Hi chickies,
one more question.
I 've been eating less than normal, which is what I want.
I should mention that I am a recovering binge eater. Binge-ing without the purging. Just Binge-ing as my normal diet basically.

But i notice that when i do eat less, I somedays will get this hungry feeling an hour or 2 after a meal. It's a good size meal, even if i have some protien and veggies for bulk, i still will get this feeling.
It isn't a full blown stomach growl, but sort of a hollow feeling in my stomach that feels alot like hunger. And it can be very persistant. I mean, yesterday, i had a big serving of Hoggy's pulled pork from the cafe at work and 2 sides for lunch, then when i got home i had the left over pork stirfried with some rice and green beans, and about 2 hours later i had this feeling???
I don't know if it is really hunger or not, as stupid as that sounds.

Does anyone else experience this?

and is there a natural way to curb it? I'm not into hunger control pills which is why I decided to post it here, for a more wholistic approach...

Do you drink a lot of water? Myself, I used to mistake hunger for thirst. Honestly, if my stomach ain't growling, I'm not hungry! But that's how my body is, everyone is different so your body may react differently.

Perhaps you are just getting used to the not stuffed feeling?

As far as natural appetite control, I have three words for you, FIBER FIBER FIBER! Protein and a little fat will help keep you full, but for me it's the high fiber foods that keep hunger at bay. That's what worked for me.

Also, do you snack in between meals? Maybe you are just going too long without eating. I try to eat every three hours.

Hi zenor,
thanks for the response.
I don't know what it is, because it seems to happen regardless of weather i try to fill up on water or veggies, in fact it seems to happen more so if i just try to fill up on veggies.

It's kind of to the point where i fear it happening.
I can eat within my calorie range all day, which i try for something like ~1600 calories when i want to get rid of weight too, but i still get that feeling.

Maybe it is like you said, i'm not used to eating so little, as i said somewhere on here, i am a hefty eater.
I also was wondering if it could be too little protien or to many simple carbs that causes it.

I'll just experiment next time it happens.

I get hungry about every 2 hours - so I eat every 2 hours!!

Hmmm... well now there's an answer i like!

Only problem is i tend to eat alot when i do eat. So trying to eat very frequently often turns out to be 5 courses every 2 hours.

counterproductive...

It's hard. I think growing up with 4 brothers, I learned to eat like a boy!

So i actually am trying to retrain my brain to acknowledge that meals can be small. like a handful of trailmix or nuts and a piece of fresh fruit every couple hours.

I am a volume eater too. I am also one of those people who can get up and not eat till afternoon, but on my current food plan I force myself to have a healthy breakfast. Then I find that 2 hours later I am wondering when lunch is! I think it is because once I start eating I want to keep eating. I find distraction to be most effective. Aside from the previously suggested intake of liquids, I go for a short walk, tackle a project that requires a lot a concentration, clean my desk cuz it gives me immediate reward, call friends cuz I can't politely talk and eat, etc.

I think the foods that you eat can make a big difference in how hungry you are throughout the day. I notice that refined suger in my diet definitely makes me hungry. The pulled pork that you had for lunch probably had refined sugar in it; it's an ingredient in the sauce. So it could be the sugar in the pork making you hungry. Also, white starches (like white potatoes and white rice) have the same effect on me. So if the rice that you used in your stir fry was white, that could have caused you to feel hungry as well.

I'm currently reading the book You on a Diet and they say that grapefruit may act as an appetite suppressant (even just sniffing grapefruit oil is supposed to do the trick, although I have no idea where you get grapefruit oil). Completely coincidently, I've been on a grapefruit kick for the past week or so and I have found it to be much easier to stay on plan since I started this kick. Not sure if the difference is the grapefruit or the fact that before the grapefruit kick I was eating a small piece of cake (100 calorie's worth) that had refined sugar in it as my evening snack and I've now replaced that snack with grapefruit and yogurt (so I've elimated a source of refined sugar and replaced it with grapefruit).

Ha, well yes! my menu looks like this:

7:00 am bowl of oatmeal (1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup water) with 2 spoons of apple butter, 1 spoon of wheat germ

10:00 am package of berries (whatever is cheapest - blackberries, blueberries, strawberries)

12:00 lunch - usually a salad with grilled chicken or a big bowl of soup and a whole wheat roll or a turkey wrap with lots of vegetables, etc

1:00 no sugar added cocoa

3:00 orange

5:00 baggie of cut up vegetables (baby carrots, sugar snow peas, pepper strips, grape tomatoes)

7:00 dinner - vegetable stir fry over rice or salmon with broccoli and a sweet potato or pasta sauce over 2 oz of whole wheat pasta or spinach quesadillas or something like that

I'm not much of an after dinner snacker (I tend to get hungry in the afternoon) but if I were hungry at night I would have a baked apple with blueberries or a piece of whole grain toast with jam or frozen mango or a nectar bar

I don't eat a lot of processed sugar at all! I eat a lot, but they are very small portions