I’ve learned something new about my “impulse control.” I was eating 900 to 1100 calories a day, thinking that I was cutting calories to lose weight. Recently, I signed up to see a new naturopath, hoping to get some of my health issues under control, especially hoping that I didn’t have diabetes. She ran my blood tests…I do not have insulin resistance and my A1C came down, so I’m actually NOT prediabetic any longer. Huh. When she found out how much I was eating, she laughed. In my face. 1200 calories, she said, was base line to maintain health. She put me on 1200 to 1600 caloories per day. I practically ran, screaming, from her office. How can I eat that much food and not become a blimp, I wondered. I told her I was already having trouble losing weight and she said, “no wonder.” Her reprimand, if you will, was that I needed to teach my body that it can trust me to feed it. Whew. In that moment, I think I began to understand that my inner child has an anorexic mind set. But skinny does not equal healthy.
One week later, I have energy, my mind is sharper, and get this, no impulse control issues! I don’t crave sweets and if I eat chocolate, I only want a little. I’m flabbergasted. And I did not gain weight after eating all that food.
In addition to the above, she is working on my adrenals and helping me with hormone imbalance. She said that after my body trusts me again, I will see muscle building from my workouts, I will begin to see weight loss (under controlled conditions, NOT cutting massive amounts of calories). Ok. Deep breath. This seems to be working.
My inner child is breathing a sigh of relief – she wants me to take care of her and I have been putting her in jeapardy. I’m so sorry, child. There are so many crazy messages out there about how to eat, how to exercise, how to rest…everyone is unique but everyone needs self care.
Beginning week 2. I’ll keep you posted.