Eat When You're Hungry.

What a simple concept.

What a difficult concept to put into action!

Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full.

I am pretty good about the full thing. I know when I'm full most of the time and don't stress too much if I eat a little more or less around fullness.

Hunger, however, feels like this mysterious goal.

When am I really hungry? I know the far end of hunger: stomach growling, mild lightheadedness or nausea. But regular old hunger. Hard to pinpoint.

I think years of dieting and emotional eating have really numbed out this feeling. I eat when I'm bored, tired, or upset. Last night was a perfect example: it was about an hour before I was going to go to bed and I was feeling significantly tired (I couldn't go to bed earlier because of the family schedule of baby-watching; we trade off late nights). I immediately said I was hungry. However, nothing but sweets sounded good and even that was vague, so I sat with the feeling a little while and realized it was really just fatigue and not hunger. I embraced the fatigue and went to bed on time, feeling not the slightest bit hungry.

I am going to try and really focus on this. I feel like it's simple enough to not be overwhelming but important enough to really home in on.