I know the goal is to soothe our hunger pangs. But I've been having a weird experience - since the beginning of calorie counting (I eat around/no more than 1700 and exercise frequently), I have gone very long stretches during the day without hunger.
I should be happy, I know. But after quite a bit of time, I start to miss it. I want to feel hungry. I never thought I was much of an emotional eater..... but I suppose, since I've upped my protein intake a bit (but I do still eat carbs), that I am staying full for quite a long time.
I actually miss the hunger I used to have - it kept me on my toes. I've even drank a cup of coffee yesterday to re-ignite it.
Don't get me wrong - this doesn't happen everyday. I really just don't understand my emotional attachment to it. On the one hand, I am avoiding hunger like the plague to stay within the healthy calorie allotment and on the other hand I am drinking coffee to bring the hunger back (insulin rush).
I can't say I have missed feeling hunger, although I do know what the "hunger high" feels like. It seems to be true that eating protein helps a person feel less hungry, longer--and that conversely, eating carb-heavy foods sometimes makes one feel hungry faster. But that carb reaction isn't really hunger, it's something else.
You didn't ask for advice, but I'd say it would be good to have set times when you eat, if you don't have them already. Don't skip eating because you don't feel hunger, and don't overeat because you do feel it. And don't avoid eating because you want to feel the "high" of hunger. Not a good path to be on, IMO.
Jay
ETA: The goal isn't to soothe our hunger pangs. The goal is to reach a healthy weight and stay there.
I know what you mean (although I haven't had that problem too often--LOL!). I sometimes hold off eating breakfast until really late in the a.m. (sometimes, I'll just wait until lunch) because I've gotten to the point where I really appreciate how good food tastes when I'm really hungry.
because I've gotten to the point where I really appreciate how good food tastes when I'm really hungry.
YES. I do IF and when I eat my first meal EVERYTHING just tastes so wonderful! I end up savouring each bite, enjoying the textures of the food and taste with each chew. I ate some pickled mustard greens with porridge the other day and I was pretty much dancing on the spot with each bite
I usually don't start to get my tummy rumblings until around 1 or 2pm, and lately I feel hunger pangs but they just disappear after about 5 minutes. It's weird because I'd say to my mother I'm kinda hungry, then after a shower I'd be saying I wasn't hungry at all. I can't say I have any attachment to the feeling of hunger though... I just like feeling 70-80% full after a meal.
You didn't ask for advice, but I'd say it would be good to have set times when you eat, if you don't have them already. Don't skip eating because you don't feel hunger, and don't overeat because you do feel it. And don't avoid eating because you want to feel the "high" of hunger. Not a good path to be on, IMO.
I went from eating healthy to under-eating and back and forth for 17 years so my hunger cues were all screwy. I set my meal and snack times about a year and a half ago and since then, have been feeling moderate hunger at the right times.
I've never been motivated to do anything but eat, when hungry. I only knew how to diet by extreme methods, so my hunger was always extreme too.
This is the only weight loss attempt that has been successful for me in the long-term (for most of my life I was either rapidly losing or more rapidly gaining), and vital to this effort has been hunger control, almost to the point of complete hunger elimination, especially the "rabid hunger" associated with my PMDD (killer PMS) and high-carb eating.
What I have missed (and still do occasionally) is feeling full, which most of the time was overfull and uncomfortable. I don't miss the discomfort or eating until I felt ill, but I do miss eating until I don't want any more.
Sometimes that feels like "always being hungry" but it's really just "never being full."
My hunger cues are all screwed up from decades of crash dieting (or maybe I was born without them, I don't really know). I just know that I can't trust my hunger. Mindful eating has never worked for me because I can't tell the difference between real hunger and false hunger. I may never be able to tell the difference (though I keep trying).
After reading the comments - I'm suddenly surprised to see that it is probably more of a control issue than anything else..... Because it is emotional - I do think I will rationally set my meal times, according to what JayEll and Munchy advised.
It is also an emotional/ pleasurable feeling - to feel hunger and then eat - as lin and coffe wrote - there is a slight adrenaline rush followed by relief and pleasurable tastes.
I need to think about all these things next time I have a bout where my hunger pangs are gone (again, it doesn't happen to me all the time).
And kaplods - I do feel the same way you do, about being full. So much so that I'll order a salad with TONS of lettuce with my meal, just so I can continue eating and eating. I noticed that my boyfriend looks at me strangely as I try to attain the full feeling.
Oddly enough, his stomach fills up on the same amounts of food.... he'll just stop eating when it is comfortably full. I did a secret experiment on him a few times - cooking meat and potatoes one meal and filling the plate (to equal about 600 calories) and then another day I made him a salad with egg and a bit of parmesan (which was about 250 cal., he doesn't like dressing much). He still just quit.... his stomach was full and he just walked away - like it was the caloric equivalent of the meat and potatoes.
I also have a teenage/early twenty history of eating disorders... so I think my "full" cue, as well as my hunger cue is totally malfunctioning.
Hunger vs. No-Hunger
