Is anyone else a 'volume eater'? How to change it?

I am also a "volume eater" as you defined. How I deal with it is I eat only twice a day. Bigger meals.

I am a volume eater as well. I need to feel full or actually not feel it, I need to BE FULL! I eat two meals and one of those meals is the bulk of my daily calories.

My mind just says wait till 4:00 then you can really eat your calories!

Volume eater here too and I still feel like a eat a whole lot of food...just better choices. I'd much rather have a huge salad than half a sandwich. I fill my lunch with lots of cherry tomatoes, cucumber, etc....things that take a while to eat, satisfy the crunch factor and are low in calories.

smaller plates

I bulk my meals with low calorie veggies.
Making chili? Saute grated zucchini with the onions.
Want a steak? Serve with half a plate of steamed veggies.
Making soup? Reduce the meat, add cabbage & carrots cause you can triple the portion.
Want spaghetti? Add 3 cups of kale to the sauce.
Want perogies? Have only 4...sorry there's no way to cut the calories for some things.

Well, I eat larger meals and don't snack. It works for me.

Think I am. I like the process of eating a large plateful of food and feeling full. It gives me the impression im not depriving myself. I can go lot of the day without eating, but when I start then I like to have soemthing worthwhile and thats more than half a sandwich.

If its working for you then id stick with it.

Francl27 wrote: »

I keep seeing posts where people say 'just eat the same thing but less of it', or how they pack half their meal at the restaurant etc... It boggles my mind. I'm a volume eater. I need a lot of food, or I get hungry. If I make frozen veggies, I'll typically have the whole bag, for example.

I'd love to be one of those people who can just eat half a sandwich and be full though... but how do you do it?

I am a volume eater and have accepted that that is the way I am. When I still believed that a person need " three squares " I ate too much and gained weight over the last ten years.
Now I do not eat before 2 pm and eat two largish meals ( that amount to 1200 calories; because I am under 5 feet and going on 70 I don't need more ) that satisfy me before 9 pm. I eat a lot of vegetables , pulses and legumes and find those filling, but also eat a lot of other vegetables. I eat chicken on average once a week as well as fish and easily meet my protein needs with other stuff. I never snacked ( I am from a " no-snack culture ) and finally feel good about the way I eat. I realize that this is my own preference and has nothing to do with science.
Well, thinking about it, it actually does have to do with science, because it has been proven that meal timing and frequency is nothing but personal preference.

I use smaller plates to make the food more visually stimulating in terms of size and amount and make smaller portions or "item size" when making meals at home. Such as, use smaller potatoes and have 2 baked instead of 1 large (actually is less in weight too having 2 small ones), or I used to love making large homemade ravioli but instead I make them small so instead of 6 ravioli you have 20-22 for the same weight/calories. Tricks your mind to think that you are having more than you are.

For snacks, serve up half of a serving and when finished go get the 2nd half. Your brain perceives that you just had 2 snacks instead of one. The mind is a very powerful tool. Best of luck!

Remember, Motivation is what it takes to begin your goals...
DEDICATION is what accomplishes them. Get motivated, stay dedicated!

I'm a volume eater. I like being a volume eater. You just have to choose what you eat a high volume of and you'll be fine. These days, I'll eat a half a sandwich/entree/pasta dish, but also a massive salad, fruit bowl, plate of veggies, etc. Low calorie = high volume.

Also, I've cut out most snacking. I will sometimes have a kashi bar in the afternoon so that I can get home without eating my arm, but otherwise, I save most of my calories (800-1,100) for dinner.

Great "high volume" foods (lower calorie) that satisfy: chopped broccoli, feta, tofu, salsa, bell peppers, watermelon, all greens (spinach, chard, kale, romaine, etc).

I eat slowly. S.O. makes it difficult, though. Spoils me with om noms D:

Me too, me too!! If I don't feel full, I feel deprived, and I will eat all the foods.

I do a lot of what other people have been saying here...

Bulk up my meals with healthy, light foods...a lot of times I will have a giant salad with a little bit of lentils and rice, a good amount of protein (chicken, steak, or pork) and 2 cups of broccoli or green beans for dinner. (This comes in at around 500 calories) I usually cannot finish it.

Also, it helps me to wait as long as I can to start eating during the day, because once I've started eating I have a hard time stopping. I can't "snack" because I don't feel full, and keep snacking until I do. I get up at 5am, and don't eat anything until at least 10. Am I hungry? Sure, sometimes...but it is usually 5 minutes or so and I forget.

Another thing I do a LOT (and this doesn't work for a lot of people) but I don't *eat* anything until around 3pm. I drink coffee with skim milk and protein powder. Or coffee with butter and coconut oil. Around 250 cals each, and since I'm not chewing, I haven't wakened the beast. This supposedly has some science to it...I don't know what it is, I just remember reading it somewhere years ago. Something about how the act of chewing and the digestion involved in foods you chew activates areas of your brain associated with hunger.

And...(can you tell I've fought with this a lot, hahaha?) The last thing I do, regularly, is when I sit down to a meal and I feel like I'm starving, or feel that I don't have as much food as everyone else, and know I'm not going to be full...I eat half my food, and then take a break. Keep sitting there with my family, but push my plate away and talk for a few minutes. Then I keep eating. It takes 15 minutes from food hitting your stomach for your brain to register that it has. The "full" feeling we crave comes, if we give it a chance.

Like anything else with weight loss, so much of this is a mind game. You have to find the things that work for you, and use them to your advantage...one thing to realize is that hunger won't kill you. And that what we know as hunger is usually not real hunger. Let yourself feel hungry. What is the worst thing that can happen? Someone else said something about telling herself that it's almost 4, and she can have her real calories then...
Sometimes it's as simple as being uncomfortable for a few days while your mind/body adjusts to a new thing.

Go with it. Fill up on low cal veggies! Your health will sky rocket!