Listening...and patience...and listening...UGH!!

So, let me ask you this. Do you listen to your body? If so, how long have you been doing that? If not, why not? If there's one regret I have about contest prep, it's that I lost my ability to listen to my body where food is concerned. I remember when I first started eating my 7 meals a day. Well, how normal is that? Um, in my opinion, that's not very normal nor very necessary in everyday life. When I first started I would almost gag when I had to finish my meal because it was just way too much food. I was ignoring all signs my body was giving me that I was satiated. But at the time that was what I needed to do...or so I thought. I have since learned of healthier ways to go through contest prep but that's neither here nor there. I'm just referring to my own experience of my contest prep.

I also had to ignore my body when it said it was tired and when it said it wasn't okay working out. That was the program my coach had given me. I didn't know better. Now I do. Yes, there is some "going against the grain" with contest prep no matter who your coach is but what I have learned is there can me much less damaging and harmful ways to do it than the way I did. Regardless though, what's done is done. So now I have to relearn to listen to my body.

This is SO MUCH HARDER than I thought it would be. I used to be good about listening to my body about what it wanted to eat and also when to stop. As far as my physical abilities I was NOT good at listening to my body and on many occasion pushed myself into further injury because I thought whatever body part was hurting would heal up. I've gotten a lot better about listening to my physical pain and I'm also getting really good again at listening to what my body wants. What I'm really struggling with and really need patience to help me is listening to when to stop eating. That's my difficulty right now. Oh yes! So much harder than it seems. Who would have thought THAT would be difficult? But I guess when you're forcing yourself to eat then your body and mind are going to follow along with that as long as they can. So while I'm definitely showing improvement in listening to what to eat, I also need to listen to when to stop. So that's my main focus right now for me and food.

The great thing about listening to your body is eating different foods you've forgotten about and just enjoying food once again. It's so great! The most interesting thing to me is that in listening to my body I don't always want french fries and chips. That IS a shock to me!! :-)  I thought I would. But when you are allowed to eat whatever you want, what you want will constantly change. What a beautiful thing!

So I'm feeling pretty good in general and I'm more and more grateful for my body and its abilities every day. I haven't been in the gym much. Not for any particular reason but just not in the mood and that's okay. Today is so beautiful that I have to go blading. It's too pretty not to do that so off I go. Just wanted to update you and urge you to listen to your body particularly about hunger, satiety, pain, and pleasure! Just my two cents!