Losing weight--it's been about a year since I was in that mode. And yes it's a different mode for me than staying with constant weight.
In my last post I wrote about dealing with the sensation of hunger. Yes it's a reality and probably the biggest reason why many people don't get serious about losing weight. But let's face it--it's a reality. You can either be afraid of it and stay heavier than you want to be or you can learn to get comfortable with it.
Me, I'd rather get comfortable with the sensation. Of course it's helpful for me to understand why the sensation is there. It is not "hunger" as I was led to believe as a youngster. In fact it could take as long as six weeks of complete absence of food before I'd be experiencing "hunger." Don't believe me, ask anyone who has been on a diet for longer than a couple days and they will tell you that there is no longer any feeling--not that I'm recommending fasting. But then there's nothing wrong with fasting for a couple days like over a week-end. Many say it's great because it gives the liver a break so it can detoxify.
Back to the feeling, what is it? When you consume fewer calories than your body needs to maintain it's body weight, your liver has to change its way of operating and get calories from stored fat cells. But rather than simply doing this, the liver creates a sensation that mislabled as hunger. I use an analogy of a squirrel storing away his nuts for winter and then when winter comes the squirrel has to take them out of storage, but before your liver (the squirrel) changes its way of operating, he questions you with this sensation--after all he can't speak.
So it's your liver's way of asking, "Do you know what you are doing? You've had me storing these calories away for years and now I have to go to the storage unit and take them out. Are you sure this is what you want me to do? Are you sane?"
It's my job to recognize this and say to myself, "yes, this is what I want--totally what I want." And as a result of it get excited about feeling that sensation because there's only one thing that's happening and that is those fat cells are being used.
Now as my blood sugar changes over from calorie supplied blood sugar to fat supplied blood sugar I might experience some nervousness for a few moments. So it might be helpful to avoid challenging my brain with a lot of thinking chores and instead take a break from doing stressful chores for a half hour or so.
The amazing thing is that I can get comfortable feeling the sensation and then much to my amazement it disappears. And this gets easier everyday. I'm down 5 pounds this week and have another ten to go.
What does this have to do with emotional eating? Not much. This is all about a shift in my attitude. Emotions come into place and tempt me to satisfy my squirrel and it's my job to take them straight.
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