Honor Your Hunger - Principle 2 - learning to recognize hunger

[Guest guest]

Hi, I just wanted to post on Principle #2 as it is one I believe I am

coming up against big time lately. I think I've been misinterpreting

my hunger signals for the past 1 to 2 years! I have experienced

gnawing stomache aches in my upper abdomen for a WHILE now (as in on

and off for 1 to 2 years) and I now think it MAY be because I'm not

eating enough! I am recovering from undereating and overexercising,

and have been working hard since October 2006 to help myself overcome

these things. I have gained about 15 pounds and am now at a " healthy

weight " for my height (yay!) but am still quite small. Whenever I

experienced a gnawing pain in my upper abdomen I thought " it couldn't

be due to a lack of food because I'm eating MORE AND exercising LESS

compared to a few years ago. " Well...a couple of weeks ago I

experienced another big stomach/abdomen pain in the early evening and

instead of just going on my 30 minute run as I'd plaaned and hoping

it would go away, I decided " Well, I've exhausted other hypotheses as

to why I feel this way, so maybe I really do just need to EAT

something. " So I ate a lot of peanut butter and crackers...and low

and behold, about 10 minutes later, my stomach felt better. I

went on my run and felt GREAT! (I was really scared to eat more

[fears fears fears] but I tried to be brave, and I think I ended up

helping myself!!)

For the past 3 weeks I've tracked what I ate (food, time, calorie

content) which is something I'd never done before; and I did it with

the intention of seeing whether or not I'm getting enough calories.

Well, judging by the results, I'm not getting enough food/calories

for my age/height/activity level.

For the past few days, I've been trying to eat bigger breakfasts,

heartier lunches, and a good dinner, too. I'm going to make sure I

get more calories each day and see if my stomach problems disappear.

***I think I'd programmed myself to IGNORE my hunger signals. I

think that my mind has, in a way, refused to consider consuming more

food/calories/FUEL as a solution to my physical pain because that

threatens to make my body larger (something I had/have feared for

years now). BUT, I think I'm ready to tackle it and do it! If more

food (FUEL, really) is what my body has been yelling for, then I'm

going to have to give it to it! :-)

I 'm not positive I have found my solution, but if this is indeed my

solution, I'd have to say that it's taken my almost 2 years to master

Principle 2 of IE: HONOR YOUR HUNGER.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my fears, struggles,

triumphs, confusion, etc. It feels really good to be heard.