When you feel full

cafisher0404

When you feel full, do you stop eating, even if you haven't hit the calorie count? For example, I am aiming to eat about 1450 calories a day, and I exercise about an hour a day (30 minutes is leisurely walking and 30 minutes on a treadmill). I estimate that the former burns about 100 calories or so and the latter about 200-I know these are estimates. So If I ate back half of those, which seems to be the recommendation, that would put me back at needing about 1600 to eat. If you finish dinner, and you are only at say 1400, do you eat more, or just count it as a good day that you felt full despite not hitting the calorie estimate?

AspenDan

Well..I just kinda follow my stomach..if I'm a little extra hungry, I eat more calories than usual that day..
If I get full on less food, I'm not gonna go looking for food to fill a somewhat arbitrary number..
Lastly, if you do want to stick to hitting your number, it's really easy to make up the difference of a few hundred calories by grabbing a large spoon full of ice cream or peanut butter

arditarose

Never. I could always eat more.

Machka9

cafisher0404 wrote: »

If you finish dinner, and you are only at say 1400, do you eat more, or just count it as a good day that you felt full despite not hitting the calorie estimate?

That has never happened to me.

Oh wait ... it did happen once. I was very sick at the time.

If I finish dinner at 1400 cal with 1600 cal available to me, I think to myself, "Wonderful! I have calories for a bowl of yogurt at 11 pm!"

amusedmonkey

I'm greedy about calories. If I have even one extra calorie left I will either eat it or bank it for a rainy day.

cafisher0404

amusedmonkey wrote: »

I'm greedy about calories. If I have even one extra calorie left I will either eat it or bank it for a rainy day.

This is a great idea! So I can basically "save" them for maybe something unexpected later in the week that would put me over or if I'm having a craving. Never thought of it like that and I like it!

Jelenajelenajelenajelena

I have this "problem" as well. I don't force myself to eat the rest of the calories ( if we're talking under 200). Instead I make a mental note and the next day I'm over 50 or 100 that week, I just don't stress about it because I know that I've also gone under on another day.

chandanista

It rarely happens, but when it does, I do stop when I feel full. I'm not so confident in my measurements that I think every meal is 100% accurate, anyway.

laur357

I look at my weekly calories and save them for certain days or events. If I don't eat them all on a Tuesday, I'll have a little extra on Friday or Saturday when I'm more likely to visit a restaurant or see friends. I also am usually not hungry on an evening with intense exercise, but more hungry the next day. So I eat less on those days and a little more the next.
I do try not eat at a drastic deficit on any day though. Maybe 100-200 fewer than my goal at most (my daily goal is already pretty low).

Asher_Ethan

arditarose wrote: »

Never. I could always eat more.

Me too.

lemurcat12

It's not really an issue for me. I focus on the week as a whole, so if I'm low and don't want more food, I save the calories for another day. If I was always low, and losing more than intended, I'd reassess, as you don't want to lose muscle mass.

I found that when I first started I was super motivated and cutting out all high cal foods and eating too low (while not hungry) without meaning to. This goes away, but that I actively started adding in some higher cal things I love (like some cheese in my omelet, olives in my salad, chicken with skin) I think prevented me from becoming bored and going off plan, which is important if you are trying to create a new lifestyle that will be sustainable.

LivingtheLeanDream

I can never say I don't feel hungry.....

StealthHealth

arditarose wrote: »

Never. I could always eat more.

haha! Respect.

StealthHealth

My take on this - proceed with caution. In my experience people who have been or who are still over weight tend to have poor satiety signalling. In the early days at least, I would recommend sticking to your numbers as closely as possible.

endlessfall16

Stop when you feel full or simply fine or when you intend to lose weight. You'll need to do it if you hope one day to free yourself from counting calories and logging stuff.

That's what I do, on days I intend to lose my weight. I don't count calories or log things anymore. I eat well and full (by the true meaning of it) with many meals a week. I'm at the best point in my progress.