I often encourage my nutrition clients to stay a few steps ahead of their hunger.
Don’t wait to become hangry before you eat, I say. Instead, grab a snack or have a good meal when your body is requesting food, not begging and screaming for it.
This of course involves some practice in getting attuned to one’s body and its feedback, learning to observe the rise and fall and patterns of one’s hunger.
If you’ve had an eating disorder for a long time, which many of my clients have, hunger signals are probably dysregulated. It may take a long time for that to change.
In the meantime, you might need to follow some sort of flexible, yet ongoing cadence of mealtimes and snacks. Not a schedule, exactly, but a steady rhythm that keeps you consistently nourished.
I need to heed my own advice sometimes. While I’m pretty good at anticipating my hunger, I’m quite lousy at staying a few steps ahead of burnout. I don’t have a good cadence for rest or restoration.
It’s my goal to change tackle this in 2023, because the end of 2022 wasn’t pretty. And I do myself and others no good when I’m in an exhausted state.
I had a big week, in positive ways. I worked hard, got a lot done, and saw many loved ones. Yesterday, I did my meal prep, cleaned, and continued to chip away at the ongoing project of decorating and settling into my space.
All good stuff.
Today, however, I’m tired. And it’s the kind of tired that I know could turn into exhaustion if I don’t slow down.
So, I’m going to save the links I’ve bookmarked for next week and pause my writing for today.
I’d planned to test a recipe this afternoon, but I know myself well enough to know that I’ll probably mess it up if I try now. That’s going on the back burner, too.
I’m going to make a short, not-overwhelming to do list for tomorrow and pay a visit to my mom, as I often do on Sunday evenings.
But only after I lie down for a bit. Maybe to read, just for fun! But more probably to take a nap.
Happy Sunday, everyone. Till soon.
xo
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It took me a long time to stay a couple of steps ahead before burning out. I’m quite stubborn and sometimes felt ‘if i just get this completed i will feel a lot better’ but more often then not it came at a price. You have to live life to know how or when to slow down. I’m happy to read your looking after your present and future self Gena, always do you ❤️
Glad to hear that you are making space for yourself to rest. Be well.