DEAR BODY, WE NEED TO TALK! Learning how to talk and listen to your body!

One of the biggest lessons I've learned through my weight loss, is that the human body is self adjusting and it constantly looks for our input in order to regulate itself. Providing this input and being able to understand how your body reacts to it, is much like having a conversation. Actually, the three rules that I keep mentioning often in the blog - "being active on a daily basis", "never be full, never be hungry" and "eat more of the good, less of the bad" - are just ways that I communicate with my body.

As always, everybody is different and everyone will communicate with their body differently. As with learning a language, you need to learn what is the best way to talk to your body and learn how your body sends you messages. It's a very personal language! Having said that, here are some basic ways that I've learned to communicate with my body through my journey.

It may be hard, but sometimes it is best to stay off the bike and rest!

TALK! Food - One of the biggest ways you communicate with your body is through eating. And it might be surprising that one of the most important things to do is not be hungry. You want the body to know that you will take care of it and provide it with the nutrients it needs. If you are hungry, or starve yourself, your body will slow down its metabolism to make the little food it gets "last longer". You also don't want to eat too much and have your body store the extra food it gets. So finding that balance is essential for your body to run as efficiently as it can.
Exercise - Being active daily is also an important part of the conversation you need to have with your body. Especially as you just begin to adopt a healthier lifestyle, exercising or being active every day is important to send your body the message that it can prepare the "fuel" it receives to be spent, and not stocked. As you grow fitter and your activities become more intense, then resting becomes important so you can provide your body a chance to re-charge and heal itself. And of course, being active is important to make sure that you burn all that fuel to begin with!
The message you want to send to your body is that it can burn calories freely as it becomes more and more active, and as you take care of it with the nutrients and the rest it asks for.

LISTEN! Food - Your body will tell you when to eat more or when to eat less. The amount of food that it needs will vary greatly from day to day based on what activities you've been up to. As you learn to listen to your body, it will also ask you for specific foods. As I became fitter, I found myself craving salads, which was unthinkable to me at the time. And although I do find myself craving for protein, I can tell you that I have not had a craving for a "double-whopper with cheese" burger in years! (confession: I still enjoy a good burger, but not of the fast food variety - I found out that my body can tell the difference in quality and it DOES complain!)
Exercise - Being active and burning off calories is crucial to losing weight and being fit, but there are times you need to stay off the bike. Not only will your body need to rest after an intensive hard long ride, but some times, it might be warning you that it needs a day off. In the early stages of an illness, it will give you hints before the typical symptoms appear. You might still feel well enough to go along your daily business, but you will know that a 100km ride is just not the wisest activity to push through. And if you do get sick, it is just as important to wait for your body to give you the green light to hop back on the bike. A good rule of thumb is to play it safe and wait one extra day after you start to feel better, before going on any longer rides. On the flip-side, however, your body will start to ask you to go out for a ride or a work-out if you start settling down for too long. Some days I will have problems sleeping as I feel my body has energy to burn-off and I end up on a late night run or session on the trainer.

Stop eating!? Finish it off!? Ask for more!? Your body knows the answer!

There are dangers to this strategy, especially when you are starting to learn this new language. First, you can easily confuse hunger with gluttony. In other words, your body doesn't need any more food, but you just want to eat more cake! I still get those signals crossed; that's when I reach for a banana! Going back to my healthy snack of choice quickly tells me if I really needed more nutrition, or if it was just the good ol' fat guy struggling to put his fork down! And when it comes to being active, you can just as easily confuse being tired with being lazy. Here, what we have is the comfortable couch keeping you away from the bike on a cold day. When that's the case, I will still go for a brisk walk outside or take my daughters to the playground. It's amazing how just a small amount of activity will make you forget about the couch and get you on the bike for a nice ride. And if you still feel like you need to give your body a break, at least you were out being active for a bit. Again, as with learning a language, the messages your body sends you become clearer with time!

As I mentioned in a previous article, my daily calorie intake these days is pretty similar to when I used to weight 310lbs (140kgs). In a way, all I had to do was learn how to ask my body to stop being "the fat guy who couldn't lose weight" and become "the skinny guy who can eat anything he wants!" Once you and your body are speaking the same language, your body will start working with you. That's when things start getting really easy!