Always Look on the Bright Side...

I feel horrible today.

I'm too hungry, I've got a weird headache and the hunger is the odd kind that won't go away if I eat. I am eating lots of food, too; not stinting on calories, but keeping the carbs low.

I'm in withdrawal, and it's pretty nasty. It won't be fun for the next three days or so.

But - looking on the bright side, and it really is a bright side, sort of - it makes things so much clearer. The very fact that I can recognise that my body is going through withdrawal shows how aware I am of my body - and, what's more - how aware my body now is of the various poisons/good things I put in it. That didn't used to be the case. I could eat whatever I wanted with impunity - unless you consider the fact that I weighed 250lbs. What I mean by impunity, obviously, is that other than the carb cravings which I didn't recognise as anything other than normal, I didn't have any specific reactions to different foods. But that makes it harder to make healthy choices, really, doesn't it? The very fact that I feel so awful now shows me - beyond the scale - what I was eating was not good for me. Getting through the next few days might not be easy but I know I'll do it, and I know how my body will feel afterwards. Much, much better. Light and lean. (Feel. Not look - I'm not lean yet!) Food fills without bloating, hunger is real, and satiable. This is such a different place to where I was a few years ago. My body really is a chem lab that gives me clear results.

That's good - even if the short-term experiment is making me feel crappy!

This is day one of my new 100% regimen, by the way.

Which includes:
- this week, full low-carb eating, no indulgences, but no stinting on calories until the carb withdrawal has worn off.
- from next week, calorie counting.
- drinking plenty of water
- pilates once a week and weights once a week (there'll be another post about why i can't do that much more exercise without my health suffering)
- making sure that i don't enter into a position where i'm not in control of food more than once a month (this involves care in planning shabbat)
- daily weighing of myself
- daily use of fitday for food logging