A Trick Discovered

Maybe it's not a trick, but more like a strategy. But I've been thinking, "Okay, I've been doing this ETL diet for a while now, pretty consistently, and not really lost much weight, I don't think." And it was true. I weighed myself at the YMCA and I really hadn't lost much at all. So what was up? I discovered it is my habit of eating a lot at night. I can eat almost nothing all day, but when night comes around I tend to eat lots and then go to sleep. This makes for an uncomfortable feeling of my stomach having food in it when I go to bed. It also makes for a less restful sleep. It also means I wake up not hungry at all, and not even feeling like my blood sugar is low. But I figured out, in just a single day, that I can drop multiple pounds if I eat according to true hunger cues, and don't eat a bunch at night out of habit! Just eat a little dinner and leave it, because I'll be going to bed soon, what the heck would I need to eat a bunch for? And know that in the morning, when I'm hungry, I can eat breakfast, like normal people do in the mornings. And I'll actually want and be able to enjoy eating breakfast! And I'll find that I've lost multiple pounds! I'm now 3 pounds away from Dr. Fuhrman's recommended weight for people of my height, which is just an estimation because people's bodies are different, but I'm using it as a guideline. I actually felt better about 5 years ago when I weighed 7 pounds less than that (10 pounds less than I do now). I was pretty thin. I was running regularly, and doing some strength training. And I felt great. It would be nice to get back there.

So that's the trick: DON'T EAT AT NIGHT. Pay attention to true hunger, and eat only to fulfill that, then stop, and you'll wake up finding your body feasted on your extra fat stores during the night. I shouldn't phrase this like it generalized to other people, because it may not. And it may well only work best for people who are also running during the day, and eating according to ETL. I really don't know. I'm just psyched to have discovered it. It's going to make things a lot easier, if I can just break the habit!