Because really don't we all have issues

I could say that I have food issues, but that is the equivalent of saying that elephants are not the smallest animals you might ever meet. In other words, it is an understatement of vast proportions which barely touches on reality. I have issues both with eating too much and not eating enough at other times. I have made peace with the fact I have issues with food, that I have always had issues with food, and that I will always have issues with food. Instead, I focus on managing my relationship with food and limiting the items that will cause me to spin wildly out of control in my eating. I can consume a lot of food even when I am full so I find it hard to determine whether I am truly hungry or not. Everything I have read suggests that this is not uncommon for people who are overweight or obese and contributes to the problems in losing the weight. I have to count calories or else I won't really know if I am eating too much and that can be a mind trip on its own. A lot of times I lean toward eating too little food because that must be better some how. It is not and I fight it by making myself eat enough calories everyday and I almost always succeed in eating a really balanced diet. However, every now and then I don't eat enough food or enough of the right food and it bites me in the rear end. This morning would be a prime example of eating too little the day before a hard workout. On Sunday, I had a regular breakfast (a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee), then I had a mango banana smoothie for lunch, a whole wheat English muffin with a tablespoon of pumpkin butter for a snack, and for dinner I had butternut squash risotto and another small mango smoothie. I can tell by looking at this meal plan what the problem is with it. Three small words, not enough protein. Also, I had a very small serving of the risotto for dinner and so there was not enough food. I aim for between 1400 and 1600 calories every day and I think I only hit around 1300 on Sunday. I do try and eat lightly on Sunday because but I ate far too lightly. I have no idea how people survive on a 1200 calorie diet if they are working out because I just cannot do it and this morning proved that fact. I was starving when I got up and not feeling well at all because I had not eaten enough food the day before. So, I ate a banana which made me feel a lot better and went to the gym. I actually did a hard workout, running for 25 minutes and the elliptical machine for 25 minutes but it was not pleasant. I can chalk it all up to my food issues and today I am trying to eat more food and make sure that tomorrow is not nearly so unpleasant as today.