Confirmations and Discoveries
 

I got busy and took a few days off from 3fc. After spending the previous two weeks completely off work, this last week I had a few work tasks, a few errands, and a few fun activities keeping me busy. During those three weeks, I discovered or rediscovered a few things:

(1) Eating too high a proportion of carbs makes me really, ready-to-eat-the-wallpaper hungry. I received a gift of fruit and discovered that an apple or a pear is a really bad snack for me.

(2) I need to eat some fat to feel satiated. I've had stretches of several days in the last three weeks when I ended up doing mini-binges (yes, plural) because I was so darn hungry. I should have noticed sooner that I was eating way too little fat.

During the week before Christmas and New Year's, I decided to use a few fast food coupons. I used to eat quite a bit of carefully chosen fast food early in my new lifestyle but have phased out most of it. During the week of eating more fast food, I was surprised to find that, despite the fact that my meals had lower volume, they were keeping me satisfied until the next meal. It was a good booster shot reminder. I don't know if I'll make it a point to eat more fast food, but I will make it a point to eat more fat.

(3) Sadly, perhaps, I still like the feeling of being noticeably full (but not stuffed). However, if I can avoid the hunger pangs, I am not tempted to eat until I reach this point.

(4) I seem to be OK with chocolate in the refrigerator in small, individually wrapped portions. Chocolate in large bars or other snack-type foods in large containers seem to be more problematic. I've mentioned in other posts that one or two small pieces of chocolate seem to be good for me for scratching the itch, without triggering a physical craving.

Between being less busy and struggling with hunger pangs, I've eaten more than planned, but it hasn't been ridiculous, and I still plan to pay it back. Now that I've reminded myself how to keep the hunger under control and I'll be busier again, I think it will be much easier to stay on plan.

One food I think I'll be eating more is cheese balls/logs. I found today that 5 oz of cheese log and a pear (650 calories) made a very nice lunch--I was a little hungry five hours later, but not the kind of hunger that Must Be Obeyed.

Sometimes I feel like a chemistry experiment!

Hey Oboegal,
maybe try adding some peanut butter or almond butter to your fruit, I love an apple or banana or pear spread with either of these for some satiety & both are good fats! :) Or sometimes I have some almonds shoved into a banana or almonds shoved into orange flavored prunes, these taste like candy to me!
Or eat your fruit addded to a Greek yogurt.

You know what I find? I have hungry days and I have days where I don't want to eat. Lately I've been going with it. Is that intuitive eating? I'm not sure. But I figure as long as I have both kinds of days in the week, it works out in the end, and has sped up my loss. Weekends tend to be days that I don't feel like eating, especially if I'm busy. I have to remember to sit down and eat. I might get 800 calories in if I'm lucky. I used to freak out about this. But then there are 1500 calorie days in there too, days when I just can't seem to eat enough.

It's nice to figure ourselves out, isn't it? :)

I used to eat fast food ALOT.....like everytime I left the house I'd pick up a burger from the dollar menu :o

But I cut it out almost completely too for awhile.....Now that I am at my goal, or a bit below, I have started eating a little bit of fast food here and there. And I have definitely noticed that it keeps me full for a long time. I worry about the calories when I'm eating it but then it keeps me full for so long that it kind of evens out by the end of the day.

Nice list. I have come up with some patterns that are non-coincidences for myself too...

1.) I too get insatiably hungry when I eat carbs - particularly white rice which sadly is the entire staple of the Japanese diet. Pasta is okay. Bread is slippery.

2.) If I eat rice I WILL be heavier the next morning, yet binging on chocolate or peanut butter doesn't have that same effect.

3.) Having peanut butter in the house is really dangerous, but only if I have bread too.

4.) I never eat as many eggs as I think I can eat, so I need to stop buying so many.

I think the realization that "cheap carbs are not satisfying" has been something that only recently dawned on me. I used to say that I'd eat several donuts, or 4 pop tarts, because I have a "sweet tooth". No, it's because stuff like that is not satisfying. You have to keep snacking on it, until you're actually full (or sense a sugar spike coming on.)

I started looking at the caloric values of things about a year ago, but just within the last month began looking at the fiber values. I'm finding now that when I realize something has negligible fiber (crackers, cookies) that I lose interest in purchasing it. It won't be filling - so why bother?

Regarding the full feeling, I like that, too. I've discovered if I drink a 16 oz glass of water AFTER my meal, it gives me that full I'm-so-stuffed-I-couldn't-eat-another-bit even if I ate a very small meal. Drinking the water before the meal doesn't help at all. But after gives me that full feeling long enough for me to stop nibbling and move on to something else.

I had an insight last week. I came home from town and ate some chocolate chip cookies, then opened up a loaf of bread and ate several slices with butter. That was one of my old habits before I lost weight. I'm about 50 lbs lighter now, but after eating those cookies and that bread, I felt as fat and sluggish as I used to feel. I thought I had so much more energy on account of losing weight, but then I realized it wasn't just that I'd lost weight, I had more energy because I was eating better. That was a turning point for me and I've been back on track (and feeling much more energetic) ever since.

Great thread Oboegal!

One thing I know for sure: If I am at home and writing intensely or researching for my work, I find my hunger pains are out of this world, even though I am sitting on my butt! I have to get out of the house, the fridge calls my name if I don't.... it can be such a distraction!