What does hungry feel like?

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  • wild_wild_life
    wild_wild_life Posts: 1,334 Member
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    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
    zedgt87 Posts: 379 Member
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    to me hunger means i'm making progress on my cut lol
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,717 Member
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    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
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    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
    Daisychain65 Posts: 161 Member
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    Thanks for your answers :flowerforyou: it's really helpful to hear other peoples ideas/descriptions
  • annakow
    annakow Posts: 385 Member
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    It actually feels good.
  • VioletNightshade
    VioletNightshade Posts: 197
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    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
    BonnieandClyde29 Posts: 1,026 Member
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    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
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    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.

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