Understanding the Signals

I think that a large part of why I used to eat so much is that I would ignore the frequent signals my body would send me about when I was hungry and when I was not. The biggest signal that I ignore, unfortunately, is confusing thirst for hunger. I am bad at staying hydrated... really bad and I think this plays a major role in my food cravings. Here I am, right now in fact, sitting here writing this while dying of thirst. Of course, what I choose to drink is an issue that would require a whole other blog entry, but I know that if I drank more, I would probably be less hungry.

So today, I'm launching an experiment. Before every meal I'm going to drink a cup or part of a bottle of water and see if that makes any difference in my appetite. I did it at breakfast this morning, but I can't say it made a huge difference, but I'm going to try and stick with it and see what happens. Also, I'm going to try and do better with my water intake throughout the day. I've done very poorly in my attempt to lay off the caffeine a little bit.

Another signal I think that I have often been confusing is a craving for junk food vs. just hunger in general. If I feel I can't resist the pizza, it's because I'm hungry (or thirsty) in general, not because I particularly want the pizza. Understanding this has made it quite a bit easier to control my junk food cravings.