Whenever I've indulged in weeks and weeks of gluttony, eating whatever I feel like, I've forgotten what hunger actually feels like. I actually begin to miss the feeling of hunger.
My advice is to choose your eating plan wisely and then embrace the feeling of hunger. Eating plans are highly individual. Some like low calorie, some like low fat, others like low-carb healthy-fat (LCHF). You should research, discuss with your doctor and once you've found an eating plan that fits with your lifestyle, celebrate the little moments you feel hunger because this is a sign to you that you are in control. Overeating is probably 95% psychological, similar to smoking. Nicotine leaves our system in 4 days. But smokers crave cigarettes long after nicotine has physically left their bodies. Same with overeating. We think hunger is the trigger for eating. It's actually much more psychological than that. Hunger is what happens when we're shrinking our stretched tummies.
Now don't get me wrong. Some people go overboard on unwise eating plans and therefore experience unrealistic hunger. Don't do that to yourself. Do the research online, talk with people, get as much support as you need.
When I first started, I ate a certain sized bowl of food every hour. I didn’t get hungry, and it allowed my stomach to slowly contract. I eventually got to eating a coffee cup sized every three hours. I was able to switch them from the higher calorie stuff to lower calorie.
I am on the same search- looking for something to help with appetite control. I have come to the conclusion that there are two types of appetite- regular appetite and atypical appetite. I view regular appetite as one that is controllable by straightforward practical actions such as drinking water or filling up on vegetables.
I view atypical appetite as being vastly unaddressed by current dieting advice/experts, beyond emotional eating, and exceptionally difficult to control. Unless someone has experienced it directly, they will never understand it. There was a time when I have had a nice meal with a positive emotional atmosphere. Afterward, my body was telling me I was hungry - not just hungry but starving. It lasted for five hours.
For me, my major issue is fatigue. I worked with a dietitian who pointed out that until I can end the energy seeking behavior (i.e. seeking out and eating high sugar foods because I am fatigued), I will not be able to lose weight. Recently, I have started taking some supplements (vit. D, omega-3, CoQ10) specifically geared toward addressing my fatigue. It seems to have reduced my appetite and helps me be able to control what I eat.
Long story short, I can't help but wonder if specific nutritional deficiencies drives appetites that are difficult to control.
I was reading some of the newest research in the medical journals and what it basically says is that if you have been obese and you lose weight, you are going to have to accept higher levels of hunger than a person who was never obese. It is related to ghrelin levels. The exception is if you lose weight via gastric bypass surgery, which seems to permanently reduce ghrelin levels. To me, finding out his information helped me. I always felt like I was doing something wrong when I would get really hungry about a month after I was losing weight. My skinny friends weren't always hungry like I was. But this is just part of my physiology that I have to accept...I will always have more hunger than many of my friends do. It has made me view hunger in a different light. It isn't the real hunger that signals my body is wasting away (my brain always reacts like it is). It is an endocrine glitch and I won't die. Learning to accept it helps me to dismiss the feeling sometimes.
But sometimes I can't dismiss it. I especially cannot go to bed hungry. I waste way too much time trying to fall asleep when my stomach is growling. Sometimes I air pop some popcorn and spritz it with butter spray. A few Saltines with peanut butter also fills me up a lot relative to the calories. My friend who has lost 120 pounds swears by canned soup (Progresso Vegetable). I've also been eating a lot of veggies. It's amazing how many green peppers, cucumbers, and carrots you can fill yourself up with for less than 100 calories. Whatever you decide to try, good luck!
So, I was on weight watchers for a while (when I had the money to pay for it), and something that helped was you could basically eat all the fruits and veggies you wanted- or if you were trying to get more protein rather than carbs even a plain chicken breast was ok. The goal was to keep you from getting to that hunger point where you eat something worse for you. Of course if you went around eating like a bushel of apples, or if you were loading up salad with croutons/dressing that kind of defeats the purpose. In my case- I usually grab a miniature orange if I'm hungry, its not many calories and its so strong in flavor that it really helps.
The second factor is psychological- and similar to what Follena was talking about above.
When you're hungry just take a second to focus on that sensation. For me- really focusing on that feeling makes me feel more in control of it. I know for me eating really has been an addiction. I've dealt with trauma my entire life and ever since childhood I've compensated through binge eating and comfort food. It does usually take a few weeks for the "withdrawal" symptoms of over eating to go away. Just finding something healthy to replace it can also help. Ironically working out helps me with my food cravings--- I think its the adrenaline! But also, the mindset of "I JUST DID ALL THAT WORK!!! I don't want to waste it by eating more than I need to."
And as others of mentioned- water really does do wonders!
Good luck!
Hunger
water
