It sounds so simplistic, but today I realized that hunger is just a feeling. And feelings... pass. They are not permanent. Just like sadness and happiness, nothing is constant and hunger is just.a.feeling.

That's not to say it doesn't mean anything. It is your body's way of telling you that your body is in need of fuel. And hunger is good for you. You know why? Because it means you ate "correctly".

You know, for the longest time I would complain about dieting. Because I was always "hungry." And half the time, that hunger feeling wasn't even hunger. It was emotional hunger. I was bored, stressed, etc. But one of my biggest gripes about dieting was hunger. I hated it. It sucked. And I would constantly restrict myself because it wasn't time to eat yet, etc.

But you know what? All those times I wasn't dieting or watching what I ate.. I was never hungry. Why? Because I never let myself get hungry. I always over ate. Eating because it was time to eat. Eating because I was bored or sad. Eating because someone else was eating. It's 12 o clock? Oh! Time to eat! It's 3:30, oooh! Time for a snack. And because I was eating even though I wasn't hungry, not only was I continuing to over eat (because my body technically didn't need food) but I never let my body feel hunger. I never let my body tell me that it needed fuel.

So feeling hunger is GREAT! I mean, there is a point in time where if I ignore or put off my hunger I start to feel horrible. I get grumpy and feel nauseated. But that means I let the hunger go too far. (And of course, that is when I get ravenous and will eat anything that itsn't tied down!) But feeling hunger (which is for me, my stomach starts talking and grumbling "Feed me!) between meals is great because it means I didn't overeat at my last meal or snack.

Isn't that what we want? It is a surefire way to know how you are doing on your weight loss journey. Say It's almost lunch time... are you starting to get hungry? That's is AWESOME then! It's how it's supposed to be! We should be listening to our bodies. Not the clock on the wall! We should be eating until satisfied and eating when hungry. Not because it's in front of us or because it's 12!

It's an awesome realization that hunger is just a feeling. And it is a good feeling, because it means you are on the right track. And that makes it even better.

/rant

Just thought I'd share

LR

I LOVE this post. So true!! Thanks for sharing.

Great post! Thanks for sharing!

I think hunger means one of two things. either you are eating the wrong things, or you have the sort of metabolic problems with fat storage Gary Taubes describes so well in Why We Get Fat.

you can lose an incredible amount of weight without hunger. if you are hungry, eat more fat and less carbs.

after you have lost a great deal, the hormone adjustments kick in and it gets harder to avoid the hunger, but most everyone should be good for the first 6 months or 50 lb or so. good luck!

Actually, getting in tune with how your hunger feels and understanding that it is JUST a feeling, is terrific, isn't it??

In order to lose weight and keep it off permanently, I had to let myself experience what hunger really felt like. Previously, I ate whenever and whatever I wanted. Like a spoiled child, I could not tell myself "no". Allowing myself to feel hunger and realize that I wouldn't die from feeling hunger was very freeing for me. It sounds like it may be for you as well. I don't suggest letting yourself get too hungry, IYKWIM, because that could easily lead to binging. However, allowing the hunger button to be turned on occasionally can allow those of us who are or have been obese, to develop a new tool in our fight against fat. It's okay to feel hungry, just like every other feeling and emotion.
Thanks for sharing with us.

Yup! I know what you are saying! I recently realized that hunger was not something to panic over. It is not something to fear! IN FACT, I find food tastes MUCH better when I am hungry.

As you eat less, you body adjusts to be satisfied on less food. Often when I think I feel hungry, if I wait a bit, the feeling passes. I agree you can't let yourself get too hungry, but I realized that I am certainly not going to starve to death. If I am that hungry, it is either just about meal time... or I can just have a snack!

I don't think hunger means metabolic problems! You are supposed to experience hunger. It is how your body tells you when it needs more fuel. i think some people are able to eat in such a way that they can lose and not get hungry, but I am not one of those lucky people. I realized early on that in order to lose weight I am going to have to experience hunger from time to time. I got fat because I didn't allow myself to feel hunger for years. I gained 100 lbs trying to avoid hunger.

YES!! I LOVE this! It's so very true. I used to eat and eat and eat, and when I would feel the slightest tinge of hunger I would dig through my desk drawer at work or my cupboards if I was at home so I could stop the feeling. When I started counting calories the first few weeks were kind of brutal. I was so used to just eating whenever I felt a little hungry, and changing my mentality took a lot. I literally would have to tell myself "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DIE" after I finished dinner if I was still hungry...and I still tell myself that throughout the day if I am feeling really snacky. My body has food in it, and I don't need to keep eating just to feel stuffed.

And, like you, I like knowing the different levels of hunger I can go through. I can tell when I start to feel hunger that it's time to drink a lot of water. After that if I am still hungry, it's time to have my snack or eat my lunch or dinner. I try to never let it get to the point of my stomach growling too much or me getting lightheaded (I have to snack every few hours or I get dizzy/lightheaded), because if I let it get to that point, then I don't feel satisfied after eating and I feel like I need to keep eating more because I am so starving.

Very true! I agree. I also was one of those that at the slightest bit of hunger, I would stuff myself so I wouldn't feel it.

I didn't want to be uncomfortable. I had worked hard most of my life avoiding being uncomfortable! My parents had worked hard to give us a good life, there was no reason to be uncomfortable!

I've hard to re-learn that it's okay to feel a little hungry right before lunch because that's normal (everyone feels it and no one dies from it!). For the first time ever, now that I'm on this path, I actually wake up hungry in the morning (and that's normal, because I haven't eaten in 10 or 8 hours!). I used to never be able to have breakfast because I would stuff myself the night before, afraid of waking up hungry.

I also have to eat every few hours to prevent feeling ill. But yes to the water thing too! I have read a study that sometimes people mix up the "I'm hungry" feeling with the "I'm thirsty" feeling. So when those hunger pangs hit, I usually down a good amount of water. (Because I've also read that when your "mouth" is telling you that you are thirsty you are already dehydrated. Albeit minor. But I think that has been debunked... I dunno anymore.)

I've also done it after meals when my body is saying "you are still hungry" and then I drink a glass of water and it turns out that nope... I was really just thirsty.

I think the most I really ever let myself go with the hunger is about an hour or two. Especially when it's close to dinner time. Like, at 4:30, I'll be on my way home and have to pick up my daughter at daycare. We won't get home til 5:30 and then dinner isn't usually ready until 6... I'll let that go. But if I start getting hungry at 3:30, I'll usually snack, because I have figured out I can do amazing damage to my weight loss by getting too hungry and then eating a ton of crap.

But I have also found that I really enjoy my meals more if I am actually hungry. It even tastes better!

LR

Have you listened to the IOWL podcast?

Yep yep. I started listening to it maybe two weeks ago. I'm kinda doing it accelerated. I've download the first 50 so far, I burn them on a CD and listen to them while driving to work (my commute is an hour each way, including transporting my daughter to day care.) I listen to each episode twice before moving on. I do the homework before going to bed at night. It's totally changing my perspective on weight loss. I'm so excited about it, but not many people seem to listen to it on here. And I wasn't keen on their yahoo group (especially since I like 3FC so much!)

I think I had listened to that episode three times when it was like a lightning bolt in my head. It was bizarre. I totally had a light bulb moment.


LR

Hunger has such a different meaning for me these days, too. Like you, before I just ate way too much to really even recognize the feeling. But I did have plenty of the "OH, I want to eat something" feeling, which is a much different for me that the actual stomach rumbling, feeling a little cranky, really need to eat something hunger that I get now when I've pushed it a little too long.

I agree with Sabella about getting rid of that "I need to eat something fatty/sugary/carby NOW" thing with eating the right foods and getting that metabolic thing under control in doing so. I have experienced that in a big way.

Every once in awhile, I still get the "need to eat something fatty/sugary/carby NOW" feeling, but thanks to another poster, I'm starting to realize it's coming before a nice whoosh, so I'm even embracing that feeling as long as I know I've been faithfully eating my new way. The "I must eat something fatty/carby NOW" (stupid hunger) and "my stomach is growling, time for food" are 2 totally different things to me these days.

That's fantastic! I just started listening to them week, but I'm using them for helping me through maintenance struggles and my binging issues. I'm glad you found them, I think everyone should give them a try. The mental aspects of weight loss and maintenance can be very overwhelming to some and I think a lot of us forget or don't realize that it is part of the process. Weight loss isn't just about changing how our bodies look on the exterior, there is a lot of work for us to do on the inside as well.

Oh I still get that. It's usually in the afternoon when I'm stressed and/or bored at work (I'm the type of person where even if I have PLENTY to do, I get bored.) But I have recognized that for me it's not true hunger. It's emotional or boredom hunger. And I have to redirect my focus.

You know, with the IOWL podcasts that I listen to... she says that the subconscious mind does not understand the negative. So you can tell yourself not to eat those cookies... but all your subconscious hears is "Eat those Cookies!" It's important to either phrase things in a positive (which is difficult when you are talking about an absence some something- not to eat something) or you focus your attention to what you do want. So instead of saying "Do not overeat during dinner", you would say to yourself "i want to eat slowly and relaxed and enjoy my meal"

So two days ago at work I really wanted to eat the cashews. I love cashews. But it was in the afternoon during my "I want snacks now" time, and I realized that, nope... I wasn't hungry. But instead of saying to myself Don't eat those Cashews! I told myself to focus on the massive amount of work that I was back logged on and see if I can knock that out before I left because I was leaving early. And I did. With not a cashew eaten, or even thought about after that fleeting moment.

LR