Still scared meal won't be big enough

vlc1979

Before I started this journey about 5 months ago my portion sizes were HUGE. I was always worried I had not bought enough food at the fast food joint and that I would be hungry when I was done.

I still have this dang fear and I hardly ever feel hungry after an appropriate packed lunch. Today I had a Healthy Choice cafe steamer and when I sat down to eat it the first thing I thought was that I was worried I wouldn't be full. Well that and a bottle of water and I am stuffed... I wish my mind would catch up with the times!!

Anyone else have this feeling?

wiglet23

all the time.

part of this process is retraining the brain.

horsepullerlovesme

i do good on my meals but when i get to supper i feel like i have to eat cuz i will be hungry for bed. but i eat 6x a day and i am never hungry. so i no what u mean mine is just at supper time.

nerdyandilikeit

That feeling is how I got fat. So, yes!

bcattoes

I usually am still hungry after those packaged meals, which is why I rarely eat them. But you can always add a big pile of veggies. Excluding root veggies and a few others, you can eat all the veggies you want and add very few calories to your meal.

mcdonl

Fill up with a big salad as a part of the meal. Your stomach has stretch receptors that tell you that your full... my eating larger quantities of low calorie, highly nutritious foods you will feel full with less caloric intake.

Works for me. Drink tons of water with your meal too.

MochaMixAZ

I can relate. I like volume - period.

So I pack in lots of volume when I can. Lots of lettuce, spinach, veggies. When I do a TV dinner, I usually steam up some additional vegetables and mix in.

I also love air popped popcorn - I can eat a whole bowl and really feel indulgent without a lot of calories or fat.

For me, small portions = dissatisfaction and feeling deprived. So I add bulk whenever I can. Even when large portions aren't a good idea (like for smoothies, creamy soups), I add in fiber so I FEEL fuller quicker.

Hope that helps!

Fairysoul

Yeah eat a salad first and then you will feel like you have eaten more when really it wasn't that much more!

jagh09

I get that way too! I feel like a food hoarder sometimes. When my husband starts picking food off my already smaller portion, I get a little food rage! ha. It's definitely a brain re-training process. I will not starve if I don't eat a mega portion and all the extras! But I do find myself having portion envy still, which is tough.

Keep at it, and the fact that you're aware of it is huge! You're doing great!

tmiqueen

Absolutely!

I've eaten the portion size that was recommended on something and thought before I ate it "That's not going to be enough. I should get two." But I stick with the one portion and find that after I've eaten it and let it settle for a bit that it was actually more than enough!

I think it goes back to when I was a kid and mom had to portion everything because we were so dirt poor that we had to make sure we didn't have too much. My mentality still thinks we don't have enough and I should get more because I don't know when I'll be poor like that again and have to give it up.

sunkisses

I don't relate to this feeling, so my perspective is a little different and might be totally worthless to you. Anyway, growing up there were often times I was hungry, and there was no food. I guess because I didn't die from it or experience too much trauma, I just got used to it. Maybe try figuring out your own motivation for these feelings/fears.

My close friends were little kids in Jamaica during their huge political uprising in the late 70s early 80s, and they came very close to starving many times. Today, one of them is chubby, and doesn't deny himself anything, and the other does not eat much at all. One responded to a real food shortage by allowing it to be normal to him, and the other felt the need to prevent this from ever happening to him again -even after the threat of starvation was long gone. That's kinda what I mean by your own motivation. We live in a country where the next meal or snack is around the corner, ask yourself why you worry about being hungry. (Hope I'm not sounding snarky, I'm totally trying to offer a different perspective).

Fitnin6280

I feel that way about my snacks! If I am hungry and need a snack to get me through to lunch, I almost feel like the healthy, snacks I have won't satisfy me. But they almost always do! I think it comes from snacking all day long and very rarely feeling hungry.

vlc1979

I don't relate to this feeling, so my perspective is a little different and might be totally worthless to you. Anyway, growing up there were often times I was hungry, and there was no food. I guess because I didn't die from it or experience too much trauma, I just got used to it. Maybe try figuring out your own motivation for these feelings/fears.

My close friends were little kids in Jamaica during their huge political uprising in the late 70s early 80s, and they came very close to starving many times. Today, one of them is chubby, and doesn't deny himself anything, and the other does not eat much at all. One responded to a real food shortage by allowing it to be normal to him, and the other felt the need to prevent this from ever happening to him again -even after the threat of starvation was long gone. That's kinda what I mean by your own motivation. We live in a country where the next meal or snack is around the corner, ask yourself why you worry about being hungry. (Hope I'm not sounding snarky, I'm totally trying to offer a different perspective).

I aggree w/ what you are saying! Idk exactly why I am still feeling this way. I am rarely ever hungry b/c I schedule snacks in the day and I don't deny myself anything that I want. I either schedule it or save it for a running day. I will have to look inside and do a little thinking.

spacecase76

When my husband starts picking food off my already smaller portion, I get a little food rage! ha.

Oh, that would definitely piss me off. After I have weighed / measured / counted my food, *you* don't touch it. Period....