day 3: hungry, hungry

I was hungry ALL DAY TODAY.  It probably had something to do with beginning my day with a 5-mile run at 5:30am.  I found myself digging into my lunch  (turkey and kale quinoa over lettuce) at 9:30a when my delightful breakfast of eggs and veggies was no longer cutting it.  Then, hungry again at 1:30, I grabbed a cup of coffee and some nuts from Starbucks, then ate an apple and a small amount of almond butter a bit later, followed by a huge snack when I returned home at 4:30 of anything I could readily shove into my mouth. (rice cakes with hummus, dates, and 1/2 a Barre3 Bar).

This afternoon hunger thing is often a problem with me. I think, perhaps, it's that I don't eat a large enough lunch.  When I don't eat enough for lunch, I get hungry early in the afternoon, then I just eat everything partially because I'm really hungry, and partially because I'm tired and don't eat mindfully.

Since mindfulness was one of my goals, I plan to break the cycle: I'll set out one thing for my snack, wait a bit, and if I'm still hungry, opt for an earlier dinner, perhaps.

Day 2:
Breakfast: eggs with dill, sauteed veggies (squash, onion, kale)
Lunch: leftover quinoa chili with avocado
Snacks: too many donut holes, dates and sunflower butter
Dinner: turkey and kale quinoa
Exercise: 5 mile run, 1-hour vinyasa yoga class

Day 3:
Breakfast: eggs with tomato/basil, sauteed veggies (mustard greens, onion, squash)
Lunch: turkey and kale quinoa and lettuce
Snacks: nuts, apple with almond butter, 1/2 barre3 bar, 2 rice cakes with hummus, dates
Dinner: Watermelon! (since I had a huge snack, I didn't need much dinner)
Exercise: 5 mile run (with my lady running group--always a nice mid-week event!), 60 min barre3 Shape online video (challenging, but fun!)

I was pretty tired when I got home from work and didn't feel much better after just sitting and chilling; however, after the video I felt more energized (though ready for bed!).

These first few days have been a bit rough, and though not totally successful, I feel like I'm hitting the stride of the challenge.  I am coming back to my goals (by talking about all this here, I'm moving outside my comfort zone AND thinking about mindfulness!) and am happy that I'm taking care of my self with rest, delicious watermelon, and good exercise.