I shared this with my AG but thought maybe I should celebrate with you all here too!

Two big wins today! I have known for a while that figuring out my -2:+2 or doable hunger... or whatever we're calling it was what was going to be the key for me (for most people probably).

Eating when hungry was not an issue for me... YEARS of dieting has made me really really really good at being hungry. But after watching myself closely I realized that waiting until I was at a -4 or -5 to eat made finding 'enough' was a lot more difficult. I also found that cravings were worse and I was more likely to go off plan.

So, I've been working on finding my 'Kathy Hunger' voice (instead of 'Corinne hunger' voice). I've been doing this on and off - pretty much this whole year.

Today I caught it! I caught that whisper that said 'I'm hungry' and I didn't ignore it! I went and grabbed myself a snack. and then... I caught it again! I wanted to dance and say 'I hear you body! I'm going to feed you now!" lol (I did feed me too)

But the best... the best was dinner. I've been trying to add a 1/2 meal pause into my routine (started in June). Honoring my hunger has made that easier 1 because I'm not ravenous when I start eating and 2 because I have practiced eating more if I still hear the whisper. As I've progressed, there are a lot of meals that I've figured out 1/2 (or 3/4) is enough, so that's the amount I've started serving myself. I've SLOWLY been gaining the trust of my famine brain and can do this with only the smallest amount of panic. When I start to hear it whine I tell it 'it's ok... if we need more, we'll eat more, but this has been ENOUGH for weeks!'

So tonight, I made myself a pork chop and some veggie tots. As I was making up the plate I grabbed the spatula for the tots and my brain went. "We aren't going to be able to eat more than four of those without feeling too full". And famine brain DIDN'T EVEN FLINCH! I stood there for a second wondering what alien had taken over my brain! I had an AUTOMATIC thought that supported my goals! DUDES!! And you know what. I ate 1/2 my chop and those four tots and new me was right... four was the perfect amount I'm in the Goldilocks zone right now!