 3:15 and immediately looked in the cabinet. I am not hungry. I think I did that merely out of habit. Instead of acting on instinct I grabbed the vacuum and vacuumed the front porch, washed the front and back storm door windows and cleaned the sink. And now it is time to go! I feel good about not grabbing a mindless snack. Now if I can just withstand movie snacks.  I’ll be back to let you know.

9:00pm – We went to see Hop this afternoon and while my eating habits have certainly changed I could not resist the temptation of popcorn. I got Carlos popcorn without the addition of more butter. Fortunately he doesn’t know the difference. I helped myself to about 3 handfuls and then he told me that it was his! My friend also made little snack bags for the kids with pretzels, gold fish and M&Ms.  Since Carlos was so engrossed in his popcorn I picked out the M&Ms. There were only about 20.

I made homemade pizza for dinner with sauce, light cheese, peppers and onions. I had 3 slices which was less than half of the pizza. The slices were not very big. That was it for the day. I went to bed early since I had worked the night before.

Thoughts: I definitely don’t always think before I eat. I do eat sometimes when I’m not hungry.  In the past I would have had my own popcorn at the movies and I probably would have eaten much more pizza. I have a long way to go, but there have been many positive changes and for that I will give myself some credit.