How hungry are you, most days? Are you comfortable being hungry?

Soopatt

I have been hungry every day since starting this. Every single day.

Not a problem - I can manage it - it is not going to kill me or anything, but there it is.

Does anyone not get hungry, eating at a deficit? I can't see how that would work. If you were having enough, I imagine you would be eating at maintenance, not a deficit. The very nature of a deficit tells us that we are eating less than our body would like to, which is why we are tapping into our reserves and losing weight. Not quite enough (necessary for weight loss) means hunger is a natural and expected part of it? (I dunno, I am asking)

There has only been one day in three months when I was not hungry and that was a blow out day which I shall not be repeating any time soon.

I have been a part of weight-loss support groups in the past and I hear a lot of people talking about hunger as if it is an outrage - that not being hungry ever is their human right and anything else is torturous suffering. Even if I go an entire day without eating, I certainly would not describe the feeling as torturous, although it is very unpleasant sometimes.

In my foolish youth I starved myself periodically and I once went a week without solid food (I only drank Diet Coke) and hunger actually goes away after a while and a sort of twisted euphoria replaces it. I don't recommend that of course and I don't do anything silly these days, but it has put my adult efforts in perspective - a couple of hours of hunger before bed is no biggie and in my mind is a necessary part of the process and an indicator that it is working.

I am interested to hear the thoughts of others on this. Is hunger our friend or do you fear and despise it?

Sued0nim

I used to at the start ... someone said to me "What's wrong with feeling hungry" and it hit home

so I started analysing the feeling
.. was it a bad feeling?
...this is how it feels? that's interesting .. is this really hungry

and I'd wait .. I wouldn't rush to eat, particularly if I'd just eaten ... I'd just let the feeling wash over me and get on with doing stuff

30 mins later I was still feeling hungry I'd eat ... but more often than not the 'hunger signal' had gone away ]

Now .. a year down the line and 3 months into maintenance it's far less frequent .. and only when I am consciously thinking of my stomach / mouth hunger .. like now .. but I automatically do the 'have I just eaten / is it true hungry' analysis (it's almost subconscious) and it seems to work

Hope that helps

PAV8888

Avoid when possible!

At times peckish/hungry; at times, full (with volume made of lower calorie options)

By preference aiming for: "of course I could continue eating; but, I since I am no longer hungry maybe I should stop"

Soopatt

@rabbitjb

Thank you, yes it does help.

I have been eating at a deficit for three months and I still feel as though I am doing something new, it is not yet second nature to me. I have to sit on my hands sometimes to not eat when hunger strikes, it is like an internal war. Then I don't eat and I wait and it does not get any worse.

I am glad to hear that a sensible approach and evaluation of hunger leads to its less stressful management over time.

For now I am coping with it, but I have been worried about how I would handle it if something stressful happened in my life. I feel like I am balancing a very high tray you know?

KANGOOJUMPS

some days I nibble my fingers.

Soopatt

PAV8888 wrote: »

Avoid when possible!

At times peckish/hungry; at times, full (with volume made of lower calorie options)

By preference aiming for: "of course I could continue eating; but, I since I am no longer hungry maybe I should stop"

I have (almost) learnt that lesson. I started out grazing high density calories all the time as I do not ban any foods and noticed that my choices impacted how hungry I was that day. I still eat chocolate and cheese, but I do not allow these things to dominate my calories as much as they used to. It is not about eating clean for me, it is about eating a mix of things so that this process is as pleasant and as flavorful as possible. The hunger never goes away though. I only feel satiated for about an hour after a meal. The rest of the time? hungry. Manageable hungry, but hungry non the less.

AspenDan

I eat at a deficit, but I eat pretty voluminous foods. Like I'll eat a big bowl of oalmeal with peanut butter for breakfast, and a whole bag of veggies for lunch, theres only 500 calories but I struggle to put it all down in those few hours. Then the rest of the day I can kinda eat whatever I want, but because for me a bacon cheese burger can be a bit of a slippery slope, I still tend to stick with chickn, veggies, and typical weight loss carbs like brown rice and potatoes. Still every few days I'll indulge and have a 1000 calorie meal, or drink a bit too much alcohol. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, but it's working for me and I can easily manage a deficit without being too hungry.

caaaath

I always feel hungry, I think. I know a lot of the time it's just my brain being stupid because even after eating a big meal and my stomach feels physically full I still think "I could eat more of that" or "now I want to eat something sweet" when I know that it'll make me feel uncomfortably full.

This is the toughest thing for me, trying to re-train myself to recognise when I don't actually NEED to eat. It's difficult because I just love the taste of food, so much!!!!

Soopatt

Yeah.. I do wonder how much is in my head. Hunger is not the absence of that stuffed to the gills feeling. Feeling full after a meal, although normal for me in the past, was never an appropriate stopping point.

To be honest, it is amazing that I never gained more weight in the past few years than I did. I was constantly eating like a horse.

Soopatt

@danieltsmoke - oatmeal with peanut butter sounds yummy! If only I was not too lazy to make it!

unrelentingminx

I have three meals and three snacks per day so never really get to the point where my stomach is grumbling like a volcano and getting ready to digest itself. I do however spend a lot of the time with the feeling that I could eat if food was put in front of me. But that could be as much boredom as it is hunger.

irejuvenateme

I think there is a happy balance between uncomfortable hunger and a reasonable amount of time to let food digest. Are you eating good amounts of fiber? That can help fill you up. That said, I definitely have "hunger" in extra quantities when tired or stressed, which usually tells me it's not as much hunger.. I have also found I try to eat when hungry (not being sarcastic), so I will have a Fage 0% yogurt with an apple - and that will give me good sources of fuel.

I think the problem generally comes with folks when they just eat calories empty of nutritional value. I do understand calories-in calories-out - but my experience is seldom that I am going over from eating too many vegetables or even too many fruits. Pairing healthy foods can fill you up nicely.

Also make sure you are drinking enough water!

And I am someone who for years has had a crazy drug-like affinity for sugar, finally starting to get things under control and in maintenance mode for about 5 months now.

Finally again this may sound stupid-obvious, but if you up your exercise intake you can up your food intake.

Good luck! I know fasting works for some people, but it has never worked for me - when I feel "deprived" I tend to "snap back" into extra eating.

judiness101

I don't mind being hungry during the day, but I always try to eat most of my calories at night in order no to have to go to bed hungry. With time it becomes easier. The days that I'm about to crack I remember that I lost almost 20 pounds since the beginning of the year and that I should be in the healthy bmi range this fall. Focusing on my goals makes it easier!

Forest91

I use to always feel hungry and I would always go and find some food even if I had just eaten but then one day I brought a big bottle I would make sure it was feel up in the morning then I would drink it through the day and if I felt hungry I would drink some water and then I didn't feel hungry anymore. I found out that body was make me feel that I was hungry because there was food in the house. Now I have three normal size meal and two snacks per day with lots of water and I don't feel hungry all the time now.

flatlndr

I go for volume food ... I try to have fresh/raw fruits and/or vegs with all meals, and I try to use whole grains wherever possible. It creates a sense of fullness that lasts for a long time for me. Fibre seems to be my friend here. The higher my fibre count, the less hungry I am during deficit days.

On the other hand, if I eat the same number of calories of easily digestible food (I won't list any because what's "bad" for me might be someone else's favourite), I can be hungry 30 minutes later.

I have a few planned snacks between meals as well ... usually fruit or small serving of nuts.

It took me a while to figure out which foods worked for me. You'll have to experiment to find your favourites.

Good luck!

flatlndr

PS - Learn the difference between boredom hunger and real hunger. I find if I'm busy, I'm not hungry, but if I'm sitting around, suddenly I want to eat. Once I realised that, I was able to prevent/stop hunger, and the extra activity helped the Calories Out portion of the equation.

AspenDan

Soopatt wrote: »

@danieltsmoke - oatmeal with peanut butter sounds yummy! If only I was not too lazy to make it!

ZOMGosh its so good. So I weight out 60 or 80 grams of dry old fashioned oats (not the steelcut oats, you might as well literally eat steel), I put some water in and nuke it for 2 minutes, then I add 37 grams of peanut butter, and maybe a banana if I don't plan to have much more sugar for the day. It takes 3 minutes! So worth :]

GWehsling

I was hungry at first but after a week or two I realised I was actually craving junk food, not really hungry and with portions now under control, I am used to eating this way. I don't really snack and I don't have food in the house that is not great for me, so if I have to go to the fridge, well there are only healthier options. Another thing is that I go to the gym and run every week day, so I can pretty much eat most things and not go over budget.

These things have worked for me, but as I said before, I'm not here to lose a lot of weight, I'm here to get my food discipline sorted and that is probably the same thing for a lot of people.

Good luck - happy to accept a FR if you need some motivation.

SezxyStef

Since joining MFP and getting off fad diets I haven't been hungry between meals typically.

I eat filling foods such as protein and fat.

I do sometimes start getting hungry right before meals but that to me is normal as it is right before meals.

If I do get hungry I eat...but that being said I have prelogged my day so I typically have room at the end of the day for that.

hannah_2809

Hi Soo, I worry about being hungry, it makes me nervous because when I feel hungry I feel faint. It comes on really quickly too, so within about half an hour I get the urgent need to eat otherwise I'm going to faint. I always carry a pot of nuts and seeds with me wherever I go, to avoid reaching for chocolate, or worse a sugary fizzy drink. It's for this reason I'd never advocate reaching a stage where you're desperate for food. Peckish is fine, but a real hunger I don't think is. I make sure I'm filling up on proteins and good fats and eating little and often. So no, hunger definitely isn't my friend!

karenrich77

Once I started to change the sort of calories I eat (as in the fact that we always say all calories are created equal... well yes, calorie wise they are) but some fill the void more than others, eg if I have a sandwich for lunch... hungry minutes later, if I have eggs on toast, I am full for about 4 hours! So find what foods are better for you and keep you fuller for longer.

Believe me the hungry doesn't last forever and to be honest, you stop thinking about it after a while (I am 509 days in so I can speak from experience)

My biggest piece of advice is, don't do what others are doing, find what works for you!

Dofflin

Well I think there is a difference between hunger, appetite and low blood sugar/dehydration.

Hunger:
your body is burning too much muscle, eat more.

Appetite:
Craving something specific (sometimes you actually need it though), emotional eating, or stimulated by the taste or smell of another food. Just try to pay attention to how your body reacts to each meal so you know better next time

Low blood sugar/ dehydration:
You feel dizzy, grumpy and can't concentrate. Drink more water, eat more frequently, change your macros, etc

ohmscheeks

If you went that long without eating, you probably know what true hunger feels like. At 1200 cal, my "hunger" feelings are really just me wanting the taste of my favorite foods. Lately, I end up indulging myself if I feel "hungry"(smh). When I was more on the wagon, I would test the feeling by grabbing a food that was healthy, but not a favorite (e.g. raw carrots). I usually ended up putting it back, lol (wasn't hungry, just wanted chocolate).

judiness101

Dofflin wrote: »

Hunger:
your body is burning too much muscle, eat more.

What?

FlyingMolly

I've been hungry every day since I started tracking again, but I'm not that bothered by it. Like you, I interpret it to mean that my body wants more calories in order to maintain its current weight, so I must be eating at a deficit to be hungry.

Filling foods help--I'm a big believer in a high-fat diet--but I tend to eat too much when I "snack," so I've never done well with frequent small meals. I prefer to eat three times per day and make friends with the hunger I feel in between. It's not severe or problematic, and if that changes it's not like I don't know how to find the kitchen.

Kalikel

Eat more healthy food. You'd be hard-pressed to go hungry eating only fruits and veggies. You can fill up quite nicely on fruits and veggies for precious few calories.

Nobody ever has to be hungry to lose weight.

That said, a little hunger is not the end of the world. It's OK to be hungry sometimes when you're losing weight.

Hunger is not much of a problem for me, generally. Resisting the temptation to eat what is shouldn't was a much harder thing than waiting 20-30 minutes for a wave of hunger to pass.

I kind of think of it as a sign that my body wants more energy and am like, "Well, if you need energy, please use up some of the fat. Thanks and have a nice day."

leica0000

Sometimes when I'm in a bad mood I like feeling hungry, I'm not sure why. Other times it aggravates me. I guess going for food is such an innate primitive instinct what it will never go away.

I drink a sparkling water called Badoit when I feel hungry, or have a cup of rooibos tea. That works pretty well I find. Especially drinking the sparkling water. I guess the theory is that the bubbles expand in your tummy as they get warmer and that makes your stomach feel full.

Unknown

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SergeantSausage

When I run, I'm tired.

When I lift, I'm weak (lift to muscle failure) and sore

When I eat for health, diet fatigue (where's my donuts and pizza!?)

When I eat for weight loss, I'm hungry.


These are the facts of my life... and yet I do all four simultaneously.

If it were comfortable, everyone would be doing it, right?

The more, uncomfortable you can be, the farther ahead of the Average Schmo you will be. In everything. Everything.

Kalikel

SergeantSausage wrote: »

When I run, I'm tired.

When I lift, I'm weak (lift to muscle failure) and sore

When I eat for health, diet fatigue (where's my donuts and pizza!?)

When I eat for weight loss, I'm hungry.


These are the facts of my life... and yet I do all four simultaneously.

If it were comfortable, everyone would be doing it, right?

The more, uncomfortable you can be, the farther ahead of the Average Schmo you will be. In everything. Everything.

Soopatt

"If it were comfortable, everyone would be doing it, right?"

Yep, yep and yep. The easy path was getting fat in the first place. It certainly should be more challenging to get rid of it. Not because we deserve to be punished or anything like that, but because we need to eat less than our bodies would like.

I agree about exercise too. I love how it feels - AFTER. During? It is hard work and it often hurts.

When I have gotten rid of it, in about September or October of this year by my calculations (I tell my friends that they must excuse my choices, I have a "temporary case of the fats") I will shove a hot poker up the nose of the first person who tells me "I wish it was as easy for me to lose weight as it was for you"

Then I will start the challenge of keeping it off.