How to eat only when hungry?

What do other people use as an indicator of hunger? Do you think it is feasible to always have prepared food to avoid bad choices, but wait for a physical indication of hunger (stomach growling) before eating?
My hunger meter is broken I need to reset it! I feel like my alienation from hunger keeps me from knowing when I am satisfied.

I really feel that when you are first starting out you can't rely on your "rumbling tummy". Since it is as you said 'broken' from all the years of over/under eating. What happens if you try to eat only when you are hungry is either a) you over eat because that's what your used to, or b) you under eat because you try to fool yourself (and others) into thinking that you aren't hungry. If you do any of these behaviors you won't ever get back to 'normal'.

When you first start you need to PLAN to eat, how many meals, what food etc.. it's only after you do this properly for a while and you are eating the right number of calories and foods that you can start going back to listening a little bit to your body. You have to train yourself..eat SLOWLY - it really makes a difference to "feeling" full. Make sure you drink your water too because the feeling of thirst is also often confused with hunger. You became overweight by 'listening to your body' so thinking "oh, I'll just eat when I'm hungry" won't work until you re-teach your body the signals.

Some people subscribe to the "If you aren't hungry, don't eat" mantra but for me that makes no sense. Until your body is re-trained to 'feel' correctly, feelings are unreliable.

I wait till my tummy growls. However, once evening hits, it seems like a more urgent sort of hunger, and i end up indulging.

will power

When think I am hungry and it is NOT meal/snack time, I have found that I can chug a bottle of water ( I have to chug it) and put off my "hunger" pains until meal time. My former running coach claimed that a lot of times what we think is hunger is actually thirst, and from my experience this is true.

I rarely get stomach-grumbling hunger. My meals and snacks are pretty well timed to keep me steady throughout the day. But if I miss one, or I'm trying to save up calories for a treat, or my snack was something really sugary that doesn't stay with me, I can feel a definite loss of focus and concentration (and I don't just mean because I'm thinking about food). If I really go too long I start to get spots in my vision. It took me a while to figure it out because I didn't feel hungry, but if I have a little snack when that happens it goes away.

Other hunger signs for me are dizziness, bad mood, and for some reason my eye starts twitching. I can't remember the last time my tummy rumbled.

bump

I have been steadily maintaining an eating schdule. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, supper, bedtime snack (sometimes). I think my body has gotten used to that system, since it's rare I have hunger 'pangs'. The week before 'that monthly time' is a bit different, but mostly, the schedule works.

I eat based on known energy needs, not hunger. Never use hunger as a guide while assuming a deficit because your leptin levels naturally decline while in a caloric restrictive state.

I'm hypoglycemic and my hunger mechanism is screwed up. If I relied on physical indications I wouldn't know to eat until I couldn't focus, was nauseous or dizzy. I try to eat 5 times a day and spread my calories out as even as I can. That way I know my energy is constant. I've only had one episode of my blood sugar dropping so far. So it's working pretty good.

So being hungry isn't a factor with me.

As a practitioner of the 5:2 way of life, I find that the "fast" (500 cals 2x a week) days have gotten me very well acquainted with actual physical hunger. As a result, I have naturally become much less likely to eat for other reasons. Since I eat (pretty much; I slip up once in awhile) only when hungry (including the 5 "non-fast" days), I don't eat very often; usually 2 meals maybe one snack, and I anticipate by thinking about what I'll eat when I do get hungry--helps avoid the "cramming whatever is closest" into my mouth syndrome. BTW, that doesn't mean only broccoli and water, since the beauty of 5:2 is you can eat what you want...For example, yesterday was a fast day; I had a little less than 500 cals. Today is a non-fast day, it's almost 1pm and I haven't eaten yet; thinking about it. I plan on having strawberry shortcake when I do eat...got local strawberries and a scone from the co-op, will have full fat yogurt instead of cream 'cause that's what I have around. In 7 weeks, I've lost 12 lbs; but the main thing is, this WOL is sustainable. Try it, you'll like it! (see the forum and info at www.fastday.com)

As a practitioner of the 5:2 way of life, I find that the "fast" (500 cals 2x a week) days have gotten me very well acquainted with actual physical hunger. As a result, I have naturally become much less likely to eat for other reasons.

I tried out intermittent fasting for about a month. I only ate between 2 pm and 10 pm. That's not nearly as dedicated as your version but there were days when I had worked out in the morning, hadn't eaten since 8 the night before and you really start feeling a physical sensation of needing food that goes beyond the typical emotional state of feeling hungry. I don't know that this works for everyone but it was an interesting thing to try out. Some days I wasn't even hungry at all but 2 pm.

The problem is that you are treating the signal as "time to eat" instead of "time to think about eating sometime in the not too distant future", which is what it is actually saying.

That's a pretty good point. We don't run to the bathroom every time we feel the slight urge to go. We just make a note of it and think "I'll finish what I'm doing here, walk the dog, and then I'll go visit the restroom." There's a suggestion phase and a "You freaking better find a restroom NOW" phase. Same thing goes for hunger.

I like this topic. A lot of us say we're hungry when we really aren't. We're just used to eating too much.

I try to eat at mealtimes and then a snack in the evening if I haven't hit my calories yet. I've realized how much better food tastes when you are actually hungry for your meal.

In between meal times, I drink a lot of water and keep myself busy. And willpower.