[Everstorm]

 

This challenge is going to be a little irregular because I have a few events (including a Food and Wine Festival) I will be attending that will disrupt my routines.  So, I chose goals I think I can manage around travel and eating out, etc. 

 

I also want to incorporate some of the things I have been learning about handling negative emotions/thoughts, especially about food.  There is a lot to unpack there, but for this challenge, I will be addressing hunger.  I feel something that approaches panic when I feel hungry, like it's a bona fide 911 emergency that needs to be addressed stat.  There is a myriad of issues with this thinking:  1) I tend to eat before I even get hungry, just to "head it off at the pass; 2) if I am not hungry when I start, it's impossible to tell when I am full (and should stop; 3) if I manage to wait for hunger, I choose quick foods (generally poor quality) because I am desperate to stop feeling hungry; 4) I overload my plate because I am "starving".  None of this is conducive to a healthful lifestyle.  The idea is to start to accept that the pain of hunger is a normal part of healthful living, is temporary, is NOT an emergency.  I will be employing acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) techniques to do so.

 

 

Goals:  

 

Swim 8 times

GMB Elements 12 times

Wait for hunger before eating.  Use ACT as needed to endure the wait or the hunger.

 

Let's go!!!

 

[Sovalis]

Here to cheer you on! You've got this!

[Elastigirl]

Cheering you on! I used to get low sugar and  feel sick when I was hungry, so obviously I always tried to avoid that. I no longer have that issue, but still struggle with that mental struggle of fearing hunger. 

[Everstorm]

5 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Here to cheer you on! You've got this!

Thanks 😊 Glad to have you!

 

3 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Cheering you on! I used to get low sugar and  feel sick when I was hungry, so obviously I always tried to avoid that. I no longer have that issue, but still struggle with that mental struggle of fearing hunger. 

That would be so frustrating to feel sick just when you need to eat.  I can see that being a mental barrier, even if it no longer happens.

[Rookie]

You got this Everstorm! Kick that hungers butt 

[Sea-to-sky]

Great goals. Here to cheer you on 😄

[Qnobi]

I'm listening to a book right now (The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter) and he referenced a helpful term: real hunger vs. reward hunger. I plan to use that to parse my own hunger pangs, especially the ones that come just before bed or when I get ever so slightly off center. 

 

Here's to a healthy challenge!

[Everstorm]

2 hours ago, Rookie said:

You got this Everstorm! Kick that hungers butt 

Hunger won't know what hit it!

 

 

54 minutes ago, Sea-to-sky said:

Great goals. Here to cheer you on 😄

Thank you 😊 

 

 

15 minutes ago, Qnobi said:

I'm listening to a book right now (The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter) and he referenced a helpful term: real hunger vs. reward hunger. I plan to use that to parse my own hunger pangs, especially the ones that come just before bed or when I get ever so slightly off center. 

 

Here's to a healthy challenge!

That book is on my TBR!  I heard a podcast interview with him, and he had some really good ideas.  I might try to prioritize getting to his book this challenge (after I finish the 5 library books I have checked out atm).

[Everstorm]

@Qnobi Oh, wait, I was thinking of Death by Comfort by Paul Taylor.  Maybe I need to read both 🤔

[Qnobi]

3 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

@Qnobi Oh, wait, I was thinking of Death by Comfort by Paul Taylor.  Maybe I need to read both 🤔

 

I haven't read that one...but it may find it's way to my list, too!

[kcaleece]

Following along! I really respect how you always make your challenges flexible for real life stuff, like traveling, while also staying so genuinely reflective. It's super impressive! ❤️

[Everstorm]

8 hours ago, Qnobi said:

 

I haven't read that one...but it may find it's way to my list, too!

It's NF Book Club lol

 

7 hours ago, kcaleece said:

Following along! I really respect how you always make your challenges flexible for real life stuff, like traveling, while also staying so genuinely reflective. It's super impressive! ❤️

Ah, thank you!  I am perhaps more flexible on paper than in practice, but I like to think about how to work around obstacles when I know they are coming. 

 

Day 1 Week 0 and someone set me on legendary mode and didn't tell me.  I woke up at 4 am and was not able to go back to sleep despite my best efforts, so I got up at 5 with no where to be until 9 🙈  Of course by 7:30 I was ready to go back to bed, but it was far too late.

 

Being dead tired is generally disastrous in terms of limiting food, since my body insists I need energy from somewhere.  I feel like I did pretty good at waiting for hunger today, though.  It helped that I am typically madly busy on Mondays and today was no exception.  And in the evening, I obsessed over my latest art project, so I kept my mind off of food and on my work.

 

No formal workouts today, but plenty of incidental movement.

[sarakingdom]

2 hours ago, Everstorm said:

It's NF Book Club lol

 

Did I hear someone ask for some Rivers of Lon-- oh, my mistake.

[Sea-to-sky]

7 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Day 1 Week 0 and someone set me on legendary mode and didn't tell me.  I woke up at 4 am and was not able to go back to sleep despite my best efforts, so I got up at 5 with no where to be until 9 🙈  Of course by 7:30 I was ready to go back to bed, but it was far too late.

 

Being dead tired is generally disastrous in terms of limiting food, since my body insists I need energy from somewhere. 

This, exactly this. 100% with you on this one. Makes everything so difficult. Like slogging through treacle. 

[Sea-to-sky]

5 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

Did I hear someone ask for some Rivers of Lon-- oh, my mistake.

Maybe we need to start a NF book club 😆

[Ann of Owlshire]

Ugh, yeah, I also go into panic mode about getting hungry, and then when I'm hungry end up eating fast junk 😿

 

Here to cheer you on! 

[sarakingdom]

5 hours ago, Sea-to-sky said:

Maybe we need to start a NF book club 😆

I'm sorry, I'm still just hearing "Maybe we need to start more people on Rivers of London".

[Sea-to-sky]

5 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

I'm still just hearing "Maybe we need to start more people on Rivers of London".

I mean…is there a difference 😆

[Everstorm]

12 hours ago, Ann of Owlshire said:

Ugh, yeah, I also go into panic mode about getting hungry, and then when I'm hungry end up eating fast junk 😿

 

Here to cheer you on! 

It's not just me then?  I don't know when the panic started.  I used to basically skip meals most of the day and it didn't bother me.  Not trying to be thin or anything, just didn't feel like eating what was on offer.  Hard to imagine feeling like that now.

 

8 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

I'm sorry, I'm still just hearing "Maybe we need to start more people on Rivers of London".

8 hours ago, Sea-to-sky said:

I mean…is there a difference 😆

 

We must spread the gospel of the Rivers!

 

The universe appears to have taken my challenge title as a thrown gauntlet.

 

Having survived all winter without getting sick, I have caught my second cold within a month now.  Probably won't effect the challenge much, except to increase the general amount on whining. 

 

Hunger has been...interesting today.  I was on the fence about whether I was really hungry when I woke up from my Nyquil-induced stupor.  So, I went with an exploratory meal of coffee and toast.  About 2 hours later, I was genuinely hungry, but was in the middle of something, so waited another hour and a half to eat.  Started getting hungry again about 2 hours before dinner, but felt I could handle it until I found out dinner would be an hour late, so I had a banana and a few crackers to keep me over.  I can see meal timing being a tricky thing to figure out, but I should be fine.

 

That is more or less the whole of my exciting day.  I am convalescing with a good book with occasional art breaks.

[Sea-to-sky]

9 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Having survived all winter without getting sick, I have caught my second cold within a month now

Oh no. That sucks. Hope you get over it quickly

[Mad Hatter]

Feel better soon!

[Silmarilliane]

Here to follow! Hope the cold clears up soon  

[MaeradCase]

21 hours ago, Everstorm said:

The universe appears to have taken my challenge title as a thrown gauntlet.

 

Having survived all winter without getting sick, I have caught my second cold within a month now.  Probably won't effect the challenge much, except to increase the general amount on whining

Noooooooo 😭

No dying on a post literally mocking the lack of death! 🥺

[Everstorm]

12 hours ago, Sea-to-sky said:

Oh no. That sucks. Hope you get over it quickly

Me too!  I slept 10 hours last night and feel much better today already.  Not well, exactly, but less like warmed over death.

 

 

9 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Feel better soon!

Thank you 😊 

 

 

3 hours ago, Silmarilliane said:

Here to follow! Hope the cold clears up soon  

Welcome!

 

 

10 minutes ago, MaeradCase said:

Noooooooo 😭

No dying on a post literally mocking the lack of death! 🥺

 

Hunger thing is going well.  No workouts yet.  May try for GMB tomorrow depending on how I feel.

 

Nothing much happening here, but here are some gratuitous photos of my recent art project for the Botanica Collective and my garden (natch)

 

 

[Everstorm]

Viral symptoms are subsiding quickly.  Despite cramps, I got in GMB workout 1 of 12 done.

 

I can tell that there is a lot to unpack about hunger.  I am doing pretty well with handling the panic when I feel hunger (so far), but dealing with anxiety when waiting for hunger is much harder.   I can see that I need to choose my mid-day meal carefully, otherwise I am not hungry at dinner, which adds the social anxiety of not eating when everyone else does (and possibly offending the cook when it isn't me) to all the other anxieties.  Had a swing and a miss yesterday when I ate a very large lunch and never felt hunger the rest of the day.  I held out until 7:30 before eating, so at least I exercised the "wait" muscle, but I need to practice dealing with the mental discomfort of not needing a third meal if I am not hungry.

 

A little pine warbler visited me during my workout