When are you most/least hungry?

Annie42019

For me I am never hungry when I wake up. I’m not that hungry during the day. But at night I have to power through to stop eating. Then I go to sleep and a “miracle ” occurs. No matter how hungry I was when I went to sleep the hunger is gone when I awaken. This is true even if I wake up just an hour after going to sleep to use the bathroom. I’ve tried different things to avoid night time feelings of being ravenous but none helped ( eating more earlier…a DISASTER….eating more carbs….more protein. I worked with a nutritionist who was positive She could fix this if I followed her plan…nope.) I’ve come to accept it and have kept 75 pounds off by “ powering though the hunger”. How about you all, are there times of day you are ravenous…others not at all?

SuzanneC1l9zz

I have 2 times in the day when my body really seems to need something. I'm not hungry when I wake up, but I am when I get to work. Okay... bring my smoothie and drink it at my desk while I'm checking voicemail, email etc. before really getting rolling for the day.

I also get hungry towards the end of my shift, and by the time I've gotten home and walked the dogs it's likely to have been another 2+ hours before I can eat a meal. So I pack a little "snack-size" ziplock with one stick of string cheese, 2 pieces of mini turkey pepperoni and a handful of crackers (usually 6 or so). Generally either herb & garlic pita crackers or triscuits. Protein, fats, carbs, fiber, and it tides me over until dinner.

If you're hungrier later in the day, plan to eat a higher percentage of your calories then. Work with what your body needs! There's no rule that you have to divide your calories evenly across the day.

cmriverside

Yeah, nighttime. I'm not a power-through type though. I surrender and go to bed.

Chef_Barbell

Sometimes I'm starving when I wake up, then I will eat breakfast. Other times I have no appetite until dinner, those days I eat a big dinner. It all balances out in the end 🤷‍♀️

ninerbuff

I only eat 2 main meals a day........lunch and dinner. And at night I snack before bed so I have carbs in my system for the morning workout. As mentioned, there is no hard rule when to eat. In Europe, many places don't have dinner till after 9pm. It's STILL about CICO and keeping that intact is how you lose/maintain weight once you get there.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Hiawassee88

Annie42019 wrote: »

For me I am never hungry when I wake up. I’m not that hungry during the day. But at night I have to power through to stop eating. Then I go to sleep and a “miracle ” occurs. No matter how hungry I was when I went to sleep the hunger is gone when I awaken. This is true even if I wake up just an hour after going to sleep to use the bathroom. I’ve tried different things to avoid night time feelings of being ravenous but none helped ( eating more earlier…a DISASTER….eating more carbs….more protein. I worked with a nutritionist who was positive She could fix this if I followed her plan…nope.) I’ve come to accept it and have kept 75 pounds off by “ powering though the hunger”. How about you all, are there times of day you are ravenous…others not at all?

This happened to me while I was in the weight releasing mode. I ate 3 meals aday but a faux hunger would hit me around 8pm every single night. That went on for about a year. Like you, every morning the hunger vanished. I called it ghrelin blowback. The hunger hormone thermostat. My receptors were firing on all cylinders when they needed to calm down. It took awhile but it finally went away.

JBanx256

USUALLY (but not always), right after I get home from a training session, I'm really not hungry. I feel like I'll yak if I try to eat. Typically within an hour or so I'm good to go, but sometimes even thinking about food too soon afterwards makes my stomach churn.

THAT SAID, I can't train on an empty stomach or it's just an absolute "poop" show (using PG words here because lawd knows MFP will edit that mess to say *kitten* anyway) and pretty much a waste of time.

cmriverside

...ghrelin blowback

I totally just read Gremlin Blowback. Which, is what it feels like. Some mischief-creating little inner creature with no regard whatsoever to my Goals.

glassyo

cmriverside wrote: »

...ghrelin blowback

I totally just read Gremlin Blowback. Which, is what it feels like. Some mischief-creating little inner creature with no regard whatsoever to my Goals.

And THIS is why you don't feed it after midnight!

nossmf

Right after a workout is when I'm at my hungriest, which is why I have a protein shake with me. Not because of some magic window of maximum effectiveness, but simply because I'm hungry, and the shake tides me over until my next meal.

JaysFan82

At night after I get 4-5 joints in me. I just pick at healthy choices like cut up veggies instead of a bag of chips

COGypsy

I wake up cold, mean, and HUNGRY! I have juice as soon as I get up, first breakfast about an hour later, and often a smaller second breakfast about an hour after that. Sometimes I remember to have a snack around 4, but otherwise I don’t eat again until I get dinner together around 7:30 or 8:00. I’m pretty hungry then too. I eat pretty slowly and it’s rare to be finished with dinner before 8:30 or 9:00, so a lot of night time snacking is avoided because it’s nearly bedtime by then.

AnnPT77

This isn't really mysterious: As the day goes on, and we get more distant from last night's sleep, fatigue is subtly accumulating. What happens when we're fatigued? The body seeks energy. Appetite is energy seeking.

Sometimes, different eating patterns will help, like experimenting with different timing/numbers of meals/snacks, timing of particular macros or food volume, and that sort of thing.

But don't ignore the potential value of improving sleep quality/quantity if it's sub-ideal, reducing stress in life if possible (or better managing/mitigating it) because stress is fatiguing, moderating exercise intensity/frequency/duration (pushing too hard on current fitness level is extra fatiguing, possibly to the point of being counterproductive). Even timing exercise differently sometimes can make a difference.

There's also the option, for some, of deciding to lose weight a little more slowly, rather than going for maximum aggression in weight loss rate.

Sure, I'm a little more likely to be hungry in the evening. Perversely, I experimented and figured out that for me personally - this stuff is very individual! - it was useful to get a solid breakfast with ample protein; spread protein through the day; and eat at least one high volume (not necessarily high calorie) meal, which for for me means a giant heap of veggies/fruits at some point. When I noticed that during weight loss, strength exercise made me extra hungry, I timed some snacks around the workout, and that helped.

Other people's formulas won't be like mine, but many people (I suspect) can find a personal formula that at least helps somewhat.

Boomshakalaka01

For me, it fluctuates. I use to feel hungry all day, everyday. Now, with a lot of my consumption under control, I have to keep in mind to eat, eat healthier than not and not use over-eating as a crutch for stress/stressors. Example: Today I had gotten a wide range of bad news and wanted to stuff my face but then realized I may sabotage all my hard earned goals I've achieved. With this, my urge to binge eat waned and I'm still on track. Not sure if this happens with anyone else but if so, keep trying to get healthy. You won't regret it.