Day after two days ago.
Saturday night, I channeled my inner Frat Boy and did an awful lot of drinkin’. I also ate 97 different kinds of snacks; at one point, I believe I had a snickerdoodle in one hand and a tiny meatball on a toothpick in the other. Yay for snacks!
Anyway, I woke up yesterday feeling like I was two sizes larger than my skin, and hot, hot, hot, as my body kicked things into high gear to metabolize all the various substances I’d poured into it.
Normally, after a Big Night Out, I have day-after regret. Not guilt about being “bad” or not dieting, but just wondering why I did something that left me feeling so icky, why I didn’t think ahead to how I’d feel the next morning.
I didn’t this time. Not sure why, but mostly I think it was because I was too busy feeling…proud. Why? Because it was so apparent my body was working hard to address what I’d done, to achieve some kind of equilibrium again. My body temperature was up, I couldn’t get enough water, and I was hungry for veggies and breads. My body, in her wisdom, was trying to set things right again. And I just kept thinking, “Body! You are AWESOME!“
I focused on my demand-feeding and trusted that what my body was asking for was what I needed, and so a giant salad and homemade bread found their way onto my plate. I wasn’t punitive about food, I didn’t try to “adjust” for the previous night’s consumption. I just listened and ate. Listened and ate.
Just taking the time to ask the questions again, to follow my appetite and my satiety levels, it makes me feel so much calmer. I still too often equate “no food plan” with “out of control,” but then I return to the demand-feeding and it’s like everything just shifts back into place. I feel more centered. I feel kinder toward my (AWESOME) body. I give my tummy loving pats and I smile at myself in the mirror.
I know that demand-feeding is the only thing that works for me, and although I occasionally slip away from it, it’s getting easier and easier to come back.
Progress. That’s all I can ask for.
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Congratulations, awesome job. And way to enjoy a night out too. I haven’t drank like that in a while, or snacked like that either. lol. I miss it.
That is awesome, and I have totally had that experience of getting really hot after overeating, because the body is trying to readjust things. And it’s sick of the crap and craves healing foods. And the last few times it happened, I had the same reaction as you–awe at my awesome body. It is so cool!
I assume that these binges will still happen, but never as often or as frantic as before. The body can recover from every so often, as long as I let it, and treat myself with compassion. It feels SO GOOD not to have to punich yourself and to let your wise body do its thing. I feel like we should get our body awards or something–gold stars for everyone!