A little discomfort

Yesterday’s assignment talked about being uncomfortable.  Not wedgie-in-your-butt uncomfortable (though that ranks right up there!), but the discomfort that comes when you do something that’s new or unfamiliar.  You’re a little on edge, a touch anxious, a bit worried … you know what I’m talking about.

Now, for me this has taken a couple of different forms since I’ve started Lean Eating, but probably the most prevalent has been trying to teach myself to be okay with being hungry. Notice the hunger, but don’t react to it.  

I always bought into the raw science of calories in/calories out as a diet plan, but limiting calories had proven problematic for me.  So, I did the next best thing:  for a number of years I simply out-trained my bad eating. But once I stopped with the training, I had nothing going for me to negate my embarrassingly awful nutritional bad habits. Which brings me here — writing a daily blog about the results of those habits.

One of the side effects of my over-eating is that I’m not used to be hungry.  I just never allow it to happen.  I don’t *like* being hungry (who does?). It’s uncomfortable and a little disconcerting, to tell you the truth.  

But now I need to leave my proverbial comfort zone and start to become friends with hunger. If I know that I’ve eaten what I should and fueled myself appropriately, then I don’t need to automatically make the hunger go away. Instead I should welcome the hunger in, give it a nice pillow and blanket and invite it to stay awhile.  Understand that it’s not a bad thing — it’s only negative if I choose to see it that way — and what it really means is that my body is working properly and sending me the right signals to help me determine what it needs.

I make it sound easy, don’t I?  Of course, it isn’t (hunger isn’t always the best house guest, as I’m finding out). But if I intend to make any progress (and I do!), I’ll have to keep working at this. I’ve got to get to where that magic happens!