Listening to my body

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jovigal1959
jovigal1959 Posts: 26
in Health and Weight Loss
Good morning!

I once had a wise nutritionist tell me "listen to your body" for food consumption, reiterating that our bodies are very wise in what it needs.

Okay, I know the program: Eat every few hours, 300-400 calories, natural, good stuff.

Well, I had fallen into the 'skip breakfast, handful of Hershey Kisses for lunch, pick at bread and cheese for dinner.' First of all, I had low energy....secondly, I felt terribly bloated.

I gave myself a break from the guilt and said: 'Okay..let's start again, and listen to my body and see what I can do.'

This seems to be working.

I start my day off with my green powder, called "ProGreens," in water. I drink that in the car on my way to work. Once I get to work, I have a handful of mixed nuts (From Trader Joe's, already counted out, 280 calories). Around 10:00, I will get a few hardboiled eggs, or PLAIN oatmeal (no sugar added). Then I will go for a nice salad a few hours later, then fruit a few hours later, then my workout, then some protein after the workout.

Guess what? No more sugar cravings (and it is donut day at work!).

I am far from perfect, and part of my problem (throughout the years) is I just don't "like" food. I adore chocolate...but have never been in love with food. I have to force myself to eat....So, I have made a truce with my body and have asked it to TELL me what to eat...and it is working!

I just thought I would share!

Replies

  • emilyfh
    emilyfh Posts: 291 Member
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    Good for you, what ever is working use it as your tool. :smile:
  • ambercole
    ambercole Posts: 426
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    I tried that aproach a couple of times but it did not work for me. Everyone in my entire family and I mean EVERYONE (both mom and dads side) are extremely heavy. When I "listen to my body" for support I always end up gaining. I think that my body thinks that it is supposed to be heavier than It should be. 140lbs is a healthy weight for my height but my body thinks that my "comfort zone" is around 180. That is where I always level out. To stay anywhere under that I have to fight tooth and nail everyday and my body is always hungry regardless of how healthy I eat, how many times I eat a day, how much I excercise, ect......
  • kamsue101
    kamsue101 Posts: 33 Member
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    I think I have finally figured out how my body works. My body can not handle sugar. When I eat sugar, my body burns that for energy and nothing else. Then, when there is no sugar, it goes into starvation mode. It starts to store everything, my metabolism slows, I have no energy and I feel awful. If I am eating plenty of carbs, the body realizes after a few days that it can change the carbs to sugar and use them for energy. Pretty soon, there is a backup of carb-sugar. So my body says lets just change all this to fat and we can save it till later. I get fatter, feel sluggish, and have no energy for exercise.

    When I stop eating sugar and cut way back on carbs, after about 5 days, my body realized it needs to find another source for energy. It looks around and sees all the fat and says, hey, this isn't that bad. We can live on this and use it for energy. There is plenty of it. So my body changes over to a fat burning machine. I just can't eat the sugar. When the body gets sugar, whole thing starts over again.

    I now realize that my metabolism can not handle sugar and I have to learn to live with that. I feel so much better when it is out of my system. A fancy desert is not worth it and an occasional sugar-free item is easy to find. The new sugar free candies out there are really good. I think I can live with this and I am on my way to the best body ever.

    I'm sure everyone's body works differently but I'm glad to have finally figured out what works for me. Good luck to everyone on figuring out what works for them and hopeing it is something they can live a long and healthy life with.

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