confusing "not stuffed" with "hungry"
 

For years I always ate so much that I never gave myself a chance to feel hungry. Now that I'm dieting, I'm not feeling stuffed like I used to feel after every meal, but I did eat enough, so it's almost like my body is confusing the "not stuffed" feeling with hunger...does that make sense? Can anyone relate?

Yes I used to eat to the point of being stuffed at every meal, so when I cut back on my portions it was weird at first. You get used to the feeling. Now if i do happen to stuff myself it's a sickly awful feeling. I find that a light satisfied feeling is many many times better that stuffed can't eat another bite feeling.

I can relate, also. When I eat a healthy portioned meal, afterwards, I feel an almost "uneasy" feeling. I think part of it is that when I eat healthy portions it is foreign to me because I am so used to stuffing myself.

I think for me stopping myself at a healthy portion is doing something different (breaking a negative habit) and that can make me feel "uneasy". I think, for me, the stuffed feeling is "known". I think my mind and body, in a way, is so programmed to WAIT for the stuffed feeling that is where the hungry comes into play.

I hope this makes some sense....

Bonnie

Bonnie, that definitely makes sense! I'm glad I'm not alone.....it's so weird. This whole thing is so weird. I'm just glad I have the chance to fix it.

I totally feel the same way, sometimes it just doesn't feel right to be satisfied and not stuffed.

I find that drinking a lot of water with a meal helps create the illusion, without the actual calories--maybe it's wrong to create it like that, I should just not do it, but I figure water is good, and that full feeling is very comforting to me.

I can totally relate, especially after stuffing myself at Christmas :^:

The bad thing is that at the moment my brain is always saying I'm hungry, when actually it's just confused. I'm hoping after a few weeks of healthy eating and exercise my body will adapt and get used to eating these smaller portions and me not filling my face!

Yes. I had this habit of, if I'm not actually stuffed/uncomfortably full, then without even thinking I'm rummaging for food. I find i helps to just notice it consciously, and decide to wait until I'm hungry. It's surprising how strong that habit is and how it can be hard to resist - I mean, I'm not even hungry, how can it be so hard to just not eat? :dizzy: But it is sometimes.

i've been doing good for the past few weeks and this night went a little overboard. overeating has always been my downfall. but i am learning.. albeit slowly, tonight i overate and now i feel sickly uncomfortable.. just a gross bloated feeling that i haven't had for a while. it definitely reinforced making good choices and *not* having to feel that way. really hard to break being that nearly everytime i ate for a few years i acheived that stuffed feeling. thankfully that positive reinforcement of not feeling gross when i eat reasonably - is easy to acheive, just a hard change to make after doing it the wrong way for so long.

I can definitely relate, and I was actually thinking about this today. It's almost like there's 2 levels for me--"hungry" and "stuffed".

I always could eat more than a man, I can put my father and husband to shame on cleaning my plate so eating the right amount is very hard for me. I enjoy...so to speak...feeling stuffed after eating. If I do not have that stuffed feeling I want to go back for 2nds so I also try and drink water during my meal and as soon as I am done eating I gulp a bit more just to make sure. It does seem to help me not eat as much...also chewing gum after dinner helps keep me from munching.

Growing up, we didn't have a lot. OK - many times we had next to nothing. I always cleaned my plate, or someone cleaned it for me. Actually, frequently if I wasn't eating fast enough, someone cleaned my plate for me before I'd finished.

It was a huge revelation to me when now-hubs pointed out to me that, during a period of stress, I'd stockpiled more food in our freezer than we two could eat - and we had to throw it away, eventually. I was so ashamed to be the witless cause of so much waste, I had to do some hard thinking about how growing up had affected my food issues. I used to horde food. I used to always finish my plate. I used to barely chew.

I threw sweet potatoes away last night because I was full, and hubs doesn't eat them, and they were already "past expiration date". I stared at them for a good 30 minutes before pitching them.
I used to always eat to the point of bursting. Hubs actually thinks it's an amazing trick, how much my brother and I can eat in one sitting. Years into our relationship, I finally explained to him that brother and I learned to eat like that because as children, I don't think we were ever positive we'd get a "next meal" that day, and if there was food, safest place for it was in your stomach.

Maybe you share some of these issues? I'm sorry, I'm not offering a solution. It's taken a few years to realize why I need to horde food, and why I can and too frequently do eat past the point of fullness. And after a few years to mull it over, I can throw away my last 3 bites of sweet potato.
It was an odd feeling. Not good, but not quite panic, either.

I completely understand. I'm feeling that way at the moment. I had a nice sized salad and one of those 330 calorie pasta meals and I'm feeling like I should go upstairs and get more food. I'm fighting it though.

After my meal I was satisfied. I knew I had eaten enough. But like you said, so used to being stuffed I can't even compute what it feels like to eat good portions.

Oh yes, the gum thing works for sure. I do this. When I feel like snacking but I know I'm not hungry the sweetness from the gum satisfies me until I really AM hungry.

:carrot:

I know how you feel. I eat through out the day and have fruits and veggies for snacks but I ALWAYS feel hungry. I'm so used to stuffing my face with anything and everything and eatting a lot that now that i've made my portions smaller I just always feel hungry and wonder if it will ever stop.

I've been adjusting to that myself. I was ravenous before dinner and had a 150 cal protein shake. For dinner a had a burger patty in a LC wrap with lots of lettuce and brussel sprouts on the side. I was still really hungry I thought. I decided I'd wait 30 min and eat if I was still hungry. It went away and I was a ok until about 9pm when I had a snack.

I think my strategy is going to have a portion then wait the 30 min and see.