Eaten all day - stomach feels full, mouth craves more?!

sophorae

I get this really bad. It's as if I'm looking for a food but I don't know what it is, and I keep eating to find it. Sometimes I'm not even aware that I'm eating. I've just started here so I'm no expert in losing weight, I'm an expert in being fat.

I notice your meals are very low on protein. If I am aware the craving is starting, I have meat, red meat works best particularly on the bone. A very small grilled T bone with the fat removed but not the gristle or connective tissue, seems to work best. A small steamed or microwaves sweet potato and perhaps a few greens is all you need with it. There's something about the non muscle parts of the meat and chewing the bone that works. I guess it's my cave woman thing. But I think I would be much fatter if I hadn't read about using protein to stop the cravings.

A 225gm/8 ounce T bone is about 500 calories. It sounds a lot but I have tried fitting it into my 1400 calorie diet and it seems to work easily. Chewing gum also helps and I'm going to try the suggestion of some of the other commenters to brush my teeth when I have that feeling.

yrkiddingme

good ideas here....I experienced this just today. My stomach was quite full after lunch, but I still felt I wanted to chew something. I'm going to go for protein instead of the potato chips from now on....

Hildy_J

Fibre really helps, too, baked potatoes, oranges etc.

sybrix

This sounds weird but making my food spicy makes me eat less of it and drink more water. It works for me because I love spicy food. Jalapenos and tomatoes with hummus on pita bread is one of my fav lunches. Also chewing gum helps. Brushing my teeth also turns me off to eating for the rest of the night. Protein really does make a difference too.

Toasted seaweed is an awesome snack if you want to something to nibble on. It has that satisfying crunchiness and comes in a ton of great flavors. The kind I get that's cut into rectangular slivers are 10 calories for 10 slivers, and it's packed with vitamin A and low in sodium. Great for potato chip cravings!

carlyhaycraft3

You should check out this book: Overcoming Overeating

Overcoming Overeating: How to Break the Diet/Binge Cycle and Live a Healthier, More Satisfying Life Paperback – December 13, 2010
by Jane R. Hirschmann (Author), Carol H. Munter (Author)

This is a fantastic book and distinguishes the difference between mouth hunger and stomach hunger. It is very inspiring and encouraging and promotes loving and caring for your body. It has helped me so much! The topics are something I used to know when I dropped about 50 lbs and was a very healthy and active weight but then I got in an abusive relationship and forgot all of my natural eating habits.

I was so happy to find this book to reinforce what I used to know and am dropping weight quickly again but in a healthy way without feeling deprived at all. This book is honestly a game changer and a life changer. I really hope you read it. It's able to be purchased for kindle as well so if you have a smart phone you can download the kindle app and read it on your phone!

phobiep

I BARELY see ANY protein in your menu. When I eat that many carbs, I crave food all day and can never get satiated. IMO, you should be having a minimum of 4 oz. of protein in every meal!

wilpri

You should know that coffee (among other foods) is very acidic and your natural body pH is alkaline, so if you consume a lot of coffee (and other acidic foods), your body will continue to crave alkaline foods to balance itself out.

Alatariel75

wilpri wrote: »

You should know that coffee (among other foods) is very acidic and your natural body pH is alkaline, so if you consume a lot of coffee (and other acidic foods), your body will continue to crave alkaline foods to balance itself out.

Coffee has a pH of 5. Stomach acid has a pH of 1.5 to 3.5. How is the coffee not making your stomach acid more alkaline, in the short term after drinking it?

SarahLascelles1

Flavoured teas help me with this. They help fool my mouth without adding extra calories

inertiastrength

Right before my period my stomach is an empty pit. I ate SO MUCH yesterday and I was legit hungry for it all. I also went way overboard on chocolate but since I walked 20K that day I was actually still in a tiny deficit. Some days I just go up to maintenance that day and I don't sweat it. When my period does come I tend to lose my appetite completely and I'll have 1 or 2 low days naturally. I figure it evens out and it hasn't caused me any issues thus far.

ETA didn't even see if OP was female, sorry if dude lol

DKG28

"It's as if I'm looking for a food but I don't know what it is, and I keep eating to find it."

This. totally this! Definite sign of mental/psychological hunger. I've started asking myself that very question "what exactly are you craving?" Most of the time, i'm craving the feeling to shoving something into my mouth. If it's that I know i'm not actually hungry and in need of food. I find that when my stomach is genuinely growling, i'm actually hungry for a balanced nutritious meal. When not, the comfort foods and sweets come into the picture, or mostly, that feeling of "i'll eat anything just to satisfy the urge to eat something".

Running_and_Coffee

I get this way and I think it has 0% to do with what you eat and 100% to do with a very small subversive piece of you thinking, "It's not fair! I eat healthy all day and that's just no fun! I want more food pleasure like other people who don't diet get to have!!!"

Let me know if you figure out the fix. I drink a lot of water, have coffee or tea instead of food, and chew obscene amounts of sugar free gum (which destroys my stomach!!) but the only thing that works is not having food to eat.

ZoneFive

"Mouth hunger" is what got me to my highest weight. Mouth is all id -- wants something sweet/crunchy/salty/whatever NOW, and will go on demanding something NOW until attention is paid to it.

Looking at the log you posted, it seems you're eating very little protein. I know when I've had enough protein -- and not just lean protein, either -- my stomach's satisfied and my mouth shuts up, too. On the thankfully rare times I have stomach and mouth hunger, a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter usually does the trick. Deviled eggs and string cheese are good, too. And water. Whatever else you have, drink water with it.

singingflutelady

Zombie thread

EloquentSelfLoathing

Could be thirst- hunger and thirst often feel the same. Try drinking when hungry, wait half an hoir or so and see if it sorts out. If you're craving sweet you could always have low calorie fizzy drinks - coke zero and such are pretty much 1 calorie a cup, taste sweet and make you feel fuller cause they're bubbly. Also some cup soup type things are low calorie and trick your body into thinking it's getting food. Similar thing with low calorie pots of jelly - they're like 5 calories a pot.

CattOfTheGarage

Lots of good advice here on experimenting with different macros (and *experimenting* is key, it's very individual, no one size fits all).

If you do all this and find the perfect diet that keeps you physically satisfied but you still want to CHEW ON SOMETHING, try sugar free chewing gum. I personally sometimes just want to CHEW and it helps me. Plus the mint flavor makes me less inclined to eat anything else.