nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

MyFitnessPal Community

What does hungry feel like?

Daisychain65

It's that simple really. I'm trying to pay more attention to my body's signals and I was just curious about how other people would describe the feeling of hunger. Thanks

Replies

Mokey41

Gnawing, gurgling, crampy feeling in your stomach, the organ not the general abdominal area. It is an actual physical feeling not a mental "OOHH, cheesecake!" feeling. It doesn't go away with distraction or water. Keeps getting stronger, can actually almost be a sick feeling when it gets strong. My stomach will announce hunger with a series of loud noises if I ignore it.

One way to feel true hunger is to fast for 8 hours or so with nothing but water. Anyone who can't distinguish true hunger should give that a try.

WendyTerry420

For me it is painful and irritating. I feel like I am too weak to even move if I let myself get seriously hungry. I rarely let that happen though. I eat big and enjoy my snacks.

Ainar

You wanna... ya know... ate!

You can't really explain that just like you can't explain how colors looks to blind man. Well, I will try. So, when I'm hungry I think about the food and I wanna ate it. Mouth full of saliva when I think about it. Tummy feels empty, sometimes it even makes sounds like begging for food. It's kinda like something missing and I just wanan fill it up inside there in my belly.

babydiego87

Empty pit in my stomach. I get cranky too hah

Daisychain65

Interesting, thanks. Anyone else?

taunto

It's that simple really. I'm trying to pay more attention to my body's signals and I was just curious about how other people would describe the feeling of hunger. Thanks

I think different people get different signals. Some get headaches, some get stomach growling, some get cranky etc.

However, if you are trying to have a meaningful, long lasting and healthy relationship with food, don't focus on the hunger signals. Don't try to get yourself hungry. Just eating the calories and log the food here. Workout and eat at least half of the calories you burn. Have a good relationship with all kinds of foods. Yes, even the junk food like cheetos and ice cream. Enjoy them. You can't live without them all your life.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Tired, weak, headaches, and pain in upper abdominal area.

toutmonpossible

Gnawing feeling, borborygmos (stomach rumbling and gurgling).

NarneyK

For me it starts off as a pain in my stomach, but if I go too long between meals, I tend to get burpy. That's when I know I need to eat something right away. If I still don't eat at this point, I later become cranky and dizzy. At that point, after I eat, I tend to get sleepy.

chelseascounter

My stomach feels like it's shrinking into a tiny ball. I hate the feeling. If water doesn't make it go away, then I know it's food.

FerretBuellerr

I can feel myself getting more tired, unfocused, and sometime extremely irritable before the tell-tale stomach gurgling and aching starts to happen. I find it hard for myself because I can get those feelings every 2 hours sometimes :noway: It must be the quality of food I'm eating I'm guessing - and water normally deals with that pretty well until I feel like I'm going to pass out from hunger

mom4ever1956

Hi from Buffalo, NY
Not saying this for everyone's situation, but you never want it get to the point of feeling weak.. I am diabetic and find that eating something every three hours will keep you balanced, I went one day without eating lunch and by body was telling me to eat. My advice, eat your three meals a day and have at least a snack of 15 grams of carbs in between meals. Let me say, I am not a professional, but I learn from the professionals. Just my insight.

cb83580

I'm pretty sure I've never felt hunger in my entire life. For me, it's a mental/boredom thing.

AlabasterVerve

Hunger for me is a physical sensation that's actually kind of nice like most bodily functions. It's not painful or debilitating and comes and goes in waves. The longer you wait before eating the stronger the urge to eat becomes.

I used to have all of the symptoms that have been described above by other people but since I've begun eating a low carb diet my hunger has returned to normal -- like it was when I was a kid and my mom had to make me come in and eat because I would rather play than eat. You don't get tired, weak, sick or irritable and you don't have that urge to eat anything, no matter what, just to get some food into you. If anything I get more energetic when I'm hungry.

AlabasterVerve

It looks like I killed your thread -- sorry, OP!

stines72

I read something recently that says PHYSICAL hunger can wait
Physical hunger - anything sounds good, even healthy stuff
Physical hunger - comes on slowly

Emotional hunger - comes on suddenly, focusing on a certain type of food (ie, sugary, fatty, etc)
Emotional hunger - feels like you need to eat NOW to be satisfied

Achaila

I get a pain in my stomach. I can't really describe it as anything but a hunger pain.

PepperWorm

I get shakes, a specific sort of headache right in the middle of the forehead, stomach is growling and churning, and food is literally ALL I can focus on. When I get into that state, I gotta eat food RIGHT THEN. If I don't, I get seriously cranky. All the symptoms stop maybe five minutes after I eat.

Seesawboomerang

For me, ridiculously close to thirsty. So, I usually make sure I drink water first and then rethink.

That feeling of having a hole in your belly is a sensation I get with thirst, hunger, boredom, and stress, so I can't go by that alone.

caly_man

tomorrow when you wake up, skip breakfast, have your your morning coffee or tea, wait until your normal lunch time, by them, you should have a good idea what hunger feels like.

wild_wild_life

Interesting question. Like one of the posters above, I think in the past I have rarely let myself feel or contemplate true hunger because I was always trying to stave it off or avoid it. A pretty lucky situation to be in, all things considered.

I recently read a really interesting book called "How to Have Your Cake and Your Skinny Jeans Too" by Josie Spinardi.

http://www.amazon.com/Have-Your-Skinny-Jeans-ebook/dp/B00B9JKNBC

She talks about hunger being a warm, energizing feeling in the upper abdomen. It's open to options (ie, you're not just "hungry for pizza") and comes on slowly (as opposed to a sudden desire for donuts). I have been trying to cultivate this and I do feel it sometimes. Based on the responses to this thread, everyone seems to experience hunger slightly differently though.

zedgt87

to me hunger means i'm making progress on my cut lol

acpgee

Try 5:2 intermittent fasting to find out. That's a regime where you eat 500 cals on two non-consecutive days per week and at maintenance on the other days to build in you calorie deficit. If you are the type of person who psychologically copes better with occasional extreme deprivation that constant low level deprivation it is a helpful eating pattern.

When I was doing this last year, I found that physical hunger did not get progressively worse during the day but came in waves. Also I learned that while physical hunger is slightly unpleasant, it doesn't kill you. I also enjoyed the ketosis taste in my mouth (that's the metallic taste you get when your body is metabolizing fat). It also taught me the difference between feeling peckish and physical hunger. So even if intermittent fasting was not for me in the long term, I think it helped me.

Francl27

I think we all feel it a different way. I've read that some people can mistake being hungry for being thirsty and I just can't comprehend it... it's not the same at all for me (maybe that's why the whole 'drinking water' when you're hungry thing doesn't actually work for me, I'm actually hungry and not thirsty, and it works for people who think they are hungry but are actually thirsty).

I feel it in my stomach. I don't think I can explain it. It's just a different sensation. It rumbles too if I stay hungry too long. After a while I get cranky and lightheaded. Totally different than what I feel when I'm stressed and thirsty (which I seem to only feel in my mouth).

Daisychain65

Thanks for your answers :flowerforyou: it's really helpful to hear other peoples ideas/descriptions

annakow

It actually feels good.

VioletNightshade

The physical sensation to me is kind of odd. It almost feels like a dull pull. It gets stronger as time wears on and it lets up after I've eaten a certain amount.

I'm trying to get used to the feeling as I don't really eat any more to the point where that entirely goes away. It's unpleasant, but I consider being my former size even more unpleasant.

Emotional hunger on the other hand is a funny thing for me. At first, I lose all appetite and sometimes even feel like I want to be sick, but about an hour later, I become completely and utterly obsessed with food and want to eat everything in sight.

BonnieandClyde29

My stomach just literally feels empty, and growls, I become really irritated, and sometimes I will vomit or dry heave if I stay hungry for too long

CollieFit

To me it feels like a "hollow" sensation in my abdomen and sometimes some gurgling. LOL
Psychologically it depends on whether my hunger is planned or unplanned whether I get irritable with it.

I do 5:2 so I have intermittent fasting days. Planned hunger feel easier to me psychologically because it's "part of the plan" rather than something that's imposed by outside circumstances.

I used to eat when not hungry (bored etc) and not stop when technically I should have been full. It's as if I could no longer read my own body.

I love IF because it helped me to re-educate my body and understand it's signals, and re-discover my "I'm full now" sensation.