Listening to your body

Through the years I've definitely learned to discern the difference between real hunger and cravings. I've also learned that there is a big difference between eating to satiation and eating until you're full.

I think intuitive eating is a great way to go if you can master it. It's the way a lot of "naturally thin" people avoid being fat or obese, without even knowing it.

Part of the problem with going by hunger is understanding real physical hunger and what we have learned to think of as hunger. When I am hungry, I stop and do a quick mental check - am I really hungry or is something else going on. If I am really hungry, I assess how hungry I am and what time it is based on my planned meals for the day. If I can wait until the next planned meal, then I wait. If not, I eat something, log it and work it into my calories for the day.

I think there is more to listening to your body than whether or not you are hungry. When I was eating 1200-1300 calories per day I wasn't hungry, but I did start to feel like I had less energy. I felt like my body wasn't recovering from workouts as I expected. Some TDEE math later I discovered I was eating way to few calories. I'm now at 1700 calories and still losing, but I have a lot more energy.

I would say "eating your soul out" probably wouldn't be a good idea...having some food in moderation to satiate you probably be the way to go...it's not really an all or nothing kind of thing. There's this thing called moderation and portion control and it's pretty awesome and pretty much essential to learning how to eat like a human being again rather than some kind of rabid, insatiable animal. It's also essential to learn these things if you don't want to be logging into some food diary your whole life. I pretty much took the opportunity while I was losing and logging to learn these things and they have served me well (and yes...I listen to my body)...but they were learned and learning actual hunger signals vs being bored out of my mind were learned. I have since been maintaining for almost a year without logging save for a spot check here and there.

I've tried that. It didn't work for me. Sometimes our hunger hormones are screwed up. I agree with the trial and error method. Everyone is different so you have to find what works for you. I have a healthy appetite and I like it that way. I want to maintain that appetite because I don't want to end up one of those old people who doesn't eat anything and doesn't have any muscle and falls and then has to live in a nursing home. I would rather have a little extra fat than have too little muscle. However, I think you can find a balance, eating as much as you can and lifting weights and doing some cardio and still lose fat. You will have to experiment because all of these calorie amounts in food and calories burned are estimates for your body. You may find it easier to do all of this if you experiment with food as well. Some people find it easier if they avoid certain food, others don't.

If you are losing a pound or two a week with the amount of exercise you can do right now then you have probably found the amount of food you should eat, right now. If you are still hungry then you might want to adjust the types of food you eat. Some people find that adjusting the protein, fat or carbs helps. Some people find that increasing the number of vegetables they eat helps other people find decreasing sugar and starches helps. I am happy with the types of food I eat but I was still hungry so I started drinking hot tea after meals and in the middle of the day and I like to exercise like mad so I have lots of calories to work with. That works for me because I want to get as strong as I can. Other people want to do it more with diet. Everyone will have suggestions about how it worked for them and your doctor has suggestions but he is also a consultant! You have to figure out what works for you. the great thing is that you don't have to figure it out right this second! And in fact what works right now might not work in six months anyway. You have to be in for the long haul. Good Luck!

I should have checked your profile before I went into all of this but then I got started and couldn't stop without losing everything! LOL! I see that you also like to exercise and you can do it in the ocean! Wonderful!

As you know, I vehemently disagree with "listening to your body". That's the reason we are here, we listened. Now, let your brain think. Get your emotions out of the way and use cognition. Calories in/calories out. It's not hard. In fact, of all the different ways to lose, maintain, or gain, I find counting calories the most efficient, because it works.

^^This.

A few people have commented that listening to their bodies is what made them fat in the first place, but I personally got fat by never listening to mine.

Thank you!

I did not get obese "listening to my body". I enjoyed eating so much that I'd eat REGARDLESS of what my body was telling me. I'd eat when not hungry, and eat well beyond the point of true satiation.

I think a lot of people seriously confuse true hunger with "I wanted it". One is your body's cry for nourishment, the other your mind's cry for entertainment. There is a difference.

A great piece of advice I read is this...

If you feel hungry, consider if an apple or celery or something else "healthy" would satisfy it. If so, it's hunger. If nothing will do but chocolate/ice cream/candy/chips/etc then you're bored/eating your emotions/etc and need to figure out what's bothering you and deal with that instead of eating.

It's been helping me.

Love this advice! So true- for what it's worth I had a horrible horrible chocolate protein bar and told myself if I was hungry between meals I had to eat the bar first. The number of cookies/ chips/ cakes I didn't have just to avoid having that disgusting thing was insane!