It took me a long time to realize that I don't typically feel stomach-growling hunger. If I'm stressed even the littlest bit, it throws off my hunger signals. So, like you said @skwigg, that mental hunger is my first sign that I'll need to eat soon. When I first started "intuitive eating", I (like many folks) made the mistake of turning it into the hunger/fullness diet. If I wasn't stomach-growly hungry, I shouldn't eat. But I quickly learned I would eat hardly anything at all if I waited for that feeling. For me, making sure I'm eating consistently is absolute key. I don't necessarily eat "by the clock" anymore, but I am on a regular schedule with my corporate job, and I do keep an eye on the clock because if 4-5 hours have passed, I probably need to eat. Going more than 5 hours between meals/snacks always, ALWAYS backfires on me. My workouts suffer, energy plummets, mental clarity escapes me, and/or I end up going ape shit on the pantry later that night. I do chalk my skewed hunger signals up to literal years of disordered eating. I've done a lot of reading on how that can be messed up for a long time, even post-recovery. I know that eating regularly is a form of self-care for me now, tummy rumbling or not.

Love this! So now that I'm on this #Moderation365 journey, I need some help on the exercise front. I'm scared to just do "what I feel like" every day, since I've been following some kind of workout programming for literally years. In the rational part of my brain, I expect the same outcome as when I started eating more moderately: the world won't end, I'll end up feeling better, and I'll build a lot of trust with myself and my body along the way. The only way to know for sure is to actually try it!

Still rocking + rolling with Moderation365. I have realized that I tend to get into food ruts based on "allowed" foods and am never adventurous with new recipes or meal ideas. That stops NOW. While I don't want to become too ambitious in the kitchen, something as simple as switching up snack ideas or buying a new salad dressing can be kind of magical. I have had enough Rx bars to last an entire lifetime (hopefully I'll start craving them again eventually because I have like 8 in my pantry, ha). My goal in the next few weeks is to buy new things at the store that look good, without hyper-focusing on their macronutrient values. Something else I recognize is my tendency to think of food in terms of portions. Have the whole thing, or half, or a quarter. My brain is programmed to eat how much is "allowed" or "acceptable." This "a few bites" is new to me, because my disordered eating is very methodical, calculated, and symmetrical, if that makes sense. A friend baked a homemade shamrock funfetti cake and gave me a huge slice yesterday. I let my kids split most of it, while trimming off the very best few bites for myself. I ate them after lunch today and was amazed by how satisfied I was with literally 3 bites of cake. Magic, I tell ya! Completely satisfying, and I didn't want more. I'm also making a new tradition with my kids called Weekly Ice Cream Adventure (literally just made that name up whilst typing this). Every week I'll snag a pint of a new ice cream flavor for us to try together. It's nice to know I can have ice cream in my freezer and hardly remember it's there, and that having a few bites any old time is ALLOWED (encouraged, even, under the Moderation365 mindset). That is freedom right there!

Putting #moderation365 into practice the last few days and it sure has been eye-opening! I hadn't realized how many foods I'd subconsciously deemed "unhealthy" and how scared I was to take 1 or 2 bites of something. Being a Mom to 2 teen boys, you can imagine how often I'm exposed to "bad" foods and I never ever let myself have a bite of something. I have realized that my pattern is to watch them eat [a frosty, cheetos, etc.] and then scurry off to over-eat on "healthy" foods. Feeling bloated and over-eating "allowed" foods is what drove me to seek a more sane way, and is how I found this forum and this particular post! The concept of #moderation365 is not new to me. I've been a long-time follower of Jill Coleman but I never thought this approach would work for me. Well, I was wrong. I have never felt more satisfied with food than in these past couple of days. I've had (real, full-fat) ice cream, a burger, fries, and a homemade cookie gifted to me by a friend. I've also had salad, beans, berries, high-fiber cereal, eggs, smoothies, and tons of veggies and protein. For the first time in my entire life, I finally feel sane and balanced around food. Nothing is off limits and that feels amazing. I find the pre-emptive treats (I agree with @skwigg, "treats" is much better than "cheats") to be especially helpful. I never really WANT to eat an entire pint of ice cream, a few bites is more satisfying in the long run, but it took eating ice cream on a Tuesday afternoon to realize this. To kind of take that food off it's pedestal. Having a couple bites of a real flour/butter/sugar cookie after lunch is kind of magical, knowing I can have more later if I want. "Navigate the middle" is my new mantra. Grocery shopping yesterday was especially fun! I bought things I'd never normally allow in my diet, with the goal of exposing myself to small amounts of them throughout my days as cravings hit (exposure/intermittent sampling FTW). The next time my kids have a treat, I won't hesitate to ask for a bite or two, knowing I can just move on with my day - THE WORLD WILL NOT END AND I WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY GAIN 40 POUNDS. Key takeaways from @skwigg's notes above that I wrote down and have been reading every morning to stay on this path: ✔️Satisfaction is always the goal ✔️Eat while staying mindful of how I feel both physically AND emotionally ✔️Strive to always navigate the middle; I love this phrase! ✔️Patience + Consistency + Trust are key - that's the secret sauce ✔️"I don't know when or what I'll eat next, but I trust I'll get hungry and make a healthy choice at that point." ---> this is much easier when you leave each meal satisfied and not already thinking about the next one! It frees up so much brain space and mental energy. ✔️Know you can eat anywhere, anytime; each eating experience is a learning opportunity, never a failure ✔️Focus on things outside of food and body; purpose-driven living Looking forward to moving forward with this new mindset. ❤️

Wow, thank you for adding all these notes! I'm finally admitting to myself that after a lifetime of dieting, disordered eating, and recovery, even though I feel relatively normal around food, I'm still living under this food template I've established for myself and need to find more freedom and trust. These notes are awesome! Looking forward to my Moderation365 journey.