For the past few days, I've been battling a terrible thing (I'm being quite sarcastic here, with a little hint of truth). This thing comes around every once in awhile, but usually it comes with explanation (hello, Mother Nature!). However, this thing of late is out of the ordinary. This thing is hunger.

For the past week or so, I've been ravenously hungry all the time. Occasionally I get this way when it's that time of the month so I eat a little extra and go on my way. But this time, I'm perplexed. And annoyed.

Is it the extra exercise? Have I been skipping lunch? Am I not consuming enough calories in general? I'm quite annoyed because food is such an integral part of everything.

Food is expensive. Food is time-consuming. Food spikes blood sugars. Food can lower blood sugars (by this, I mean crazy crashes after boluses). Food is life. But now, food is just plain annoying.

I don't want to be hungry. I don't want to feel like I'm starving all the time. I don't want to hear my stomach growl in the middle of silence one more time. I don't want to waste another penny on all this extra food that my stomach seems to be craving.

I'm not so perplexed as I might imply. I'm pretty sure that this increase in hunger is from all the changes I've made lately to lose a few pounds. After all, I've increased my exercise routines. I'm also walking quite a distance every day for summer school (why do I attend a 5000 acre university again?). So my body is quickly turning into lean muscle (which speeds up my metabolism). And on top of all that, I've been trying to eat smaller portions and consume better food choices.

So of course, my body is crying out in pain. It's hungry!!! I'm just perplexed by what to do. If I increase my calorie intake, I run the risk of not losing weight as well as increasing my blood sugars (which what-do-ya-know run lower when you burn things quicker). I'm just tired of being hungry.

I've been adding a few extra calories into my diet when I can't stand the hunger anymore (usually at midnight when I'm climbing into bed and my stomach is already totally empty from my dinner at eight). But I don't know what that's doing to my body. I haven't seen too many terrible spikes over night (actually I've seen a few drops now that I think about it). And my weight is still down a few pounds.

Does this mean that I should quell my rumbling tummy and eat another meal today? Or does it mean that I need to stick it out until I adjust to extra calorie burning and not start in on anymore extra calorie consumptions?

A personal trainer I know gave me the advice to wait a week to see if my stomach adjusts to this new metabolism. If not, start digging in! (Okay, those weren't his exact words, but I'm paraphrasing here!) I don't think I'll wait tonight though...too hungry to even think.