In thinking about how my clients might answer the question, “What do diet and exercise have to do with your senses?” several very enjoyable experiences come to mind.

First, imagine that it is a very hot July day in the Carolinas. The sky is very blue and there are magical fluffy white clouds billowing overhead. With a visit to an area pool, first I experience the joyful squeals of happy children as they make splashing noises in the sparkling blue water which smells deeply of chlorine.

Then, I experience the exciting contrast of the cold water to the hot air as I jump into the pool. Do you know how it feels for the cold water to lap up against your hot skin? Do you know how wonderful it feels to dive under the water? The feeling that your lungs might absolutely explode before reaching the surface again follows, which leads to the joy of lying on your back, spitting out the bits of water that venture into your mouth and nose, floating with the exhaustion of the effort of the swim now over, looking overhead as the clouds make magical patterns, listening with your ears beneath the surface of the water as children laugh and other swimmers move by. The heat of the sun presses into the skin which is not submerged while the cold water causes the rest to tingle. In my mind, there isn’t a more powerful illustration of how the senses are heightened and in use as the body experiences this refreshing type of exercise.

More of the same happens during a run outside. As your feet slap the surface of the trail, you begin to feel beads of sweat start to run down your head and onto your shoulders – the same shoulders which are heated by the sun and cooled by the breeze as the clouds form happy objects overhead. The birds are calling, the bees buzz by, the scent of flowers fill the air, and the sound of your breathing provides a rhythmic tempo which relaxes the spirit. Have you experienced that?

But more than these, the sense that people are most familiar with is the overwhelming sense of hunger that so many new exercisers experience, are humbled by, and try to overcome with starvation. When did we learn that to have a healthy and lean body we have to starve? Many people cling desperately to that mistruth.

This week I have heard the words “frustrated” and “desperate” too many times – all from women who are beginning to exercise more, who begin to feel more hunger, try to manage it with fewer calories and then feel desperate because it can’t be controlled and feel frustrated because the number on the scale is not moving in the right direction – both from the eventual binge which always follows starvation and from the fact that their normal, healthy bodies are building muscle which will sustain their metabolisms into the future. Their bodies are doing exactly as they should, and yet their minds rebuke their bodies while their emotions then go senselessly overboard.

Please, today, learn this instead: the more you exercise, the more hungry you will become. If you can manage your appetite on 1200 calories a day over a period where you aren’t really exercising that much, expect that number to grow exponentially as your level of activity increases. For example, over the winter where I’m neither exercising intensely nor as frequently, I manage to maintain about 16% body fat on about 1400 calories a day.

On the other hand, over the summer where my intensity and frequency of exercise increase to working out 45 -120 minutes 5-6 days a week, my daily calories increase to between 1700 and 2300 a day, BUT my body fat falls to around 11%. Yes, you read that right. I eat about 1000 more calories a day, but my weight and body fat percentage falls. To reduce my calories any more would create an overwhelming sense of hunger, one that gnaws and is so demanding that there is no choice but to feed it. Managing those calories smartly (i.e. feeding the body when it tells you it is hungry) is the key to weight loss. Starvation isn’t.

You would be well served to come to your senses today and realize that more activity = more calories = less body fat = sleeker, tighter, stronger and more defined body = peaceful spirit.

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