Good morning from the DFW area of Texas!

"It is better to feel hungry, than it is to overeat!"
("Paula's Thoughts")

How can someone say this? Who wants to hear "stomach growls" anyway?

This is how it is with me. How about you?

I discovered later on in my journey that one of my big issues of being overweight and then struggling during my early times in the "journey to the new me", I wasn't going to allow myself to "suffer" in my journey. I was going to keep it all healthy and just ship-shape and correct. I wasn't going to starve myself into submission of obtaining a "new me". So, I never allowed myself to get hungry, feel hunger pains, or hear stomach growls. I soon realized that "keeping my stomach quiet" easily added on some calories, mostly unplanned. Who can ever "plan a growl?" Once I started to work on "keeping quiet", that lead very easily to binging by just putting unplanned food in my mouth.

What was I thinking? Where was my mind? I was PANICKING as I always had done in my morbidly obese lifestyle. My PANICKING only caused me to fail and fail and fail again. Food was just too important to me. I wasn't willing to go that far just to lose weight. I couldn't and wouldn't deprive myself to "feeling hungry" just to lose weight. I thought to myself "People are just crazy to do that if they're losing weight!"

Now that I've been on my almost 4 year (March 2009) "journey to the new me" and have lost over 200 pounds, I enjoy a growl from time to time!
I even enjoy to hear a growl during our Sunday morning sermon! It is just wonderful to be ABLE and WILLING to hear those sometimes faint, sometimes loud noises that remind me that "I'm doing something", "I'm in charge of my food", "I don't have to think that I'm starving", "I don't have to PANIC", "I've actually lost some weight", "I'm experiencing something new that I've not experienced in too many years to count", "I'm able to "join the chorus" of all of the other stomach growls in church!"

I consider the "feeling hungry-stomach growl syndrome" to be a blessing. It just reinforces to me that with God and Spark People friends and family, I can be in charge and reach my goals and enjoy a little noise at the same time!

Have a blessed day and wonderful journey to the new you!

Paula
"(C)", 2013, Paula Boyd-Friend, all rights reserved