20 mins to feel satisfied?

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Jenniferakajacel311
Jenniferakajacel311 Posts: 160 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone heard this or had success with it in general? I try to remind myself that my brain needs that long (or more) to catch up to my stomach, and if I'm still feeling hungry to drink some water or herbal tea. If I'm still hungry after waiting again and reading my body's signals, it's time to get a healthy snack.

Thoughts?

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  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    It takes like an hour for my body to get the cue that I'm no longer hungry. That's why calorie counting works well for me, if I just listened to my body, I'd be overweight again in a heartbeat.

    I eat my pre-planned dinner amount, then distract myself by cleaning up, having a shower, going for a walk, etc, until my body finally gets that cue. If I linger around the kitchen I can easily eat 3x what I planned to.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Sometimes it works for me, other times I just really didn't eat enough and I'm still hungry 20 minutes later.

    Doesn't hurt to wait though.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    I think this has little to do with my brain and more to do with digestion - the food has to get to a point where it pushes against something, and a small meal doesn't last long enough for that to happen while I'm still eating. I get that full feeling almost exclusively from dinner. And still I want to eat more. I aim to ignore "hunger" after I've eaten, I know it's "appetite". I know how large my meals should be, so I know when I have eaten enough (and I don't measure that by single meals, but by my weight, over time). It's usually perfectly okay to wait for my next meal, which is never many hours away.
  • Jenniferakajacel311
    Jenniferakajacel311 Posts: 160 Member
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    Haha, thank you for the feedback! I agree if I hung out near food and "waited" to feel full, I'd never feel it. I'm learning not to be an emotional eater and doing relatively well! I do distract myself with exercise, reading, baths, etc. and drink my water and herbal tea to keep me busy without adding calories, but my question is more based on my day-time routine.

    I tend to eat breakfast around 7:00 am (eggs or yogurt and few carbohydrates) and have a high protein snack around 10:00 (raw nuts) and then lunch between 12-1 PM. I then eat an afternoon snack around 3-4 pm and dinner around 6-8:00 depending on family activities.

    I like having a "rule" of how I feel once I've eaten a healthy snack. Am I thirsty? Am I bored? Am I still hungry?

    This is what I'm questioning and asking for any success people have had in dealing with these emotions or body signals.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Yes, I ask myself that kind of questions too (my goal is to not have to, though). When I've eaten up, I ask: Have I had enough? Do I still have room for more? Do I want more? Do I feel cheated? The ideal situation produces a yes - yes - yes - no.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
    edited February 2018
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    I like to mentally reference this hunger scale:

    922297_orig.png

    And try to mostly stay in the '3-5' range. And '6' an hour after my larger meals.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    A 20-30 minute pause is helpful to me. I can put away a lot of food before registering fullness.

    I often drink a full glass of water and do other things while I wait and a lot of times the feeling of wanting to eat more goes away.
    I also remind myself that by the numbers I have had enough food.
    Chewing mint gum or brushing my teeth are other ways I get it through to me that I am done eating.
  • Jenniferakajacel311
    Jenniferakajacel311 Posts: 160 Member
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    toxikon wrote: »
    I like to mentally reference this hunger scale:

    922297_orig.png

    And try to mostly stay in the '3-5' range. And '6' an hour after my larger meals.

    This is great! Thanks for posting this.

    Lounmom that makes sense, too. I also rely on mints. Pausing for 20-30 mins is a good way to think when eating. Like your verbage.

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