Today’s workout: None

Today’s walk: None

Today’s task: Practice Hunger Tolerance

And the adventure continues. I learned a lot yesterday, when I had to eat slowly and mindfully, taking actual notes on how my body feels when I eat (or not). I learned things that I can’t write about because I can’t intellectualize them. I tend to live my life in my head, not my body. Now my body’s getting some equal time.

One blogger I read, Kath, often writes that she loves the “process of eating.” I wasn’t even sure what she meant by that! Now I see what she means. It’s what you experience when you’re just doing it…the whole physical picture. Swallowing this bite, deciding what you want to take a bite of next, toying with the food with your fork, feeling its texture in your mouth. I thought it was gross at first! When I always read or watched TV when I ate, I was staying in my head instead of being in my body. Now I understand that being in your body adds a whole new dimension to life that I was missing out on.

Onto today’s task: Skipping lunch in order to practice hunger tolerance. To track the exercise, you rate the discomfort of your hunger on a scale of 0-10 every hour. I ate breakfast at 9 AM, so I’ll start tracking at 10. I’ll allow food at 6:00.

Sometimes I skip meals naturally, so I feel confident I can do this experiment. Dr. Beck has a favorite saying, “Hunger is never an emergency.” Her point is that thin people experience hunger every day without eating in response to it as a matter of course. I did when I was thin. It’s a skill I need to re-learn.

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Winkie’s Discomfort Scale
0 Sitting on the sofa watching TV
1 Sitting too long in one position
2 Standing too long
3 Sore muscles from exercise
4 Wearing a belt that’s too tight
5 Having a stomach ache or gas pains
6 Walking with a blister
7 Having a lower back sprain
8 Getting a tooth capped
9 Having wisdom teeth removed
10 Having a mammogram

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Today’s To-Do List:

✓ I read my Advantages List at least twice today.

✓ I made and read other Response Cards as needed.

✓ I ate slowly, sitting down, and noticing every bite: Every time.

✗ I did spontaneous exercise: Not at all

✗ I did planned exercise: No. Decided not to do so on a day when I’m not eating regularly.

✓ I skipped lunch in order to learn that I can tolerate feeling hungry.

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Winkie’s Hunger Discomfort Chart
Time Current Level of Discomfort Range of Discomfort in Last Hour
10 a.m. 0 0
11 a.m. 0 0
noon 4 0 – 5
1 p.m. 4 4 – 5
2 p.m. 2 2 – 4
3 p.m. 3 2 – 4
4 p.m. 2 2 – 3
5 p.m. 3 2 – 3

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What I learned: Tolerating hunger may not always be easy, but it is possible. It would be easier on a day when I have more to distract me.

Today I give myself credit for:

☆ Going 9 hours without eating.

☆ Doing two difficult dieting exercises on one day.

☆ Tolerating a strong craving until it went away completely.

☆ Practicing the anti-craving techniques from the BDS book. Doing whatever it took to withstand the discomfort of the craving.

☆ Reaching out to my coach when I had a craving. I’ve never confided in her about my cravings before.

Update: My coach had a solution—make a healthful Mexican meal using ground turkey. Why didn’t I think of that! Mmmmm….taco salad tomorrow night.