I don't know entirely why this has become so acute the last few days, but I an dying to eat a massive box of something pointless. My calorie allowance seems pitiful and inadequate when previously it has been plenty, now I keep finding myself with only a few calories left for the day by mid afternoon, and I am still hungry anyway, been hungry all day.

I am away from home so been travelling, having to guess nutrition on unfamiliar food items and restaurant food, out of routine, bored, annoyed, all that stuff. I am physically hungry, but mostly I want snack foods So badly and only a lot would do anyway.

Wish it would calm down, been hungry forever yet eaten more than before!

Still another 2 weeks to be away from home so I need to get it under control, but stuck mostly with tiny portions of inappropriate food, really stressful. And stuck in alone for hours in someone else's house with nothing to do, heat in only one room and just food and a mobile phone.

Doing my nut here!

I know you have mentioned in the past that you are vegetable-phobic, but this right here is why so many of us are so pro-vegetable. You CAN eat a bag of carrots, or a head of cabbage, or an entire squash. It really helps with that "eat something" urge. If you are willing to experiment at all with vegetables, this sounds like a good time. If there is even one you can eat, I'd stock up on it, if someone will go out and buy you some.

The other thing I do when I really, really want to eat is popcorn, one kernal at a time. It takes forever to eat that way.

And if that doesn't work, I usually just fall back on the idea that it's ok to suffer sometimes. It's not fun, but then I think about what life was like for 99% of humanity for 99% of the last 10,000 years. That helps me a bit.

I see your veggie-phobic from the PP but I'll suggest this anyways. When I really, really want to snack like that here's what I eat:

baby carrots dipped in garlic hummus
popcorn
Apples dipped in crunchy peanut butter
a larabar
grapes


I really feel you on all the traveling. Basically since before Thanksgiving we've been traveling non-stop. We have our third trip today and we're actually moving mid-jan abroad so working on eating on plan has been insanely tough for me lately too.

Man, the munchies are horrible. And that right there is why I don't just do portion control - I do high volume, low calorie foods.

I always keep around a bag of popcorn to stave off the munchies at night. I usually don't need it, but it's there in case of emergencies. It's especially helpful when I just want something to chew and swallow.

One of the other members here came up with this recipe, but I can't remember who. But this is what I do - I take 4 tbsp of popcorn and pop it in an air popper. Then I spray it with a little cooking spray to get it damp and then sprinkle it with cinnamon and sweetener. If I feel like it, I do a few spritzes of butter spray. The whole thing comes out to like 215-240 calories, depending on what you put on it. It's a huge bowl sweet and cinnamon-y goodness.

Good luck!

The problem isn't that you're hungry. It's that you're bored, lonely, physically uncomfortable from the cold, away from the comfort of your usual routine, and clearly unhappy.

So, since the issue isn't food or eating, that won't solve it.

You need to get out, you require some kind of stimulation, which could be some absorbing task, or attention from people whom you like, or anything, anything. Just not food, because that is not the need here, at least as I've interpreted your state of mind from your post.

You're a bored kid who needs something to do & to look forward to during the daylight hours.

I think this is a great observation, but if I remember properly, the OP is severely disabled and has very limited mobility. In a case like that, the entertainment needs to come to her.

Perhaps some sort of course of study? Like pick a really difficult book and get through it? Reteach yourself Algebra? Do you play videogames? The internet is full of those sorts of time-wasters.

Both TV-Tropes and Cracked.com are famous ways to eat up time on the internet. You might try checking those out.

yes, I'm disabled and not just confined to the house but currently confined to someone else's house so none of my things are here. I have a slow mobile phone internet connection and a TV.

Best of luck to anyone who can substitute a desire for one food for something else, but if I want to eat a pack of biscuits I'm no less likely to want them if I ate ten kilos of veg first.

A lot of it is boredom but it is also genuine hunger cos if you are being given sausage and mash you can only eat a very small amount of that. There isn't other food cos I don't live here, it's what appears on your table is what you get, if you are hungry after you didn't eat enough food, if you left a sausage that's your fault, if you'd eaten your sausage you'd be full. The only uncontrolled foods are, ironically, biscuits and cake! Not surprisingly I want to eat them, in part cos I'm very hungry, in part cos I hate it here and want to be less sad. Roll on January.

At least the many hours it takes to post anything keeps me busy!

Did you voluntarily go to that place? Is it a prison of some sort? What were your other options? What plan did you put in place to avoid this if you've been there before? Are there other people around?

You could do a little research on meditating and learn that during all your down time. Or write some stories. Or your life's memoir.

Clementines are sweet and delicious, and in season! They're only 35 calories each too, so it's a great low calorie snack. (The fiber in them is filling too, at least to me.) I love love love loveeeee clementines!

Low fat cheese sticks are like 50 calories, and have 6g of protein, so they're low calorie but also filling too.

I love all of the snack suggestions above! It sounds like a rather crummy place to be.

I think this situation could be a valuable tool. Like you've noticed and Saef picked up on, this is not about hunger. Maybe it would be helpful take some time (particularly if you are bored) and write down exactly how you are feeling - food related or not. This could help you to get some of the hungry-making feelings expressed, but it might also be helpful to look at later and see what feelings have triggered you.

Thinking about you - I hope the next week or two flies by!

kcnc

I'm sure they are all kinds of fabulous, but the fact remains I don't have any! When you are dependent on others for care and they all want Christmas off to do what they like then you end up with whatever people will do for you, which is generally a frozen meal of some unknown nutritional provenance which looks and tastes like wallpaper paste. And a number of packets of dry food which will keep in your cupboards, so cookies and cakes.

How do I feel? Hungry! Really! Cos I haven't enough food! Yes I am annoyed and stressed too, but it's not a stress eating situation, it's a "they only brought cookies" situation. You get three meals of someone else's choice and lots of cakes, cos it's Christmas you see, better give the poor unfortunate disabled folks some treats.

*sigh*

Supposed to be with family but it hasn't worked out that way, so without a chance to arrange an alternative I get what I get.

Bleh, I'm sorry you're stuck in such an untenable dining situation.

If I haven't misread some of your other posts, you're also operating under a deadline by which you'd like to get to a particular weight for a medical procedure? Given your time constraints, would it be possible for you to talk to the person/people whose home you're visiting and ask for a few specialties to be brought in for you?

I know some folks don't like to make a fuss or ask for anything while staying with others (I'm one of those myself and have hand-washed my own laundry rather than be a bother to anyone, so I understand it), but this seems like extenuating circumstances.

What do you think you might do next time this happens so that you have appropriate food to eat? Plan in advance? Bring your own food? Get a note from your doctor about the types of foods you need to have?

This probably won't help since it's probably not allowed for you... but sometimes when I get cravings or even when I feel hungry but mostly just want something to stuff in my mouth I have a cup of coffee. I usually make half decaf so I don't get wired but it really helps me control my hunger plus it warms me up (it's super cold here right now and my firewood isn't very dry so it's not throwing a lot of heat.) I don't overdo the coffee thing - not a lot and not all the time but especially at those times (when i'm down, certain times of the month, when i'm super tired but have to be awake) where I just feel like a walking mouth and stomach it really helps.

Last night was a triple whammy - down, ToM, and had to work through the night without enough sleep the day before - I could have eaten everything in the fridge and pantry and still wanted food. It could have been healthy, it could have been junk food, high calorie, lo-cal - it didn't matter. I did eat more of my daily calories at one time and I tried to make the healthiest most filling choices but it just wasn't working. Then I made a pot of half decaf coffee and after just one cup I was much more able to deal with the "want want want". (tea doesn't do this for me and soda - diet or otherwise just makes the cravings worse for me - it's just coffee...)

Hang in there. Keep posting here. Soon you'll be home!

Things are looking up a wee bit, I've made it to family, so you don't need to worry I'll tear all my hair out any more LOL!

Gosh, aren't some people who work with "the disabled" presumptive? The main services all shut down at this time of the year and hand you over to charities. Trying to have a conversation with someone about food, OMG!! The minute you sit in a wheelchair, of course, you lose your marbles, so if you ask the question "what sort of chicken?" to try to establish if it's going to be fried, skinned, in breadcrumbs, made entirely out of salt and commercial dining, etc. you get told "Chicken... CHICK-EN, you like chicken, dear" and if you push the issue any they tell you there's a vegetarian if you don't want the chicken. Oh, what's in the vegetarian one? Oh no, dear, there's no chicken in the vegetarian, it's for people who don't eat meat.

ARGH! I have two degrees, don't talk as if I have no idea what a chicken is.

So now I have actual real food, chosen by me (though a few mistakes from those unfamiliar with my choices, but those can be returned tomorrow and swapped) and am expecting a genunine hot meal in aout half an hour, one I'll actually be able to clear the plate. Yummy. Reunited with my powerchair too, so I can make independent movements, I think I had a bit of a meltdown there.

Here's hoping there is never again a breakdown in care arrangements, it's the snow you see, that makes everything nobody's fault.

Thanks for the support, didn't realise how raving mad I sounded.