So I have been thinking, about what it takes to lose weight, and how everyone and anybody will tell you how to do it. Eat more carbs, eat less carbs, Eat no carbs, avoid sugar, watch your fat intake, count calories....
But really it comes down to one really simple fact, to lose weight, you need to learn to be comfortable with being hungry. Yep that simple, sounds easy right?
I know I know, you might want to punch me or just laugh and mock me. But think about it, it really doesn't matter what you eat, but how much you eat, you can eat 1300 calories of sweets in a day and as long as you burn more calories than that you will lose weight, you can also eat 3000 calories of fruits and veggies and if you burn less than that in a day, you will gain weight, and a number of trips to the bathroom as well.
So bottom line it is watching how much of what you eat that really matters and to do that, you need to learn to feel hungry and to be comfortable with it. Really comfortable with it, and to do that, it isn't trips to your fridge, but trips through your emotions, and thoughts and triggers. That is the hard part.
Hunger can be for more than just food, it can be for control, or love, peace, or comfort. Lots of reasons, enough for every one trying to lose weight. And that is really what makes it so hard, most don't want to feel that pain, that hole inside of them, so regardless of how much food they eat, it doesn't do what they want, so you will eat more, and more, because food really doesn't replace that Hunger for love, comfort or control, never, not even chocolate! Because that is not what food is about. Food is about fuel for your body, sure it may sometimes be pleasurable, but you body doesn't sort out food for pleasure and food for fuel and burn it differently, and not store it as fat, because the food was so fun to eat. It will process your food the same way regardless for the reason to eat it. If only, it would be so nice, I would eat everything I enjoyed and love it, because I wouldn't weigh what I weigh now. But no life isn't that easy, never is.
So once a person can be comfortable with feeling hungry, feeling that emptiness, the deep wide hole inside not being stuffed with crap and junk, or lots of peaches, a person can then work on that hunger and move past food as a way to satisfy it.
Because really food is fuel, not love, not comfort, not control.
So what are you hungry for?
I eat for comfort all the time. It's usually a chocolate snack during naptime - something that I eat that's JUST FOR ME and it makes me simultaneously feel like I'm doing something for myself. I'm trying to teach Ariana that "it's ok to be hungry" sometimes, I know, I know, she's young, but when she asks for food an hour before lunch I just try to distract her until it's actually time to eat. I think learning to deal with hunger is an important thing to learn so thanks for making me feel validated even though our end points are different.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think that is important also, I try that with my boys, they ask for food non stop. but if you work with her about truly being hungry, it will help in the long run to not associate food with emotions, which sucks.
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