What does your hunger feel like?

ThatMouse wrote: »

Mild hunger is actually a pleasant feeling for me. My stomach feels... err... "light and airy"? I guess? Not gaseous, but it doesn't hurt and it isn't cramping. It just feels lighter and "smaller". I find I focus easier in this state and it's easy to stay on top of things mentally. I prefer this feeling to being full and will eat slowly because of that.

This is the beginning of hunger for me ... and you're right, it feels good.

But then ...

All of a sudden there is a deep, agonising, burning pain right at the bottom of my oesophagus. It feels like someone is stabbing me through and the pain spreads through my whole stomach area.

Just as I'm dealing with that, the dizziness, shakiness and irritability starts.

If for some reason, food does not appear immediately it'll be nausea and hangry.


Fortunately, I've more or less figured out when to eat and what I need to eat in order to keep this more or less in check.

Dark pit of pain.
Or super weak like i cant move my arms or legs.

sofaking6 wrote: »

Mine are nausea and rage, and headache.

nausea and rage are definitely mine! Sometimes I don't realize I'm hungry until I notice I'm feeling a little dizzy or shaky... kind of like when you drink to much caffeine too fast. Or when I realize I'm getting really pissy at stupid little things.

My tummy growls and feels empty. If I let it go too long I get a headache.

OP, I'm impressed that you're paying close attention to your hunger signals and asking smart questions. A lot of people don't even realize that 1) many people experience hunger in different ways, 2) for any single person, there may be multiple /kinds/ of hunger experiences and not even to mention 3) a lot of people don't even question whether the desire to put food in their mouths at any given moment is actually HUNGER lol.

For what it's worth, I have lost >175 lbs and I can tell you that my hunger experiences definitely changed. I've always had multiple hunger types:

1) BEARTRAP BELLY. Actual legit "hunger pangs." Painfully crampy empty, noisy tummy. This feeling is extremely unpleasant, but if I ignore it I know it goes away on its own in < 30 minutes. Does not have an emotional component for me, but some people get panicy with it. Historically, I've rarely had this feeling: maybe 3 or 4 times a year. I've been eating at a deficit for more than 2 years, and in the last 4 months I've increased my caloric intake somewhat but it's becoming more common, but also less severe and of briefer duration when it happens. Aside from the fact that it seems to be correlated with my exercise routine and seems to be cumulative (i.e., it's not one workout that does it: it's a week or two into a new routine), I'm not sure what specifically triggers it. Since it goes away if I ignore it, I just try to ignore it and stay on plan, but keep an eye out for other symptoms.

2) THE SNACKIES. Not actually hunger. Knowing that if I'm near an open container of snacky food I will eat it without measuring. Ignore if possible. Stay out of the pantry lol. At a party, if I haven't already planned and accounted for the calories, station myself some distance away from the snacks and try to keep my back on them if I'm in this mood. Don't start, because I might not stop.

3) THE NOODLE. Feeling of weakness in my limbs, sometimes accompanied by lightheadedness or a mild headache. This is generally my body telling me it's serious about wanting food, and carbs help the most, but including protein and fat will help make the recovery from it more complete. It can take 30-90 minutes for this feeling to dissipate after I eat, so it's not something where I can intuitively eat until I know I can stop because I'm better. But generally if I've gotten this hungry then a real solid, nourishing meal of at least 600 calories seems to be called for.

4) THE SHAKES. Very rare for me (once every couple of years). The result of skipping meals. So in my case, dumb. Prescription: eat 200 calories including simple carbs, sit down, and think about how dumb I am while I wait for it to get into my bloodstream.

5) THE SHARK. This one is hard to describe. It seems to be real physical hunger because it's often triggered by changes to my exercise routine. But the "symptoms" seem cognitive: I get anxious about when I'm going to eat next, preoccupied with food, HANGRY. When get to start eating, everything is extra GD DELICIOUS, but I'm really not in a position to savor anything either. I will happily devour ice cream or brownies or chips or pancakes in this state, but also generally feel especially good about eating something nourishing with these feels. "Man that eggplant and chickpea stew sounds so AWESOME RIGHT NOW." "Is that chicken? OMFG YES." Apex predator mode on.

I quieted the monster with a family size pizza today. I'm probably a few thousand over today:(