The cold weather is making me hungry!!!

Hubby is venting his stress at house-buying in my direction, so I'm giving him space. And had cake for breakfast. And am sitting here trying not to eat apple crisp just because it's there...I keep telling myself it won't taste as great as it is if I'm not hungry, my body won't be so pleased with it if I am not hungry, and I can absolutely have it later when I am hungry. So far, this line of thought is working. But I make no promises!!

I'm also a bit dismayed that I've noticed I have gained a few pounds (from the fit of my clothing). I'm trying to just grit my teeth and keep going, keep eating when I'm hungry, keep stopping when I should. There's half a thought in my brain about "metabolically active tissue" that doesn't want to solidify yet. I think it would help me figure out the whole "your body will find its natural weight" thing, but until it takes shape I won't know for sure.

So yeah. Staying out of the apple crisp. Trying to buy a house and not strangle my husband in the process. Trying to stay calm about a small gain. That's where I am.

Maybe you could get the Intuitive Eating CD by Tribole and Resch from the library and get a little boost, Sidhe.

Hmm, have the book...I'll have to see if I can grab the CD...thanks!

Hi Ladies,

Haven't been here in a while. Just wanted to check in and say I'm still here and I think of all of you everyday. Still doing IE, but not losing. Just seem to hang around the same numbers bouncing back and forth. I figure if I keep at it that something has to give some time. I don't get hungry like I did so that is a plus. Started adding exercise. Hurts my back and hip, but I'm doing it very easy so hopefully that will help get things going.

Hope everyone is doing well.
Have a great evening.

Hi Trish. Great to see you. Strange thing happened to me. I have a temporary aversion to candy.

Hello Sidhe, Trish, and Carol,
How is everyone today? So, I've had 2 days of splurging and I'm trying to get a grip on myself. Carol, that's funny you said that. I gave away my salt water taffy this morning to my son's class. I ate 4 pieces in a row yesterday and then I felt sick. Not good. I figured I didn't need it if it was going to make me sick. I guess it's just too much sugar for me.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Hi Everyone,

Carolr & CandEs I've gone through that too. Just realized that maybe it has something to do with October being the "candy" month. Remember all that junk we got on Halloween night as kids?

I've just done some research for DH because he has not been feeling well and the doctors can't find out what the problem is. Years ago I was told that I shouldn't eat anything with gluten. Not much was known about it back then and it seemed like to much work to fool with so I more or less forgot about it. I thought of it after seeing Hasselback talking about it on tv. So decided to research it and found a place where you could take a test. I don't have Celiac, but I am gluten intolerant. Read the symptoms and so much makes sense to me now of how I have felt over the years and why lowcarb eating has worked for me in the past. Lowcarb probably helped because I wasn't eating any grains so no gluten intake. So while I still intend to do everything with IE guidelines, I will use the non-gluten foods when doing it.

Blue, Julie, Sidhe and everyone else

Have great evening Everyone.

Hi, Trish,

They make a lot of gluten free products nowadays, but I've heard it is really hard to get rid of them entirely. I think Hasselbeck has a book out now that talks about it. Maybe it could work for you.

Good afternoon, all.

I have decided to pay really close attention, and thus have pulled out my journal! I'm writing the time, some sort of blurb about my emotional state, and then if I chose to eat something. Then I'm also writing how I feel after I eat, physically and emotionally. I figure, if I never learned when to stop eating, I've got to pay attention for awhile and see if I can learn it now. For example,this is what I have for today so far:

"8:15: Tired. Kinda groggy. Not really hungry, but hollow. Will have tea + milk + sugar.
9:00--Had a whole pot with 7 sugars and about 4/5 of a creamer of milk. Tummy feels sloshy--kinda queasy.
10:00--Krak [a local coffee shop]. Bought chocolate macaroons. Not hungry so I didn't eat them, but wanted to have them.
11:00--Looking at houses with April. Still a bit sloshy, but more toward hollow now.
12:30--I WANT to feel hungry. Still feel hollow. Is that a precursor of hungry, or is that how my body does hungry?
1:15--Did some grocery shopping, now headed home. No growling but I'm intensely aware of food and my stomach right now. Tummy hurts.
2:00--Ate a cucumber sandwich and a drink. Tummy still hurts but maybe not as much."

I plan to just take little notes like this and see what consistencies and awarenesses I can build. I was very interested by the fact that when I was driving home from seeing houses (12:30) I was thinking that I would go to Souplantation for lunch. I started to ask myself if I was hungry, started to tell myself that I could eat whatever I wanted, all that sort of patter. I wasn't terribly hungry (I didn't think--like I said, I'm learning!) and decided I would pick up some groceries that we needed and then see if I was more hungry later.

I was reviewing the groceries we needed in my head and the thought of a cucumber sandwich popped to mind, and suddenly THAT was what I wanted. A lot. I tried a bit to steer myself back toward Souplantation (I'll admit that part of me was thinking, "there's more food there!!") but really I wanted a cucumber sandwich. So I went to the store, got what I needed, came home and ate my sandwich. I was perfectly content, too. Hmm.

I will also admit that all of the education I have in the direction of "healthy eating" and "fitness eating" and such things is going nuts in my head. Thoughts are bouncing around like caffeinated monkeys on trampolines! I've only had tea with sugar and milk and a cucumber sandwich today. How many hours have I been up? How big is my body? How many calories do I need? How long has it been between meals (such as they are)? What about vegetables? Protein? Am I eating enough? I'm trying to ignore it all and make decisions based entirely off of what my body is telling me.

We'll see where it goes!

Hope everyone else is doing wonderfully today, hope you all check in!

Trish--I'm also not a celiac (my father in law is), but I definitely notice that wheat products affect me. They say it's becoming more common, and some experts have blamed it on the presence of processed foods in our diets (so the body 'forgets' how to digest them, and doesn't make the right enzymes in the right amounts). I don't know about that part, all I know is I feel better with less processed foods.

Because it's becoming so much more common, though, you have a lot of options for gluten-free foods. I don't know if you live near a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's, but they both have lots of gluten free products (my father in law goes nuts when they visit from England). It's become so common that our local grocery stores even have gluten-free Betty Crocker cake and brownie mixes!

Good luck!

Hi, Sidhe,

I understand the hollow feeling you're talking about. I have that feeling often, and I think it is actual hunger. For me, it feels almost beyond normal hunger and into starvation. I'm not sure if that is what is happening with you or not, but that is the way it makes me feel. Good idea about the emotional journal. I was thinking of trying that, too. Today, I feel as if I'm back on track. I have been examining my calories at the end of each day to get an idea of how much I've been eating.
2 days ago -- 1500 cal
yesterday -- 2000 cal
today -- 1700 cal

Hmm.... Well, I don't know what to think of that so I will let it go. Night all!

I think they even have gluten free at Walmart. Here's a question for you all. Sometimes I go to bed a little hungry and wake in the night really hungry. Too tired to get up and eat, I am amazed in the morning I'm not hungry! What is that? Also I had to eat right away today because we are going to my son's to help him with his house. Didn't feel really hungry early on.

Carol,
I don't know what is up with that, but it has happened to me, too.

So far, I'm doing better today. Did not finish my breakfast because I was full. I'm resolving my "eat it because it's there" problems by giving my leftovers to the dogs. At least this way I don't feel it's going to waste.

How is everyone today? I didn't have cream for my coffee, so I used milk. Yuck! Oh, well, I know it's just a petty thing. Hope everyone has a great day!

Carol--I very rarely eat in the middle of the night. Or even in the evening, really. My body seems to stop with dinner. I usually wake up hungry, though. Do you possibly wake up with a different kind of hunger signal? Maybe...I don't know...how do you feel when you wake up? Do you bounce out of bed, or drag yourself out?

CandEs--How brave of you to count calories! Just the idea makes me feel hysterical and examined and HUGELY stressed, like I'm failing everything and can never, ever redeem myself. I would guess that your approach to notice but just let it go is a good one.

An idea I had about not wanting to "waste" leftovers is to take a really small amount in the first place. Like, half a serving. I consciously tell myself that I can have more if I'm still hungry, or I can eat later if I'm still hungry, or I can eat whenever my body needs to, or...well, there's lots of little things I tell myself, but they all essentially boil down to "you can have any food the next time you want it." I'm astonished at how quickly I get full! You always hear about how your stomach is about the size of your fist, and I have actually held a human stomach in my hands. And it STILL blows my mind how little I can eat and stop getting the "feed me" signals!

I finally got hungry, growling-stomach hungry, around 7:30 last night. My body told me I really wanted protein, too, which was startling. (Seriously--I'm not used to craving chicken!!) My husband wanted mexican food, so we stopped at Rubio's. I got a Health Mex chicken burrito and ate half of it. Put it down, walked away, decided I was still hungry half an hour later, and ate the other half. Then I was content. I am still updating my journal today. I only drank half my tea this morning, and the sloshy feeling was not there. Duh. Now to just deal with the caffeine issue...

Off this morning to look at more houses. A house we really liked but lost to an all-cash offer is back on the market, so fingers crossed!

Have a good day, everyone, I'll check back later.