question about hunger
 

First, congrats to all you maintainers. I hope to be one some day!

My question is if and when do you reach a point when you are no longer hungry all the time. Someone I know recently made the comment that she is not hungry all the time any more. She eats small meals and they fill her up and she is not hungry in between the meals--at least not excessively--and has lost maybe about 30 pounds recently (I'd guess about 180 pounds or more down to 150 lbs). Now she had a little "help." She had her top row of teeth pulled and temperary fake ones put in place so eating was difficult (liquid/soft diet for the first several weeks) But she said that she is now no longer hungry whereas before this she would be hungry every minute of the day. It took a couple months for her to reach that point.

So has anyone else noticed a point when they were no longer hungry? When it was no longer a struggle to resist food or large meals. I would just like to hear that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I know most people with weight problems struggle there whole lives, but it would give me motivation to know that some day it would be easier to resist food.

Thanks,
Katie

Sure. Lots of people have.

I've craved unhealthy foods on and off but I've never been mostly hungry most of the time.

My sense is that this varies from person to person. I don't think I've regularly been starving all day (I try to eat throughout the day), but I do get hungry frequently. Eating "healthy" foods low in sugar and high in protein/fiber seems to help me.

I normally eat every 2 hours, deliberately before I get hungry. I am occasionally "snacky" but if I stop to consider what I am really feeling it is often boredom. I recognized a long time ago that I tend to eat when I get bored.

Are you eating enough calories a day? Maybe you could eat foods with more volume? I've also found that protein + fat is a very filling combination for me (like an apple with natural peanut butter or a piece of low fat string cheese with 1/4 cup almonds).

I have some days that I feel hungry all day and other days that I just don't seem hungry at all. I have noticed that if I cheat and eat sweets the next couple days I will crave a lot more food. Forcing myself to get back on track is usually what "cures" my desire to overeat.

At a more general level, I think that you quickly become accustomed to not feeling stuffed after eating. I used to have to feel really, really full to be satisfied by a meal; during the dieting process, I became used to feeling satisfied at a lower level of fullness. I think this is both psychological and physical. Your mind stops telling you that you need to eat until you're stuffed, and at the same time, your tummy shrinks a little bit when you stop putting so much in it.

I think the difficulty with maintaining is continuing to make smart choices, and not blowing your daily calorie budget on fatty or sugary foods, rather than fighting hunger. You shouldn't ever be really hungry, even eating 1200 calories a day. (Psychological hunger, of course, is another matter.)

I have hunger days and other days when I don't really get too hungry. I believe that if I sleep well, I'm less hungry than days after I have a bad night's sleep.

For example, I was up at 2:30 this morning and never got back to sleep and when I got up at 5 AM, I was instantly hungry. Usually I'm not hungry until about 7 AM (and there are times when I actually have to force myself to eat breakfast as I'm just not hungry). Today, I've had a big breakfast, 2 cups of coffee, more than a liter of water AND my morning snack already and it's only 9:30!

Yesterday, I had had a great night's sleep. I had a light breakfast and didn't even have my morning snack and before I knew it, it was lunch time! I wasn't too hungry at all! Then I went all afternoon without a snack and I didn't miss it at all (I had a snack, but DS was hungry after school and I gave it to him as we were on our way to his Karate class and I figured he needed it for strength!).

I try to not be hungry. I eat almost every two hours and try to cut off hunger before it really starts, since otherwise I will overeat. When I first started losing I used meal replacement bars for lunch, which have special chemicals to make you feel full. They helped me get to the point where my stomach felt full on less food, but I wouldn't recommend them since they can cause other digestive problems.

There are a few things to try to make yourself less hungry:
- eat more frequently, but smaller portions
- eat food with more fiber and protein, which is more filling
- snack on low-cal items like carrots or salad when you get hungry

I believe most people can lose weight without being hungry all the time. It just takes careful planning!

Thanks for all the tips.

Glory87 said something true about me--I eat when I'm bored. I definitely need to work on that.

I try to eat every few hours, but my job makes that difficult. I'm a pharmacist and sometimes almost the whole day will have gone by and it's so busy that I haven't eaten anything! Let alone eating every 2 or 3 hours. So I'm trying to keep healthy snacks on hand--cut up veggies and nuts--cause if I don't eat at work, I'm ravenous afterwards!

I just hope I get to a point where my stomach has shrunk and it doesn't take as much to satisfy me.

I'm a collapsed maintainer :)

When I was maintaining (even now... I've been "maintaining" a 5KG weight loss since December) I had hungry days and I had not so hungry days. I think everyone is different. Like Lilybelle depending on what kind of day I've had... the NEXT day I can be ravenous! It's taken me a long time though, to find out what works and what doesn't... more protein, less protein, no bread, no sugar, food-combining, eating for my ayurvedic type... the list goes on.

Basically, I don't think there is a real straightforward, average answer here. If you think you are hungry, you could start a dialogue with yourself, "Am I *really* hungry? What is it that I want? Am I bored? Am I thirsty? Am I wanting something because everyone else is having something" Through losing, maintaining, collapsing, and starting over again I've learned A LOT about myself and most of the time I can stop myself from NON-hungry eating if I just have a little conversation with myself. This is, of course, only my experience :)

Struggling with food/temptations/over-eating is something that takes time and a concious effort to overcome. Hunger is a different issue (in my opinion) ~ will I ALWAYS have to question myself...? I hope not :)

I really think everyone is different. I eat 5 times a day, nutritionally well balanced meals. I'd say that 90% of the time, I'm STARVING by the end of the day, and I'm always hungry for my next meal. Lots of people have told me to eat more, but I gain weight if I eat more. I'm not boredom hungry, I'm not head hungry- I'm starving hungry. I go to bed. Once in a while I'll have a tablespoon or two of yougurt and cottage cheese so I can get to sleep.

It's been 5 and a half years- conventional wisdom would say that my body should have adjusted by now, but it really wants to go back to being a whole lot bigger. I've kind of learned to adjust to the feeling. If I'm hungry, I know my metabolism is working, I'm not gaining, my clothes are going to fit. I have to see the upside to this!

Mel

I have hungry days and not so hungry days. But overall, I'm ALWAYS physically hungry by my next planned meal and I'm usually a little hungry, although not ravenous, when I go to bed. However, I could always eat more so I have to plan and stop when I've eaten my portions. This feeling never goes away, but like Mel said, I'm not gaining and I feel good about myself so it's worth it. I'm not one to "forget" to eat.

Mel,

I know you and Meg say the same thing that you are usually very hungry and if you ate by your hunger levels, then you'd gain weight. I know it isn't an isolated phenomenon. I'm not as aware of the research as I know you both are but I wonder, is your body fighting to regain 10 lbs? 20 lbs? 100 lbs? I know its not a simple answer and since you don't eat to follow your physical hunger, you don't really know. I just wonder if those that are obese/morbidly obese that lose weight (and I believe Meg says the term is reduced obese) have bodies that want them to be simply overweight or do they want to be obese again?

When I was 287 lbs and all through the journey up to get there, I always said I had the biggest appetite on the planet. I was a bottomless pit and never satisfied. But looking back, I now know that was utter and complete nonsense. You don't get to be 287 lbs by just going back for seconds one time too many. You get there by overeating all day long, day after day. And that meant, at least for me - THAT YOU EAT WHETHER YOU ARE HUNGRY OR NOT. I didn't want to or care to recognize that for a loooong time. I just ate - to eat, whether from boredom, anger, frustration, celebration or the like. At some point I believe it just became habit.

I can honestly say that now I am hardly ever hungry. I can't stand the feeling of being hungry. That headache-y, gnawing feeling. Hate it. So I eat every 2 hours or so. I really am usually very satisfied hunger-wise on my calorie allotment, amazing, but true. It took me about 3 weeks into my journey to get to that point. Man those first few weeks were HARD. But that does not change the fact that there are days when I just feel like eating, just to - eat. There are days where I am very, very munch-y. And those days are difficult. Whether it's stress, boredom, or whatever it really messes me up and it's a struggle to stay on plan. Eventually it does pass though. I have learned not to give into that feeling (for the most part that is).

When I was on my old medication, I was starving hungry all the time and I overate and never was able to satisfy the hunger. That's how I packed the 50 pounds on my small frame.

Now, on the new med, I'm rarely hungry and have to remind myself that it is time to eat lunch and dinner. I eat better when my DH is around because his foraging in the kitchen reminds me to eat and he expects me to make him dinner. When he's not here, I can go for hours without realizing I haven't eaten.

When I do overeat now, it's either due to boredom or thinking something would taste good if I ate it (happened last night with an apple and peanut butter ~ can't wait until that jar is finished!) or I'm around family members and I overeat because I'm anxious.

Mel ~ I really admire your ability to go to bed hungry. That's something I still can't do. Usually, one slice of bread helps me, but that's a 100 calories that can wipe out the amount of exercise I did that day.