Hunger

So, the oatmeal yesterday was OK. I enjoyed it.

But the light lunch I made myself yesterday...not so much. I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling more than a bit nauseated by the introduction of some tuna salad and a beautiful tomato into my system.

Thus, last night it was back to soup and a fudgsicle.

This morning I awake once again to having no appetite. No hunger at all. The thought of anything beyond the egg drop soup that's in the fridge (and even that isn't sounding all that appetizing at the moment) is sort of... yech.

The score to date =

Upper respiratory bug: 1
Appetite: 0

It's a funny thing this not being hungry. You might think that - as someone who is trying to lose weight - I'd be jumping up and down at the prospect of not being hungry.

And in years past I might have.

A long time ago I might have jumped on the starvation bandwagon with glee.

But after so many years of so many successful and failed attempts at losing weight, what I have learned is that you have to eat to lose weight.

Starvation isn't the way to successful weight loss.

You have to eat to lose weight.

Food is fuel. 

It's the fuel that helps a dieter get to the gym to hit the treadmill for 30 minutes or lift weights or take a Zumba class or take a bike ride on a beautiful day. Without lots of good, healthy food a dieter's muscles don't have the fuel to do what they need to do. When you don't eat, your body goes into starvation mode - trying to stretch each calorie and hold onto fat reserves.

One thing that's always surprised me about my most successful attempts to lose weight is how full I usually am during the process. When we started SBD a few weeks ago, I was surprised at just how much food I have to consume each day. The meals and the snacks are sizable. There were a number of days when I came home from work with food left in my handy, dandy cooler because I was TOO FULL to eat anymore.

Too full...on a diet.

Go figure.

So, while I will likely lose a few more pounds as I rid myself of this damn bug that has me in its grips, I'm really quite ready to experience hunger and fullness again. Ready to give my muscles the fuel they need to do what they need to do to help me toward permanent weight loss. This sitting around, not feeling hungry and not eating much is zapping me of all of my energy leaving me limp and exhausted.

I need to be hungry again.

Going to go try some oatmeal again.

Wish me luck.

(And then I think a nap...)