Hunger - a state of mind?

emmab0902

I wonder how often we really get hungry and how much we eat from conditioning or habit or other reasons ie boredom, emotions, because it's lunchtime etc.

It's after 5pm, I last ate at 10pm last night, and I am truly not hungry as have been massively busy all day. No rumbling stomach, have just done 20 mins on elliptical and about to go play tennis with the kids.

BUT

I bet if someone told me I wasn't allowed to eat for this long I would "be hungry!!!"

ElementalEscapee

Yeah, for me I get 'hungry' from habit I think... like after a stressful day, immediately upon arrival at my home I dive into my chocolate lol.

JT1090

I started my diet on Dec1st. It's only taken me these 13 days to realize how I much I would eat out of habit and not true hunger. I used to eat all day. If I missed out on eating for 1-2 hours I felt like I was dying lol. Now I can no go 5-7 hours before my stomach gets rumbly :bigsmile:

anj391

My best friend is the type of girl who gets dizzy at 5pm and then realizes that she hasn't eaten all day but it's because her stomach hasn't been grumbling. I am the complete opposite where my body always seems to want me to eat! Personally I believe my issue is boredom but she can't pinpoint why her body lets her get away with not eating for so long. It's starting to worry her a bit so if anyone has any info on non-grumbling stomachs, I'd like to pass it on to her.

BobbyClerici

I was a selfish glutton devoid of the ability or discipline to curb my many appetites.
Eating is very pleasurable, so more is better. I bloated up like the Goodyear blimp.

It's been a hard road back, and I still love my "free day" each week, but gone are the days where that hunger drives me to kill myself with a knife and fork.

photo_kyla

My best friend is the type of girl who gets dizzy at 5pm and then realizes that she hasn't eaten all day but it's because her stomach hasn't been grumbling. I am the complete opposite where my body always seems to want me to eat! Personally I believe my issue is boredom but she can't pinpoint why her body lets her get away with not eating for so long. It's starting to worry her a bit so if anyone has any info on non-grumbling stomachs, I'd like to pass it on to her.

My stomach never grumbles when I'm hungry, it's always a while after I eat. I generally don't *feel* hungry either. I can tell that I need to eat when all of a sudden I'm FREEZING (blood sugar is getting lower). If I do a hard workout, it hits about an hour after I'm done; otherwise I can go until about 3pm before I notice and eat something. I'm trying to eat breakfast more regularly now, so I have to remind myself.

sarscott

I started my diet on Dec1st. It's only taken me these 13 days to realize how I much I would eat out of habit and not true hunger. I used to eat all day. If I missed out on eating for 1-2 hours I felt like I was dying lol. Now I can no go 5-7 hours before my stomach gets rumbly :bigsmile:

I pack my lunch/snacks so I eat just about every 2-3 hours during the day... Except when I get home from work, that's a little different.

JayBear13

I used to eat out of boredom. Now i have started dieting and it used to kill me to wait but it would go away if it was just a craving, or it would get worse if I was really hungry. I also now look at it like this if you just want one food its a craving or your not really hungry.If you would eat anything then you really are hungry.

Now since i have been dieting my appetite has also shrunk, helping me considerably. So for the first bit you have to fight with yourself but once you get used to it , it becomes so much easier. I also would crave very unhealthy foods all the time, like I was addicted, and now that I have been eating less and healthier it makes me feels bad if I eat bad food and don't feel good. It just takes time you can do it!!!

emmab0902

I have enjoyed doing the Leangains approach as it has taught me the difference between true hunger and mouth hunger. Not that I by any means have conquered the latter, but it's helped me learn better eating. I don't think humans historically ate every couple of hours, and certainly longer periods of not eating yield amazing health benefits.

Lyadeia

Last week there was a period of 36 hours that I did not eat. I ate dinner on Wednesday night around 7:00, went to work (did not eat all night at work), went to sleep at home the next morning, and when I woke up, I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat. I was not hungry at all that day for some odd reason. I went to bed that night after only having some almonds and a string cheese (I was only awake for about 6 hours total that day...long story, just suffice it to say that I work third shift and worked overtime by half a day Thursday morning before going to bed, and I went to bed at a "normal" hour that night since I was very sleepy). I ate a normal breakfast in the morning about 36 hours after having my last meal. Since then I haven't been as hungry throughout the day...I haven't had some crazy cravings at weird times like before...and even when I do eat, I seem to have been eating less since that day last week.

I don't think hunger is a complete state of mind, but I do think that we have conditioned ourselves to eat at certain times whether we are truly hungry or not. I still prefer to eat every couple of hours, but not for some "metabolism boost" like that dumb myth states...I do it so I never feel hungry throughout the day. And I feel like you can appreciate that more when you figure out what it honestly feels like to be hungry instead of just wanting food.