Continuing on thoughts from Transformational Weight Loss.
Last night at dinner I stopped in the middle of the meal to get a drink of water. While standing at the sink I asked myself "do I want to eat another serving?" I noticed that I was hunched over, and corrected my posture. Immediately the pressure in my stomache became uncomfortable. I realized that I was holding myself in a hunched position to avoid the discomfort of being so full, and to make it possible to eat a little more. I decided not to eat more at that time.
Later I made a quick run to Safeway for some essentials. We usually buy our groceries at a food coop, so the Safeway is always a bit of culture shock for me. It's enormous; there are so many cashiers; there is a lot of non-food things, like school suppies and motor oil.
There are also a ton of candy / desert / junk items, like soda, cookies, cakes, pies, chips, etc. Safeway's cakes look pretty good, and they kept catching my eye. I was tempted to buy one, but had some reservations. I want to reduce my body fat, and a cake probably makes that harder, but I'm trying to follow Eisenstein's rule of "eat what I want" instead of "eat what I think I'm supposed to eat". I was also afraid that if I brought it home, the kids would wolf it down, and I don't want them eating that junk. "Protecting" them by eating it in secret seemed like a really bad idea, just because eating in secret is a warning sign for me, and I didn't like the hipocrasy of giving a cake to myself but not to them.
I decided to follow my true desire, if I could hear it. I asked myself "what do I really want right now?" I tried imaging eating different things, etc., to see what message my body would send about my needs. I immediately had the answer: "I want my back to stop hurting". I stretched a little right there, went home, and took some ibuprofen. No cake.
I had been unaware of that back pain the whole time. Ignoring pain is something I've gotten good at, and I want that to change.
The pain is telling me something more than "take ibuprofen". It's saying something like "sitting that way is harmful" or "these muscles want to be stronger". Unfortunately I'm suffering from a long, slow chest cold right now, so there's not a whole lot I can do about it right now, but I'm keeping the message in mind until I feel better.
1 comment:
I totally feel what you are saying. Since September, I've been following only two rules for how I eat.
1) Don't eat after I'm full.
2) Don't eat after dinner.
The first one can be tough, because I like eating. But during a meal, I found I often was eating more simply because I liked eating, not because I was actually hungry for more of what I was eating.
The second one is really tough because I'm up late at night (often until 1-2am). Not eating at night definitely takes some discipline.
But it works. I started last September (2008) and just made those two changes. I have since lost over 40 pounds. Over 40 pounds in 6 months! I've had to buy tons of new clothes because nothing I've bought in the past ten years fits on me anymore. I have way more energy and my body just feels much healthier.
Now, keep in mind, I didn't change what I eat. I still eat like crap. I also didn't start other things like exercising. I definitely should be exercising, though. I may be healthier, but I know I need to be more fit.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. :)
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