Never feeling full.
 

I'm hoping that someone can help me shed a little light on this. I feel as though no matter how much I eat or what I eat that I'm ever full. This morning I didn't have time for breakfast so I grabbed a jimmy dean sausage, egg, cheese bagel. I ate this with almost a bottle of water, and in 30 minutes I was hungry again. So I had a snack of whole grain crackers with a little peanut butter. Not even an hour later I felt like I was starving and had lunch. It was pasta in marinara sauce with peas and chicken then a greek yogurt. I felt full and stopped eating, but sure enough maybe 1 hour to 1.5 hours later I was starving again. I instead went to work out and ran for about an hour. I ate a protein bar after my workout but I was, yet again, very hungry. I cooked steaks for a friend and I on the grill and I had my steak plain with green beans. However less than 30 minutes after I ate this huge steak I'm hungry again.

This happens almost on a daily basis. I initially thought that it was boredom. I just got out of a relationship and I'm home alone constantly. However today I worked all day and then spent the rest of the day with friends or family. This is the first time that I've been alone all day, so I know I can't be bored.

I've tried drinking more water to see if I'm just thirsty and not hungry, but that didn't work either. Is it possible that my body just doesn't know how to feel full?? I asked my doctor to prescribe appetite suppressants to see if that would help however he wouldn't. I'm pretty frustrated right now :(

I think it's definitely possible that you produce too much of the hunger hormone (ghrelin) or too little of the satiety hormone (leptin).

Some diet tweaks might help though. Have you tried avoiding all carbs until, say, dinner time? Carbs at breakfast can set me off to being hungrier than usual all day.

Not to put out a scary thought, but are you sure you're not pregnant?

There are a number of things it could be. There are psychological exercises you can do that will allow you to rate your levels of hunger and fullness, as we often have these mixed up when we are dieting (see Becks Diet Solution as an example). We confuse our body during the weight gain period and it takes a while for us to relearn signals when we are eating healthy. It may be that now you are eating less the body sends hungry signals based on returning to old weight rather than meeting current needs. This will signal you to eat more often than your lean body weight requires.

Possible issues might include thyroidism which can create a need for higher energy levels (as well as lower) and would be detected in a blood test. Ulcers can create feelings like hunger pangs that seem to settle when you eat but will return quickly and this can be done with a breath test is some cases. You may also have an imbalance in the leptin/Grehlin appetite regulation process and this may settle of it's own accord over time.

I haven't tried avoiding carbs until dinner but that's something I can easily try. I usually eat 2 scrambled eggs with a piece of whole grain toast and natural peanut butter. That seems to keep me full for hours. But lately nothing is helping. I'm definitely not pregnant though.. unless it's immaculate conception haha.

I do have hypothyroidism but that's being treated with NatureThroid. I was on Synthroid for a while and it didn't help my energy levels at all, but the NatureThroid does. I could talk to my doctor about the ulcer though. Is there a way to test for imbalances in the Leptin/Grehlin ratios?

Have you had your thyroid levels checked while on the NatureThroid? It may be a good idea just to be sure you're not overcorrecting your hypothyroidism with the supplemental hormone.

Are you on birth control? Yasmin made me ravenous!