If I am starving, I can power through. It doesn't bother me. Treats do not tempt me.

If I am just a little hungry, I can not pass up a treat!

It almost makes me afraid to eat! I am currently truly ravenous. I just walked past a plate of chocolate and actually turned my nose up at it. Um...I don't do that! LOL! But if I was just a little hungry, I wouldn't be able to turn it down.

I accidentally skipped breakfast yesterday and today. Yesterday it was because I thought I had a yogurt in the fridge at work, but I was mistaken. Today it was because I was in a different building and I KNEW I had a yogurt here! But someone threw it away! So here it is lunch time and I finally get to eat. But I don't really want it because I'm THAT hungry. Same thing yesterday.

I remember this pattern from my bad days in high school. I learned that about myself then too. I can manage real, true hunger. I can not manage a little hunger. Back then it led to really bad eating patterns.

Has anyone else experienced this or am I just backwards? It wouldn't surprise me. I'm backwards in everything else!

When I get super hungry, I get super picky, too. But then when it's time to eat, I have a hard time eating at a moderate pace and end up eating more than I should.

Nope, makes perfect sense.

Why do you suppose this happens?

I just ate, so my belly is now full, and NOW I want the chocolate. But I'll find something else to do.

I understand and it's frustrating for me too.


I have noticed that after eating and feeling full, I want to keep eating. I am sure that it is a learned behavior from the days that I would stuff food in. I must have associated "Happiness" with the really full/stuffed feeling in my stomach. I am working day by day to break the association.

This happens to me too. Although, it does depend on the situation. When i'm at home alone is different than eating with other people.(other than my kids, they aren't very observant)

when i'm alone(i'm alone everyday when the kids are at school), it's a trigger time for me. so i think when i'm really hungry i'm being extra picky to keep my cals low/healthy so i don't binge like so many times in the past.
when i'm really hungry with other people, i still guard against eating too much. i always did. i can't overeat like i do alone with someone watching and paying attention. so inaddition to eating less,now i'm trying harder not to gain wt, i try to eat healthy/low fat.

when we went apple picking my choices were few. we never sat down to a meal. my best choice was a dirty apple. eventually. i decided to just wait untill we got home. i ate some crackers, salmon packet, and things that were quick, and logged it. i think it was only 300 something cal.
i'm still amazed i wasn't going mad from being hungry that day. but i didn't feel super hungry. i think it really helped that we were busy always walking around and doing things. Kept my mind distracted.

I'm the same exact way!!! So I totally understand. Maybe it's because when we're truly ravenous, our bodies are like, "that chocolate is NOT going to cut it, I need nutrients and filling food..." but once we've satisfied the cravings, and our bodies aren't demanding nutrition anymore, our taste buds and memories kick in, and we begin to think "mmmmm, yum, I could eat some chocolate." Maybe when we're only a bit hungry, our bodies aren't really making any demands on us, so chocolate and snack food, seems more attractive on a mental and taste-satisfying level. I really don't know, though... I'm just guessing. It IS strange though...

I'm the same way. I think Toasted hit something on the head there.

Right now, I'm slightly hungry because I'm eating lunch a bit later today. (it's my late day at work.) The cinnamon rolls someone brought in are tempting me more and more and makes my lunch sound disgusting. (I have a huge salad in the fridge with broccoli, carrots, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and celery. With a nectarine for dessert. Yum.)

I think it's time for lunch.

I'm really glad to see it's not just me! I have thought for ages that I'm just plain weird. I'm not physically hungry (like EVER) but I'm mentally hungry. And if I've recently eaten it's harder and harder to tell myself no, but if it's been a while since breakfast and lunch is only 30 minutes away, I can pass. . .most of the time.

Thanks for bringing this up!

I know EXACTLY how you feel. It's the reason I now eat the way I do. I'll have something for breakfast (I usually can't stomach anything in the morning but if I don't eat something, I'm very sleepy so I go with a waffle or two) and then the rest of the day I'll see if I'm hungry... like "hunger pangs" hungry. If I am, I eat and find that I'm satisfied with a moderate amount of food. I don't binge like I end up doing if I'm eating every couple hours when I'm only craving something.