Does hunger ever go away?

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  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
    edited August 2016
    I started in November 2014 at 270. I'm 175 now. At first I was soooooo hungry. I realized pretty quickly I needed to aim for 1lb/week , not the more aggressive 2. This worked very well for me. Yes, it made the loss take longer, but I wasn't miserable the whole way.

    Upping my fiber intake really helped. I also adjusted to eating 2 larger meals a day and a light snack between. Basically, most days I cut the third meal in favor of a piece of fruit and yogurt. I like a large (600-900) calories meal. I don't feel full on less. But a balanced meal with protein and fiber will keep me for hours.

    I now get about 30g fiber a day (up from appx 11 last year).
  • LPflaum
    LPflaum Posts: 174 Member
    The longer I eat 1300 cals a day, the more my body has adjusted. I eat a high protein, mod fat, very low carb diet with almost no refined carbs. I typically find myself choking down my meals. I cheated a few times last weekend, went to a vietnamese restaurant and ordered two bahn mis (they're small and $4), I ate a little more than one and had to quit. The next day I had a cheeseburger and fries, probably around 1000-1100 calories. I wasn't hungry again for 10 hours, ate a small dinner, and that was it.

    My body adjusted and I find that i'm rarely hungry now. I do find that eating less calorie dense foods helps that feeling though.
  • kermax39
    kermax39 Posts: 149 Member
    Check your eating all the fat that mfp sets for u. I was only eating 30 grams of fat per day thinking I was doing well to eat a lower fat diet. I was always hungry. When I upped it to 50 I felt more satisfied. As long as stil within calorie goal obviously. My worst time for hunger is 10am because im up so early with my toddler and we have breakfast 6-7am, so I make time to sit and have a small chocolate bar (150 cals) with a cup of tea.....this keeps me full till lunch, if I used that 150 cals on some strawberries and a banana id still be hungry. Fruit doesnt do anything for me, chocolate does!!!
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    edited August 2016
    One thing I read that helped me too was to remember that hunger is not a pain to be avoided at all costs, but a reminder from your body that it's time to start planning the next meal. That makes it a little easier to feel the rumble, realize you know what you are having next (or plan it), then let it go.
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    jt1807 wrote: »
    When you lose weight like 50lbs. Does the hunger ever go away? I mean, can you eat less and feel fuller? Or is it just stuck with you for life? Doctor told me it's just sort of an addiction to food, and if I eat less sweets it should go away. It hasn't went away.
    Hunger comes from an empty stomach. The bigger the stomach, the harder it is to fill. As you lose weight, your stomach shrinks. Does the hunger ever go away? Yes. As you lose weight, you will feel less and less hunger and finally when your stomach reaches it optimum size, the hunger will go away.

  • battyfitch
    battyfitch Posts: 117 Member
    Sometimes I think I'm OMG SO HUNGRY! But I'm actually just bored and want to eat out of habit. Let's face it - most of us who are fat have no idea what it feels like to be genuinely hungry. We're used to topping ourselves up through the day, as and when we feel like it. So no, feeling hungry won't go away, but you'll eventually learn to understand and differentiate your body's different cues.
  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
    First, as others have said, are you hungry, or do you just want to eat? For me, if it's not either a mealtime, or my stomach is actually growling, I don't eat. I don't eat because I remembered I have something tasty in the fridge and now I want it, which was a huge issue for me before.

    Also, although I have enough to lose to "justify" a 2# per week loss, I honestly just can't lose that fast. Eating at 1200-1250 calories is just too much for me. I am losing 1# a week (7.8# in the last 7 weeks) and that's eating around 1600-1700 calories at my activity level. I am rarely hungry except maybe an hour before meals.

    (I eat three meals + 2 snacks plus occasionally an evening snack.)
  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,073 Member
    I am too lazy to read to read the other posts, so if I am repeating I am sorry. I am not necessarily hungry all the time, but I think about food all the time. If I am genuinely hungry then I eat. I follow a program and I try to eat every few hours. That is what works for me. I drink plenty of water everyday. What seems to fill me up is eating veggies. Plus I have a pretty regular schedule for eating so my body is used to it.
  • caroldavison332
    caroldavison332 Posts: 864 Member
    I'm still a little hungry but have lost 30 pounds. Being a little hungry is better than carrying the extra weight.
  • Sloth2016
    Sloth2016 Posts: 838 Member
    It did for me - but it took time. I've been reducing body fat for about 4 years now, going from 275lbs to 188lbs. When I reduced my caloric intake, the weight came off and I felt hungry for awhile. Over time, I acclimated to my new intake at that calorie level. Then, it was possible to reduce calories lower again. Lather, rinse and repeat as they say :)

    Four years in, I feel stuffed on a small fraction of the portions that I used to eat. So, I will say yes, at least for me, with patience and time, the body's hunger signals "normalized" to my reduced intake.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Is it really hunger? Or is it craving? Or are you bored?

    Also, people are just used to feeling full from overeating...feeling full isn't normal either. It's normal to feel hungry as meal time approaches and not to feel stuffed all of the time.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    In my experience - no. Not if I'm eating at my calorie goal. Hunger goes away just fine when I overeat! :)
  • 12Sarah2015
    12Sarah2015 Posts: 1,117 Member
    Drink water
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    boolz wrote: »
    2) I made peace, even happiness, with feeling hungry as mealtime approached. Years ago, I read a book that said that chronic overeaters miss out on a fundamental source of security that we had (if we were among the lucky of the earth) as infants: the knowledge that when we grow hungry, someone will feed us. The idea is that this daily cycle of feeling hunger and feeding it is emotionally strong. I don't know how much of that I honestly buy into, but I decided to embrace it.

    I don't entirely buy all of that either, but the essence of it, that food deprivation leads to food insecurity, is blantant. We overfed westerners often impose it on ourselves, first, wanting to be slim, and when that fails, in an attempt to curb the overeating. My way of dealing with this, has been meal planning. Making it really really certain that I am going to be fed, and being detailed as to what I am going to eat, has made me, over time, very relaxed around eating. I even learnt to enjoy waiting for and anticipating a meal, much inspired by Allen Carr's book. The old adage "if you're hungry, eat a carrot - if you don't want a carrot, you aren't hungry" suddenly made sense to me - I had already decided that a meal consists of at least protein, fat and vegetables - most readymeals and "junk" food is easy to eat, practically predigested, whereas eating a real meal takes some effort - preparation, chewing, and I need to be motivated for that to bother. I will know for certain if I need fuel or something else.

    Ya, Mom used to say that to us, only it was apples rather than carrots :)

    I also find that meals that take a long time to chew or to consume in general are more filling than those that I eat quickly, but have more calories. For example, this 300 calorie chicken and vegetable salad I've been working on for 40 minutes will keep me more full than twice the amount of ice cream would.

  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    I like the carrot thing. It's exactly what we do with mini me. "I'm hungry". "Have an apple". "I don't want an apple". "You're not hungry, then". "I'm not hungry, I just want cake '. Now we're getting somewhere! If it's true for the sprogs, it's true for the adults too.
  • LoFoSho100
    LoFoSho100 Posts: 66 Member
    I notice that I feel hungry for a few days when making changes to my diet. I drank A LOT of water and tried to keep filling snacks available so I didn't get HANGRY. After my body adjusts, I sometimes have a hard time eating enough because I don't feel hungry at all or I get full super quickly. However, if I go crazy and easy a bunch of pizza and ice cream, I will be uncomfortable afterwards, but then I notice that I almost start over again after a binge and will be back to feeling hungry the next day. If you are feeling constantly hungry, maybe take a slower approach to cutting calories. If you can't go from 3,000 to 1,800 overnight, that's okay! Maybe shoot for 2,800 and then 2,500, and then 2,200. If you are walking around starving, you aren't going to last on your journey! Do what you need to do to be successful.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    It does take a while getting used to feeling hunger but plenty of protein and fats keeps hunger at bay.

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