Monday, November 6, 2023

How often should one be hungry?

Last week I continued to increase my fruits and vegetables. Of note were bananas, blueberries, broccoli, and pumpkin soup. I couldn’t decide on any one soup recipe so after googling common ingredients, I ad-libbed my own. I used a relatively low amount of coconut milk and no other dairy or fatty ingredients to make it creamy and thick. It was delicious and I had a ton of it for and with meals. Despite this, my weight loss was pretty minimal. I cut out all desserts (except occasional low-fat popcorn) and we didn’t eat out at all. Kept up my exercising, though admittedly I “should” do more.

They say if you’re on track, losing 1-2% of your total body weight a week is a good goal. When most people start out, they generally lose a little more the first couple weeks, which can kick-start motivation. I'm jealous. Like yeah, I’m on the right track. Even though I can’t expect a huge loss every week, this is a nice boost to keep going. 1 percent is .01. I lost .001 or a tenth of 1%. Yay. I’m sitting here half hungry most of the time while my spouse scarfs down aromatic junk food and multiple desserts, wondering when this is going to kick in.

That’s the other eye-rolling item. Years ago on one of the several WW programs I participated in, they had their hunger levels and dicated that one should be “a bit hungry” most of the time. Seriously? Most of the time you’re walking around hungry and not allowed to do anything but think about food? Yeah, that’s gonna end well. I’m currently on this idea of eating lunch & dinner since I’m not starving when I wake up. The idea is you shouldn’t eat unless you’re actually hungry. So today for lunch I ate celery, blueberries, and a cup of low-ish calorie popcorn. The rest of the afternoon I drink as much water as possible bemoaning that it’s normal to be “a bit hungry” most of the time, especially since I’m not hungry enough for a big meal (again, from the people who brough us don’t eat breakfast unless you’re hungry for a big meal). Yeah, I feel “a bit” deprived and irritated because I’m not losing much. Oh well. Just had to whine a little.

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