[fitx35]

Wondering if I'm the only one who doesn't want to fill up on tons of veggies to feel "full". I've never liked feeling full to begin with (I'm a grazer by nature), but I worry about becoming psychologically dependent on the full sensation. I'd rather just teach my body and mind that x amount of food is enough and I don't need to feel full to survive. Has anybody else gone about it this way? Is there just a point where that attitude won't work anymore with calorie restriction and I'll feel compelled to stuff myself?

[AndreaMarie]

Wish i could help.... I LOVE feeling full, hence my love of veggies. I think you will still have really good success though dieting, at least you won't be prone to binging!

[MariaMaria]

I think part of it is how we define full.

I want to feel not hungry. To me that's full. And when I'm eating how I should be I get there with mostly vegetables. Overstuffed? Nah.

[sontaikle]

I find that I don't like feeling full either. I've trained myself to do what you want to do: learn how much is enough and eat just that.

What I find that helps is I eat until I'm satisfied It's very easy to do if you don't like feeling full and sometimes what I think is enough food is more than what my body needs!

[Queen Sarah]

I like feeling full, and if I'm full on veggies, it subsides after awhile, so I don't worry about stuffing myself on zucchini.

I don't like feeling stuffed silly. That can be very uncomfortable. But I can't imagine feeling that way eating mostly vegetables. That's a pasta and cheese thing!

[carter]

Everyone is different. If you don't like feeling full, I can't imagine that changing your food choices for the healthier will suddenly make you start to like feeling full!

I am definitely a "stuff yourself with vegetables" person - but I love eating, and enjoy having a great big plate of food to eat. So, one of the tactics I have used in my weight loss is to find ways to continue taking pleasure in eating a great big volume of food, while cutting my calories. Enormous servings of vegetables is a big part of that. But that is me, addressing my own eating habits and finding ways to make sustainable changes to those habits that let me keep enjoying some of what I enjoy about eating. If what you enjoy is different, your strategies will of course be different as well.

Since you are a grazer, you will probably want to find ways to incorporate lots of smaller, healthy snacks into your day. Strategies that other people use to allow themselves to enjoy big meals aren't relevant to you, if you are not a big-meal sort of person to begin with. But there is no reason why eating healthier or trying to restrict your calories will transform you from a grazer into a big-meal person.

[nicolebug]

u know there was an interview and sara evans does the same thing and that's how her and her mom stay thin, they listen to their stomach

[fitx35]

Thank you everyone for your input! Calorie counting is totally new to me. On the surface it's simple enough, but I'm still intimidated by it. There's a lot for me to think about with eating habits.

Originally Posted by carter

Strategies that other people use to allow themselves to enjoy big meals aren't relevant to you, if you are not a big-meal sort of person to begin with. But there is no reason why eating healthier or trying to restrict your calories will transform you from a grazer into a big-meal person.

This is a good point. Since I started this, I've tried to switch to three meals for the simplicity of tracking, but it hasn't really worked that way. What I've realized is that I was absently eating too often (I stay at home with my kids). So I was really hoping to stop grazing completely, but maybe I should focus on one habit at a time and just work on grazing less/smarter instead of wiping it out completely.


Nicolebug - Thank you! Just looked up that article. What she's doing sounds a lot like what I've been doing this past week, except I'm also counting calories in my head before I put anything in my mouth.