Eating only when hungry?

LoggingForLife

That's how we should eat, but somewhere along the way, something went wrong! Geenen Roth wrote a few books - Feeding The Hungry Heart, When Food Is Love, and Breaking Free From Compulsive Eating. In her books she teaches the reader to pay attention to your feelings of hunger, eat when hungry and stop when you are not hungry any longer. She says to rate your hunger from 1 to 10 and to stay around 4 to 6. She talks about how many people haven't had an actual physical hunger pang in years.

Anyway, it's worth the read. I try to teach my children to eat this way, but I think I'm a lost cause. I think the biggest mistake we make with children is to make them finish their food.....very harmful.

Kymmu

The longer I stay on MFP the easier it gets. I find myself eating a lot of the same foods so they are already on my list.
Sometimes I add a recipe, or find a restaurant dinner that is similar to what I've had.
It's a great guide, but is not 100% accurate, so it's best not no eat silly things, and plan for nutrition, then get moving!

MJ7910

The problem with eating only when your hungry is that some people are hungry besides just their three meals a day, so they overeat because they're hungry.
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the key statement here ^^^
it takes persistence and patience to listen to your body. the first week you do try to listen to your body it will be hard. you'll need to take some time to cue into hunger. it's ok to have a small snack or glass of water to make sure you are really hungry. people overeat because they don't understand when they are hungry, have a portion of something, not 5 portions. after having that 1 portion, take a break and re-evaluate if you are actually hungry. a few of you said this, naturally thin people do just this. they dont' have problems with overeating because they stop after a little bit of food. they listen to their bodies. most of us have been given huge portions at restaurants, by our family, etc. it's ok to divide something into a normal portion, eat that and then decide if more is needed after about 20 minutes.

i think counting calories and looking at portions is a very valuable tool when one first starts to lose weight. but if you feel like it's getting obsessive it may be time to step away and do somethign different, like intuitive eating, or listening to your body for hunger cues.

tmdougls

I did this and I went from 280 to like 215 in about 7 months...... It can be done, and it's God's Way, (imo).