Munchies
cstehansen
Posts: 1,984 Member
To start, I spent decades with the mentality of "I will work out as much as I have to so I can eat what I want, when I want and as much as I want." That seemed to work fine as I was never terribly overweight peaking at a fairly athletic 223 at 6'1" a few years ago and thought I should drop some of that as I didn't think a man my age needed to be overly muscular and probably should change more to a crossfit type work out. The shocker was when I hit 195 last year, I was diagnosed with T2D.
I had not lost weight by cutting my eating as much as by burning more calories. Heavy weight lifting certainly burns calories, but not like HIIT, and I also lost a fair amount of muscle mass.
After the diagnosis is when I started really going low carb with great results in terms of lowering my BG and dropping a bit of weight making me much more defined.
Here is my problem. I like to eat. It is not a matter of hunger all the time. As those in this group know, LCHF keeps you full with less and for longer, but for me the hard part is the habit of eating all day. For years and years I have joked about eating one meal a day that started around 6 am and ended around 9 pm.
Even though I am not hungry, I am having a hard time breaking the habit of eating. Any ideas?
I had not lost weight by cutting my eating as much as by burning more calories. Heavy weight lifting certainly burns calories, but not like HIIT, and I also lost a fair amount of muscle mass.
After the diagnosis is when I started really going low carb with great results in terms of lowering my BG and dropping a bit of weight making me much more defined.
Here is my problem. I like to eat. It is not a matter of hunger all the time. As those in this group know, LCHF keeps you full with less and for longer, but for me the hard part is the habit of eating all day. For years and years I have joked about eating one meal a day that started around 6 am and ended around 9 pm.
Even though I am not hungry, I am having a hard time breaking the habit of eating. Any ideas?
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eat more fat, lower carbs even further until you go into ketosis0
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IF helped me become more disciplined, and I've been slipping, so I'm going back to it.4
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Have you thought about WHY you eat all day? Is it simply a habit? Or are there emotions tied to it as well (boredom, frustration, anger, happiness, etc.)? If you can address the reason(s) behind it, you can come up with a strategy to change it.1
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I have days like this. Today was one. I know I'm not actually hungry but I want to eat. Not a craving because I'd be happy to eat anything, nothing specific. So I sometimes just allow it. Today I grazed all day on eggs and pepperoni and cheese and I try to drink tea or coffee or something to keep from eating some of the times that I want to grab another nibble.
When I first noticed it this morning I decided to eat breakfast, which I normally don't. I knew to eat a good high fat meal to see if it would settle it down. 2 eggs cooked in butter with cheese and meat plus coffee with hwc and mct oil didn't even hold me til 3, which is usually when I eat for the first time.
I didn't have a normal full lunch because I knew I was in a grazing mood, so I basically ate about the same amount of food I would have had for lunch, but as grazing snacks all afternoon. I'm sure I ate more calories than would be typical for me but I made good food choices so I don't really care too much about calories unless it started to be a daily thing AND I started putting on fat. Once dinner came I was snacking on coconut flakes as I was grilling sausages. I wasn't starving or anything but I just wanted to eat, so I did. I didn't go crazy with them. Definitely paced myself and I was really thinking about making 3 sausages or 2 plus a burger but I just had the normal 2 that I would always have and now I'm drinking more tea because I feel like grabbing another bite. I'm not feeling like I've over eaten either. I feel totally normal. My stomach doesn't feel full or like I pigged out today. I'm not craving sweet or salty, I just want food.
I'm good on all my supplements and sodium and water...
so, I guess, if you can do it and not pig out til you're feeling it, and can maintain or still lose fat... then it's nothing to worry about.
I guess that's where you have to decide if it's hindering your progress toward your goal or not.
But I understand simply wanting to change the behavior too because that's how I am about sweet stuff. It starts to be a problem so I have to just pretty much go without any. Even the low carb stuff. I wasn't able to eat it in moderation and it interfered with my goal so I just had to decide to not have it.
That would be more difficult for me with this feeling of just wanting to eat in general. I was not good at water fasting because I couldn't completely go without any food. I couldn't commit to even doing it once a month because I couldn't imagine trying to fight off the desire to eat long enough to get to that other side where it's gone. And I'm not good at doing that when these moods come. So I just eat cheese, eggs, pickles and meat only on these days.
Sorry, that got long winded2 -
I think what you're saying is that you're not actually hungry it's just a habit you're into. In which case you need to retrain the habit. Set yourself three regular eating times and two snack times and don't allow yourself to eat between them. If you're twitching for something to do with your hands, get a tea or coffee or start on a distracting hobby. After 3 - 4 weeks you will have trained yourself out of the habit and your body won't always be expecting snacks. It takes a while, but you spent a long time developing the habit so it takes work to undo it!1
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It's always my tongue. I see something and my tongue starts pestering me for a little taste. Or 10....1
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moonlights wrote: »I think what you're saying is that you're not actually hungry it's just a habit you're into. In which case you need to retrain the habit. Set yourself three regular eating times and two snack times and don't allow yourself to eat between them. If you're twitching for something to do with your hands, get a tea or coffee or start on a distracting hobby. After 3 - 4 weeks you will have trained yourself out of the habit and your body won't always be expecting snacks. It takes a while, but you spent a long time developing the habit so it takes work to undo it!
Why three and two snacks?1 -
I'm a Big Eater and can easily pack down thousands of LCHF calories within 6-8 hrs. I'm someone who the more I eat over several days, the more I can and wanna eat
I need rules. Currently I'm trying OMAD (One Meal A Day) with success. If I take a snack or small meal outside of the rules once in a while, I don't stress about it. It's all about habits.
I also find that this IF resets my tummy capacity, so that I feel fuller with less food. I don't know why, but it works well after gluttonous days
I agree with the above that to question why you wanna eat so much could be useful. Try experiment? Find what works for you
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I'm no help. I retrained myself the best I could and I still have to keep gum in my mouth certain times of day or it's "off to the races."
I've mitigated it some by hoarding cals for snacks. I eat less at meals so I can snack without damage. Of course I prelog my whole day every day so I have a roadmap I follow. Some of it ends up being chewing gum and staying the hell out of the kitchen and telling myself, "snack is in 43 min. You can wait. You aren't going to die. Go accomplish something and time will pass." I was born ravenous and that hasn't changed. I just hack my brain. Stack the deck in my favor.1 -
Thank you everyone for the responses. For clarity, I am nearly incapable of doing one thing at a time. I am sure if I had been born 20-25 years later, teachers would have begged to have me put on ADHD meds to get me to sit still for more than 30 seconds at a time.
That said, my overall calories are not an issue in terms of weight management. I am currently averaging at or over 3500 a day and still losing 1-2 lbs a week. So in that sense, the grazing is not hurting me. In reality, I don't want to lose much more (at 181 as of this morning).
To answer some questions, I ENJOY eating like some people enjoy watching TV. I watch very little. Second, I would be considered a "high stimulus" person. This is a common attribute of smokers (quit that over 20 years ago). It was not hard from an addiction standpoint. Like my eating, it was more of habit, or something to do while I was doing something else.
I am still reading a ton to understand keto. I have been lower carb for decades in terms of percentage, but given until the last few years my overall caloric intake was 5000+ a day, it was still a lot of carbs (25% is still over 300 g a day).
Going through more of the links on the launch pad, I see having more than 1.5-1.8 g per kg of body weight of protein can also increase BG means I need to limit to 148 g or less (currently averaging closer to 250). At current intake, that would mean I need to get calories from fat up to 78% if I also limit carbs to 50 g a day. Or, I have to reduce my overall intake even more. Doing that seems like it would turn me into a stick figure if I don't dramatically reduce my activity level.
I am convinced my T2D is a result of the very high overall caloric intake for decades which is why I have already worked to reduce it by about 1/3 along with my activity level.
I am thinking gum is likely one thing I can use to help along with setting some strict times when I am allowed to have my snacks - may start with 3-4 with the goal of dropping to 2.
I am very grateful to both this group as a whole as well as many of the individuals who contribute to these discussions as they have helped me learn so much so quickly by providing not only answers, but also pointed to resources for me to do my own research.3 -
You might benefit from mct oil. Specifically a high caprylic acid form like MiCkeyT 8 or Brain Octane. I say this for 2 reasons.
1.) I use it along with ginkgo and fish oil as part of my ADHD treatment. I want to add ginseng too but haven't done it yet. The boost of ketones this provides has allowed me to reduce my stimulant medication.
2.) you mention needing to increase fat calories. And it may help to curb the mindless munching a bit. Who knows.1 -
thanks @Sunny_Bunny_ I had seen bullet proof coffee mentioned, but until looking this up didn't know what it was. I have not been diagnosed with ADHD. My older brother was a few years ago and immediately told me that if he was then I must be. I do what I can to avoid meds, which is why I am here instead of taking the Metformin my doc wants me to take. So far, I have had more success in controlling my BG than the other guys here at work who are on Metformin.
Just finished a nice lunch of fatty sausage links, cheese sticks with mayo on romaine leaves. (91 g fat, 15 g carb, and 37 g protein). I need to stop letting my wife by the sausage so I can avoid the higher carb ones as that was 12 of the 15.
I have some liquid coconut oil I have used in protein shakes in the past. I am working on some combos I can use without the protein powder portion since I need to reduce it. I have some ideas. I also have regular coconut oil (solid) I can use for cooking instead of olive oil to boost caprylic acid in the short term before moving to the supplement route.2 -
@cstehansen : As someone mentioned above, I would suggest pre-planning your meals/snacks for awhile until you feel comfortable without the planning. Taking the "thought" out of the equation might just work. Looking at a preset time and quantity for your meals and snacks and using liquids, gum, distractions, etc. to fill in the gaps. As you can tell from these discussions, there is no "right way" whatever works best for you at any given time is what you should follow.
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cstehansen wrote: »thanks @Sunny_Bunny_ I had seen bullet proof coffee mentioned, but until looking this up didn't know what it was. I have not been diagnosed with ADHD. My older brother was a few years ago and immediately told me that if he was then I must be. I do what I can to avoid meds, which is why I am here instead of taking the Metformin my doc wants me to take. So far, I have had more success in controlling my BG than the other guys here at work who are on Metformin.
Just finished a nice lunch of fatty sausage links, cheese sticks with mayo on romaine leaves. (91 g fat, 15 g carb, and 37 g protein). I need to stop letting my wife by the sausage so I can avoid the higher carb ones as that was 12 of the 15.
I have some liquid coconut oil I have used in protein shakes in the past. I am working on some combos I can use without the protein powder portion since I need to reduce it. I have some ideas. I also have regular coconut oil (solid) I can use for cooking instead of olive oil to boost caprylic acid in the short term before moving to the supplement route.
I've never made it but Abel James (Fat Burning Man) has a green smoothie recipe that's low carb I've heard about. Might want to check out his site.0 -
nicsflyingcircus wrote: »
Why three and two snacks?
Really just because they're currently in the habit of eating constantly and breaking this up into 5 is probably easier than 3.
Sometimes I'll only eat twice or even once a day but that's because I'm used to not always going for food. You can pick any number of meals/snacks but baby steps until you figure out what's comfortable for your body can be a good plan.
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moonlights wrote: »nicsflyingcircus wrote: »
Why three and two snacks?
Really just because they're currently in the habit of eating constantly and breaking this up into 5 is probably easier than 3.
Sometimes I'll only eat twice or even once a day but that's because I'm used to not always going for food. You can pick any number of meals/snacks but baby steps until you figure out what's comfortable for your body can be a good plan.
Ah Okay. I generally eat twice a day, 3 and 2 snacks sounded like a lot, but you're right, might work as a step down from munching all day long.
Some people spout that 3 meals and 2 snacks as part of the "eat every 2-3 hrs to keep your metabolism burning" garbage.1 -
I do this during work hours, or I used to anyways. I sit a t a desk all day, I always felt hungry, but I knew that on the weekends I could go hours without eating. I finally decided that everytime I get the need to eat at work, I would get up and away from my desk, even if it was only for a few minutes. I am finally out of the routine of reaching for food all day long. Now I eat at breakfast, lunch dinner and 1 or 2 snacks a day. 1
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