new direction, new start, new hope

Several things have been helpful about this diet. I am drinking more water. I am learning how much I eat mindlessly - not because I'm hungry but because it's there or I'm bored or I'm stressed. But this Take Shape for Life diet is teaching me to be more aware of my hunger. It has made me more conscious of eating because of inside cues (my body telling me I'm hungry) rather than outside cues (finishing food off kid's plates, watching TV, my husband is eating, what the clock says, etc). Tonight for my lean and green meal, I ate half of it and started to feel full. And I wanted to keep eating because that's what I used to do and it tasted good and I just wanted to finish it! But I stopped. I can have leftovers tomorrow.

I'm learning to feed myself when I am hungry and stop when I am full. 

I eat every 2-3 hours on this diet. This is very good for me. So often, before, I would get busy and distracted with the kids and too much time would go by and then I'm starved and grumpy and head-achy and not in the best position to make healthy food choices.

So, today is day 4 (not counting day one (Monday) and then day two off program due to migraine). It has been another rough day. I have been struggling with hunger so much. I'll have a medifast meal and then within the hour, my stomach is growling. And today I just felt more and more sad, for no reason.

Although this helped...

I could not do this diet, in fact, would not still be doing this diet, without the help of health coaches. This truly is the best part of the program. A couple conversations with health coaches today helped me tremendously in figuring out which direction to go from here. I realized that I have been so hungry for a reason. Yes, diets are a struggle in the beginning. Headaches, fatigue, irritability is normal. But this felt more than that. My body was telling me that my baby and I are needing more calories. I'm not getting enough calories with how much I'm nursing my baby. So starting tomorrow, I switch to the program for nursing moms. I won't lose weight as quickly (1-2 lbs/week vs. 2-5 lbs/week) but that is healthier, especially with nursing.

I am grateful I can still stay on this program. For whatever reason, I have not been able to lose this weight on my own. This is what I need to lose this weight right now. And hopefully, I will be less hungry (grumpy), have more energy, and be more enjoyable to be around! It also feels good because this will no longer be just a diet I'm on for a period of time to lose the weight, but a new lifestyle of eating that I can sustain. I'm going with my gut here and saying this is the right direction for me. My gut, and the fact that once I decided to do this, I burst into tears of relief!

So tomorrow I begin, again.