I'm a boredom eater, a stress eater, emotional eater, etc. One of the biggest challenges for me has been separating wanting to eat and feeling legitimately hungry. I was afraid to try and lose weight for so long because I just knew I'd be hungry all the time. And, quite honestly, being "hungry" has been something that I've struggled with. I put hungry in quotes because the "hunger" I struggle with on a day to day basis is a combination of true hunger, wanting to eat to pass time, wanting to eat more after a meal, dealing with cravings, wanting to eat at social events, etc. Tweaking my daily calories, finding an eating schedule and routine, and finding specific foods and fiber/protein/fat ratios has pretty much eliminated my actual physiological hunger. Buuut, I'm still left with the rest of my "hunger." And even when it's not true hunger, it still feels like it. My mouth waters, I get food-on-the-brain, my tummy rumbles. I truly feel hungry, even though I may have just eaten a balanced nutritious meal. This is why I must rely on calorie counting instead of intuitive eating.
I am learning to differentiate between hungry and "hungry." I have to consciously go through a mental checklist to determine the source of the desire to eat. When did I eat last? What did I eat last? Have I worked out especially hard today? Is it that TOM? Am I bored? Am I craving something unhealthy but delicious or would I be willing to eat stale bread to satiate my hunger? Etc. Usually I can deduce that I am not truly hungry, but I'm just wanting food for whatever reason. If I am truly hungry, then I feel it's only fair to feed myself.
Another thing that has helped me immensely is fasting once a week. And I'm not advocating fasting, not suggesting other people should do it, but it has helped me on more of a psychological level than anything. I simply do not eat between my last meal on Saturday and 7pm on Sunday. About a 24-hour fast. Then I eat a normal dinner and usually an evening snack on Sunday. The first few times I did this, it was very mentally challenging. I do not normally eat breakfast and my first meal everyday is at noon-ish. But on my first fasting day, I felt like I was starving by 9am. It was totally a mental thing...I felt deprived and terrified that I wouldn't be able to eat. You're probably wondering why I put myself through this mental torture, lol. But it got better. After awhile, I had almost an epiphany along the lines of "okay, I'm not eating, but I actually feel....normal and just fine. Wow!" Now my Sundays are just part of my weekly routine, it's not a big deal at all. In fact, I ALWAYS have my best workouts on Sunday afternoons. I just feel fresh, focused, and energetic. It has completely changed my perspective on feeling hungry. Again, I'm not advocating that anybody fast for weight loss purposes. At this point, I do it for the mental refocus it gives me. (And before anybody preaches to me about starvation mode, first of all, that's not what this thread is about...second, I've done enough research on metabolism to feel confident that I'm not harming my metabolism any)
So what about you? Are you afraid of the hunger feeling? Can you easily differentiate between true physiological hunger and "hunger?" What are your strategies for dealing with "hunger?"
I struggled with all of the things you mentioned. It's how I got fat. I firmly believe that if I could become an intuitive eater, I'd be fine now that I know to make healthier choices, because it was all the eating when I wasn't hungry that piled on the pounds. I always thought I couldn't tell when I got hungry either, until I started cutting back on the food and actually let myself get hungry. Now, it's pretty easy for me to tell true hunger, but that doesn't make it any easier to say no when I just want to eat. Occasionally I still eat when I'm not hungry, when I've given in, which I try not to do. I very often want to eat when I'm not hungry. And I think a lot of us will always struggle with it to some degree. I try not to let myself get hungry anymore; I'm a big fan of the smaller meals more often idea and I choose foods that keep me satisfied until the next mealtime. If I truly feel hungry I'll snack in between, but that's a rare thing. 98% of the time, it's just something sounding good or me wanting to eat out of boredom/sadness/something.
I generally fast for about 24 hours each week, from Friday night to Saturday night, not really on purpose, but just because I work out for about 4 1/2 to 5 hours Saturday morning to afternoon, and don't get around to dinner until around 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m.
I don't typically feel hungry during that time. But when I do feel hungry? I always eat. I'll even stop and buy a protein shake at the gym if I find myself hungry while working out. I'm not one to embrace my growling stomach. But I am careful to differentiate between true hunger and the other reasons I sometimes want to eat. I've found that I won't eat all morning and afternoon if I am shopping or running around town. I don't get hungry. So I know that I don't have to eat that often, and that when I do find myself wanting to eat constantly it's for reasons other than real hunger. This has helped me to stay out of the snack box at work. I'm someone who likes to eat just three times a day.
Last edited by Petite Powerhouse; 09-06-2010 at 05:54 PM.
Back then I used to binge so much that I didn't even know what hunger felt like. I think that's the main reason my lap band failed. I would make food judgements with the eyes and the Id, not with whether or not I actually needed to eat.
Now, I've noticed a bad habit that, when I do get hungry, I want to eat everything! More more more! I overestimate how much it will take me fill up. That's the worst time for temptation for me. But I've learned to tell myself that those feelings are false, and will go away as soon as I've had a snack.
I want to caution any who might try fasting. It may work for some, many religious practices observe days of fasting, but for people with eating disorders this can be dangerous in many ways. The one that comes first to mind is that mindset of deprivation. This may set someone up for a major binge. I find it best to FUEL my body frequently throughout the day to keep hunger at bay.
That said, I squelched the hunger demon by FEEDING it, not depriving it, six times every day. If it's not "feeding time", I don't eat, period. There's no boredom eating when eating six meals a day because there's no snacking.
I've never been able to master "intuitive eating." I have a lot of trouble distinguishing "true" hunger from "false" hunger, and I thought I was doing something wrong.
Then I read several books that were very persuasive regarding the experience of hunger - that hunger is complex and there is no easy way to tell "real" hunger from "false" hunger, for many people.
For me, I often felt ravenously hungry, even when my stomach was full. Must be false hunger, right? Maybe, but it sure feels real at the time. I have discovered that carbohydrates ramp up my hunger, and the more refined/concentrated the source of carbs, the hungrier I get. I can label that hunger false, but it doesn't help me any, because it's so hard to avoid eating in that hunger-state (false or not) that it's easier to avoid concentrated sources of carbohydrates than it is to try to evaluate the legitimacy of my hunger.
For me, weight loss only happens when I'm controlling calories. I've had very little success with methods that rely on evaluating hunger cues.
That being said, when I'm eating very low carb, I can "forget" to eat. That doesn't happen, ever on a standard-cabohydrate diet. I can even be hungry and unaware of it (hubby notices it first, because it starts with irritablility).
Intuitive eating works well for many people, and it doesn't work for many others. I think like many things in weight loss (and life in general) different strategies work for different people.
I am a FAIL at intuitive eating. My body is pretty much always sending the signal to eat, and I'm pretty sure it is almost always full of it.
I don't seem to be able to recognize a normal amount of true regular hunger, though I do recognize the dizzy, went too long without food, "OMG I HAVE TO EAT RIGHT NOW" signal that very occasionally happens when I'm hiking for way too long without food and on relatively low calories.
But as for a normal "true hunger" I can't even differentiate between that and the fake hunger my body just enjoys sending out.
Thoughts on hunger?
