the "eating when you're not hungry" dilemma

dawnemjh

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rileysowner

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wildon883r

We should really only eat when we're hungry. It's our body's natural way of telling us to feed it. What does that mean. It means that we don't necessarily eat at the same times day in and day out. It also means eating when it isn't necessarily a scheduled meal time. We have been trained that we have to eat on a schedule when thats not how nature intends us to fuel ourselves. Caloric intake is the same whether we eat 12 meals a day or 1. Your meals should not consume more space then the size of your fist since thats the normal size of a persons stomach. It's been said that western culture eats 3 times the amount of food we need to live and be healthy. So this advice to eat even when your not hungry is poor advice for not only weight loss but our health in general. Personally speaking i have to eat about every 2-3 hours because i do eat normal portion sizes when i eat meals. and get very hungry if i go much longer then that time frame.

ChaliBahli

Great post- definitely get brain signals, but they are tooootally messed up. I want to eat more after I run, I find I carb-crave for lack of better terms but I have to really distract myself from going overboard as they don't fill me up. I try to get in protein within an hour after a workout always.

ChaliBahli

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bbbbb33333

Great info

Atlantique

We should really only eat when we're hungry. It's our body's natural way of telling us to feed it. What does that mean. It means that we don't necessarily eat at the same times day in and day out. It also means eating when it isn't necessarily a scheduled meal time. We have been trained that we have to eat on a schedule when thats not how nature intends us to fuel ourselves. Caloric intake is the same whether we eat 12 meals a day or 1. Your meals should not consume more space then the size of your fist since thats the normal size of a persons stomach. It's been said that western culture eats 3 times the amount of food we need to live and be healthy. So this advice to eat even when your not hungry is poor advice for not only weight loss but our health in general. Personally speaking i have to eat about every 2-3 hours because i do eat normal portion sizes when i eat meals. and get very hungry if i go much longer then that time frame.

I think you've missed the point of the post. Most people are here to lose significant amounts of weight (more than 10 pounds). They've so abused their body and its normal feedback loops that they've managed to become dangerously unhealthy; they no longer recognize the normal signals that say to stop eating or that it's time to eat.

For someone who has so long abused and ignored the 'normal' signals of how much eating is appropriate and at what times, eating only when hungry is the road to disaster. Just look at all the posts from people who swear they 'crave' junk food--that's a mindgame if I ever heard of one.

When someone's lost touch with normal eating, they are most likely going to need to be on a schedule for at least a few months in order to return to healthy patterns. They'll likely need to compel themselves to exercise in the beginning as well. Eventually, most will be able to return to a less-structured pattern of eating and exercise as they will learn to recognize healthy patterns and feedback loops. But not at first.

jlisah

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JMCade

Great info, but I have the opposite problem. I'm always hungry and I'm always over my calorie goal for the day.

crisanderson27

We should really only eat when we're hungry. It's our body's natural way of telling us to feed it. What does that mean. It means that we don't necessarily eat at the same times day in and day out. It also means eating when it isn't necessarily a scheduled meal time. We have been trained that we have to eat on a schedule when thats not how nature intends us to fuel ourselves. Caloric intake is the same whether we eat 12 meals a day or 1. Your meals should not consume more space then the size of your fist since thats the normal size of a persons stomach. It's been said that western culture eats 3 times the amount of food we need to live and be healthy. So this advice to eat even when your not hungry is poor advice for not only weight loss but our health in general. Personally speaking i have to eat about every 2-3 hours because i do eat normal portion sizes when i eat meals. and get very hungry if i go much longer then that time frame.

I think you've missed the point of the post. Most people are here to lose significant amounts of weight (more than 10 pounds). They've so abused their body and its normal feedback loops that they've managed to become dangerously unhealthy; they no longer recognize the normal signals that say to stop eating or that it's time to eat.

For someone who has so long abused and ignored the 'normal' signals of how much eating is appropriate and at what times, eating only when hungry is the road to disaster. Just look at all the posts from people who swear they 'crave' junk food--that's a mindgame if I ever heard of one.

When someone's lost touch with normal eating, they are most likely going to need to be on a schedule for at least a few months in order to return to healthy patterns. They'll likely need to compel themselves to exercise in the beginning as well. Eventually, most will be able to return to a less-structured pattern of eating and exercise as they will learn to recognize healthy patterns and feedback loops. But not at first.

Very well said!

crisanderson27

Great info, but I have the opposite problem. I'm always hungry and I'm always over my calorie goal for the day.

What's your goal set at? What are you eating?

I have a pretty big appetite (grew up on a cattle ranch, and been in construction most of my life)...and I could comfortably survive on 1500cal of the right foods.

I find a lot of people that hold onto the carbs, are hungry more often. When you fill yourself with protien and fats, hunger doesn't really push as hard it seems. Don't get me wrong either, I still eat carbs...but I am ALWAYS full...as long as I eat 'on time'. If I go an hour past when I normally eat...wow, talk about hungry!!

Cris

Hearts_2015

Thanks for taking time to write this :flowerforyou:

BlissfulYoga

I'm finding myself having a hard time with this myself...bumping as well! Thanks!

SHBoss1673

We should really only eat when we're hungry. It's our body's natural way of telling us to feed it. What does that mean. It means that we don't necessarily eat at the same times day in and day out. It also means eating when it isn't necessarily a scheduled meal time. We have been trained that we have to eat on a schedule when thats not how nature intends us to fuel ourselves. Caloric intake is the same whether we eat 12 meals a day or 1. Your meals should not consume more space then the size of your fist since thats the normal size of a persons stomach. It's been said that western culture eats 3 times the amount of food we need to live and be healthy. So this advice to eat even when your not hungry is poor advice for not only weight loss but our health in general. Personally speaking i have to eat about every 2-3 hours because i do eat normal portion sizes when i eat meals. and get very hungry if i go much longer then that time frame.

I think you've missed the point of the post. Most people are here to lose significant amounts of weight (more than 10 pounds). They've so abused their body and its normal feedback loops that they've managed to become dangerously unhealthy; they no longer recognize the normal signals that say to stop eating or that it's time to eat.

For someone who has so long abused and ignored the 'normal' signals of how much eating is appropriate and at what times, eating only when hungry is the road to disaster. Just look at all the posts from people who swear they 'crave' junk food--that's a mindgame if I ever heard of one.

When someone's lost touch with normal eating, they are most likely going to need to be on a schedule for at least a few months in order to return to healthy patterns. They'll likely need to compel themselves to exercise in the beginning as well. Eventually, most will be able to return to a less-structured pattern of eating and exercise as they will learn to recognize healthy patterns and feedback loops. But not at first.

You summed it up quite nicely ATL! The name of the game is guiding our bodies back to the state in which they can work the way they are supposed to work.

think of it like this. If you have a car with a broken gas gauge. And always reported the tank as empty even when you had half a tank. Would you still fill the car up with 15 gallons of gas (assuming a it's a 15 gallon tank)? No you wouldn't. Now a person is different than a car in many ways, but it's important in a couple more than others. First, a car doesn't store extra gas in it's wheel wells or it's undercarriage. Second, if you overfill a car, it'll just spill on the ground, and it won't be stored. And third, a car won't fix it's own gas gauge. But the goal will still be to fix what's broken so the car can run correctly and YOU can make the correct choices about it's fuel. For a car that probably means a mechanic or dealership. For a person that means giving it the correct amount of foods at the correct times regardless of whether you're hungry or not.

when you've regained health and your body is correctly reporting hunger again, yes, you can use the "eat when you're hungry" model, but not before, not if you want success. What you're missing is the most important factor. Humans never evolved with gluttony as a normal pattern, and therefore the human body never evolved the ability to adjust it's hormone releases to guard against overeating when we are full, and our bodies never evolved to EFFICIENTLY store large energy reserves like a bear or other animals that go long stretches without food (hibernating animals). Yes we store fat, but science has shown that this is a relatively inefficient way to utilize calories, the process from fat to energy is longer, and requires more work to be done. Fast needed energy is not derived in the same quantities or replenished at the same rate with fat as it is with carbohydrates. I digress here, so I'll stop, but it's all related folks. Hunger hormones, glucose levels, lipolysis, the citric acid cycle, your liver, bile, BCAA's ... you can't just understand part of it, you have to have a base foundation of how the human metabolism works in totality if you want to understand why these issues arise and how to fight them. Any process in a vacuum is flawed observation because the body is symbiotic and all actions change outcomes, be they direct or indirect.

crisanderson27

Exactly Boss! I don't understand what's so hard to comprehend about the fact that the major contributing factor to the majority of members being registered here is an inability to maintain proper eating habits. Sure, there are a few that have other reasons...but we're overweight as a group of people for a reason lol. Putting yourself on an eating schedule makes total sense as a beginning towards correcting that.

Horses were designed to graze all day every day...but we fed ours on a schedule...it never hurt them. Same for our pets...which were designed to eat when they were able...eating on a schedule doesn't seem to hurt them either.

Additionally...my main points above were that yes, you probably need to eat more food in general...but as we've mentioned multiple times...calorie dense foods are even better. You don't have to stuff yourself to eat enough. Eat smart and healthy and it'll usually take care of itself.

Cris

ladyhawk00

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Jenscan

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ladyhawk00

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lovetowrite73

This was great information, as always!!

Articeluvsmemphis

great