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

lucyholdcroft363

I actually DON'T feel hungry most of the time and I lose about a pound a week! However, I have busy days and a lot of cardio workouts so I often struggle to eat ENOUGH to not put myself at a dangerous deficit! I usually get hungry about 3pm and have a little snack to curb cravings but otherwise, I don't think you need to starve and live in discomfort to be healthier. However, I do find workouts very strenuous and occasionally painful which is my own little weight loss battle haha!

courtneylykins5

Pre MFP me never knew what hungry felt like. Now it's something I experience several times a day. I don't mind it though. That hunger really makes me appreciate my meals more and seems to make even things I'm not a huge fan of taste better.

kshama2001

gothchiq wrote: »

For the first several months I was always hungry. Then my doctor told me to eat more protein and fewer carbs, and to never eat a carb without a protein paired with it. (within calorie allowance, of course.) Once I started doing this, I stopped feeling hungry all the time. The purpose was to keep my blood sugar stable. It does that well and helps avoid energy crashes during the day.

I gravitated to this myself and now I am not hungry except right before a meal. I was eating three meals and two snacks but recently I've dropped a snack because I haven't been hungry enough for it.

JubeJewels

I'm hungry at night, too, because that was also when I used to binge - I'm trying to change 35 years of eating habits & it ain't easy. I remind myself that I'm not starving & I don't NEED these calories.

atypicalsmith

BFDeal wrote: »

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.

So we should spend our entire lives uncomfortable? That sounds miserable. I thought the point of being fit was to achieve some level of satisfaction, peace, and health. Queue the "I do it for me" chants. The whole reason I started losing weight was because I was uncomfortable. Sleep apnea, joint pains, trouble breathing, health issues, etc. So now that those are gone and I'm more comfortable you're saying I need to move back in to being uncomfortable on the other end of the spectrum as I try to lose more? Because that makes sense.

As far as being hungry, I'd try more filling but still lower calorie mills (vegetable heavy) or eating more frequent smaller meals. It may help but YMMV.

That's probably why you are not losing weight. It's more comfortable to sit at home watching television than to go to a gym and work out. It's more comfortable for someone to cook for you and spoon feed you than to cook and eat the food. It's more comfortable to drink beer and pass out in bed that to walk around your neighborhood for a mile or two. Everything lazy is more comfortable than making an exerted effort. Perhaps you should try that sometime.

Docbanana2002

Letting myself get too hungry will set me up for an eating binge, which I try to avoid. So, I lose half pound per week instead of being aggressive, eat every few hours, and eat foods that are filling and nutritious. Seems to work for me most days and I don't get hungry except when it's time for a meal.

astrampe

atypicalsmith wrote: »

BFDeal wrote: »

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.

So we should spend our entire lives uncomfortable? That sounds miserable. I thought the point of being fit was to achieve some level of satisfaction, peace, and health. Queue the "I do it for me" chants. The whole reason I started losing weight was because I was uncomfortable. Sleep apnea, joint pains, trouble breathing, health issues, etc. So now that those are gone and I'm more comfortable you're saying I need to move back in to being uncomfortable on the other end of the spectrum as I try to lose more? Because that makes sense.

As far as being hungry, I'd try more filling but still lower calorie mills (vegetable heavy) or eating more frequent smaller meals. It may help but YMMV.

That's probably why you are not losing weight. It's more comfortable to sit at home watching television than to go to a gym and work out. It's more comfortable for someone to cook for you and spoon feed you than to cook and eat the food. It's more comfortable to drink beer and pass out in bed that to walk around your neighborhood for a mile or two. Everything lazy is more comfortable than making an exerted effort. Perhaps you should try that sometime.

Funny....I agree 100% with the previous guy, and I've lost a lot of weight...and kept it off. I was never in pain, miserable, hungry or miserable.....That just sound sad.....

Merkavar

I never understood when people come here and complain about being hungry.

Every other week there seems to be a post about it.

Unless my hunger is less than others I don't get the issue.

If you have eaten in the past 12 hours and feeling hungry just ignore it. It's s feeling that shouldn't cause you to topple over in pain, it's not like you ate glass. It's... I don't know how to describe the feeling.

Sure if you haven't eaten in 2 days and your hungry it's probably something to be concerned about, it's telling you to eat something.

But the people I see complaining talk about feeling hungry about 4pm because they had lunch a whole 4 hours ago and breakfast 4 hours before that.

If you know you have eaten, your not malnourished, can't you just ignore hunger, have some water etc

Soopatt wrote: »

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.

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

After my little rant above

For me I think hunger in neutral. It's just an irrelevant feeling. It's probably meant to be like an animal push to eat more. Probably designed around scarce food supplies. So you eat a small amount of food, feel full then feel hungry again an hour later and pushed to find more food.

But either way I think it's just a non event, something to be ignored if you know you have eaten.

buxbert

I am hungry as well, a lot, like right now before lunch for example. Still, I will wait another 30 min and eat later so it won't be so long till dinner. Snacking doesn't work for me very well as it sometimes just starts a process of thinking about food (and eventually eating it) that I am trying to avoid. Going to bed hungry is not a big problem but before dinner is not so great. I really have to force myself to have a proper meal otherwise I will not stop eating. If I get hungry after dinner I often have a huge mug of hot chocolate (= hot water, one spoonful of the kids chocolate powder and a tiny bit of milk; hardly calories but soothing and gives me a comfort feeling) With a regular schedule at work hunger is manageable. I am not surrounded by food all the time as I am at home. Weekends are harder. Kids & husband seem to eat all the time and it's hard to stay away. I don't have a very healthy relationship with hunger yet. I don't like it. Also, I can eat all the time without feeling sick. And I think about food all the time. Being on MFP keeps my from eating while I can still think about food. Eventually this has to change but then I have only started a few weeks ago after a lifetime of bad habits. I guess patience is a clue...

professionalHobbyist

I like feeling hungry on occasion.

It reminds me what I am doing.

I like feeling my stomach flat.

Nothing wrong with that.

It is a normal feeling I used to never have when constantly stuffing my face.

I tried fad diets where you eat all you want of this or that. And amazingly enough I never lost long term weight.

This works. Feeling hungry once in a while is normal. I hear my normal weight coworkers mention being hungry! Ha! I never thought they were crazy or had an eating disorder. But I used to think I was strange for feeling hungry and letting it ride.

Funny the lies we can tell ourselves to get what we want.

I used to believe it.

kazminchu

I personally cannot stand the feeling of being hungry, it makes me sick. So I plan 3 meals and several snacks within my calorie allowance, and eat volume food as opposed to calorie-dense options.
That said, I have been working on the difference between 'hungry' and 'craving'. If I find myself craving something I will stop and think about whether I'm actually hungry or I just want chocolate, and I'm getting better at stopping myself mindlessly giving into the craving. Slowly.

Francl27

I'm hungry a lot. It doesn't bother me except when it's hormones though... but I go to bed hungry a lot too.

It's my fault though, I like my treats so I often use up 200-300 calories on them instead of something more filling.

harmar21

LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »

I'm in a permanent state of hunger whether I'm cutting or maintaining. I'm a hungry girl.

If I'm honest with myself, it's not always actual hunger - I just love to eat. I eat when I'm happy, sad, bored, stressed, sleepy, excited, neutral, etc. I eat at home, work, on the go, etc. I'm always up for food. That's why pre-logging and tracking in general is so important for me if I don't want to weigh 600 lbs.

In reality, I'm never so hungry that my stomach is growling and I feel like I'm going to die if I don't eat soon. However, eating high-volume meals/snacks as often as possible keeps me pretty happy throughout the day. I can always eat more, but I know I shouldn't if I don't have the macros to spare, so I don't. I do have actual hunger more often when cutting, and that's totally normal and expected. It all comes down to self discipline as long as you're not depriving yourself too much in the first place. If you're hungry because you're only eating 1000 calories per day, you need to eat more. If you're eating at a moderate deficit and losing at an acceptable rate, it's up to you to ignore a few hunger pangs here and there.

When I'm actually hungry and my body really does need food, I get cranky (or hangry, if you must). That's how I know it's real hunger versus something else. If I'm in a crap mood, my husband is always there to say, "we need to get some food in you, now." I only get that way maybe once or twice a week during maintenance, and that's usually because I like to put off breakfast on weekends so I have fewer hours to fit all of my macros into - therefore, bigger meals. Sometimes I put it off too long and my mood takes a nosedive until I eat.

I used to be like that. Figuratively, a bottomless stomach. The only ways I felt were hungry or stuffed. Never satisfied. Doing 6 months of keto completely fixed it for me. I stopped keto a few months ago and still no longer have that problem. Most of the time im either satisfied or just slightly hungry. I do sometimes get late night cravings though, so Ill grab some carrot sticks.

DrawnToScale

Sometimes I feel a small thrill when I feel hungry - I'm thinking that weight loss is happening, and I don't want to disturb that! Also, I feel that a lot of hunger is psychological, and will pass if you distract yourself. Also - carbs tend to make you hungry later on - cut down on carbs - even "healthy" whole grains. Eat more fat - its satisfying, reduces hunger, and you'll end up with less calories per day overall.

rumijs

I don't go hungry. Even if I've hit my 1800 goal (notice I say goal, not limit). What I don't do is necessarily reach for the starchy food that you inevitably want when you're hungry. I reach for the colorful food. It fills you up quicker and gives a little more bang for the buck. Now if you're absolutely needing quick energy (which happens when you go too low of carb on very high intensity workouts) then you may need to reach for the more starchy food because your body needs it. The best advice I've received is listen to your body.

G33K_G1RL

I actually feel less hungry now than I did before I started my weight loss.

My meal plan is very protein centric. Breakfast 95% of mornings is eggs, bacon and kefir. Since I've been doing that my energy levels are much more stable and my hunger grows slowly, instead of a sudden EAT NOW feeling.

I've noticed that now when I eat a carb meal with little protein, I'll be hungry in 2-3 hours instead of 4-5 hours I usually get.

I've had a lot less cravings with this approach, but for a long time my way of dealing with cravings was the 20 minute rule. Once I notice the craving I look at the time, drink some water, then go back to working on whatever I was doing and try to forget. If more than 20 minutes later I'm still hungry, it's not just a craving and I'll find something to eat.

Mezzie1024

I usually get hungry about 30 minutes before lunch and dinner, which seems about right and helps me fully enjoy my meal. If I miss one of my snacks (I have one midmorning and one midafternoon), then I get uncomfortably hungry before my meals. I don't enjoy that, but I also don't get lightheaded or weak, so I doubt it's dangerous. I do get irritable, though, so for the sake of those around me, I try not to miss my snacks.

I never go to bed hungry and I rarely wake up hungry (though I always eat a light breakfast. If I have a heavy breakfast or brunch because of a social event, I'm generally not hungry again until dinner).

_lyndseybrooke_

harmar21 wrote: »

LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »

I'm in a permanent state of hunger whether I'm cutting or maintaining. I'm a hungry girl.

If I'm honest with myself, it's not always actual hunger - I just love to eat. I eat when I'm happy, sad, bored, stressed, sleepy, excited, neutral, etc. I eat at home, work, on the go, etc. I'm always up for food. That's why pre-logging and tracking in general is so important for me if I don't want to weigh 600 lbs.

In reality, I'm never so hungry that my stomach is growling and I feel like I'm going to die if I don't eat soon. However, eating high-volume meals/snacks as often as possible keeps me pretty happy throughout the day. I can always eat more, but I know I shouldn't if I don't have the macros to spare, so I don't. I do have actual hunger more often when cutting, and that's totally normal and expected. It all comes down to self discipline as long as you're not depriving yourself too much in the first place. If you're hungry because you're only eating 1000 calories per day, you need to eat more. If you're eating at a moderate deficit and losing at an acceptable rate, it's up to you to ignore a few hunger pangs here and there.

When I'm actually hungry and my body really does need food, I get cranky (or hangry, if you must). That's how I know it's real hunger versus something else. If I'm in a crap mood, my husband is always there to say, "we need to get some food in you, now." I only get that way maybe once or twice a week during maintenance, and that's usually because I like to put off breakfast on weekends so I have fewer hours to fit all of my macros into - therefore, bigger meals. Sometimes I put it off too long and my mood takes a nosedive until I eat.

I used to be like that. Figuratively, a bottomless stomach. The only ways I felt were hungry or stuffed. Never satisfied. Doing 6 months of keto completely fixed it for me. I stopped keto a few months ago and still no longer have that problem. Most of the time im either satisfied or just slightly hungry. I do sometimes get late night cravings though, so Ill grab some carrot sticks.

Yeahhh, glad it worked for you, but this girl will never do keto. However, I did Atkins for four months when I was in high school and it made me hate food (and life in general), so it's kind of the same thing. Screw low-carb - I'd rather be fat, to be quite honest. Luckily, those aren't my only options.

spatulamom

I get hungry, but for the most part, I can control it - in the mornings, I'm fine with being hungry because I don't get hangry-hungry. I don't eat breakfast and tend to hold off until after 1 to eat. I can't seem to go to bed hungry, though. If I'm hungry, I can't sleep. I may not have the blood sugar ups-and-downs that I sometimes get during the day, but I'm just uncomfortable and can't calm down enough to go to sleep.