How do YOU know when you are ACTUALLY hungry?

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Molly_234
Molly_234 Posts: 89 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Today when I came back from the store I felt hungry but I knew I only had enough calories for a small meal and it was only 4pm. I had a piece of gum, drank some water and now it's been 2 hours and I'm not even hungry yet! I actually feel fine and I am glad i gave it some time. Starting to listen to my body and learn that just because I FEEL hungry doesn't mean I actually need to eat. What are some hunger triggers in your life and what helps you control them?

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  • Molly_234
    Molly_234 Posts: 89 Member
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    jessVanL wrote: »
    I unfortunately have lost complete touch with healthy "eat when you are hungy" habits.
    I just wait till I think its appropriate or someone else eats or I have a hunger headache.
    Otherwise I could eat all day and probably consume enough food for a small family because I just don't know how to say no to food even if I'm sickly full. Its actually really frustrating and upsetting

    Yeah I understand. These past 2 weeks I have been over eating and I have gained. I just ate whenever I had a craving and didn't stop until I was sickly full! It's a new week so I'm trying to be positive and stick to my calories.
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
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    I confuse hunger and thirst so sometimes I think I'm hungry when I'm really just thirsty. I also have a tendency to want food for just the sake of wanting food.

    Typically, I eat three meals a day and at scheduled meal times. On the weekends I may eat only once or twice because usually I go out to eat.
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
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    This is the conversation I'm having with myself this very moment because Ive closed my diary for the day, but want to go raid the fridge.

    "Ok. You just had shrimp, clams, and potato for dinner. Then you ate your protein fluff. Then you ate a quest bar. You ate all of this within 1.5hrs. Do you really think you're HUNGRY after all that???"

    I may not be great with my hunger cues, but talking to myself and making myself see that there is no way I need more food at a given moment helps me stop. I know I'm not hungry now. I can't be because I ate plenty.
  • Molly_234
    Molly_234 Posts: 89 Member
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    cnbbnc wrote: »
    This is the conversation I'm having with myself this very moment because Ive closed my diary for the day, but want to go raid the fridge.

    "Ok. You just had shrimp, clams, and potato for dinner. Then you ate your protein fluff. Then you ate a quest bar. You ate all of this within 1.5hrs. Do you really think you're HUNGRY after all that???"

    I may not be great with my hunger cues, but talking to myself and making myself see that there is no way I need more food at a given moment helps me stop. I know I'm not hungry now. I can't be because I ate plenty.

    Last week I ate an entire box of girl scout cookies. Even though I knew it was 180 calories for just two of them!!! Some weeks I do great staying in my calorie limit but other times I struggle with self control. I notice drinking water after a meal and giving it 30 minutes helps.
  • UltimateTrashBae
    UltimateTrashBae Posts: 175 Member
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    I get really bad stomach cramps followed by nausea when I'm hungry. It usually happens about an hour after I feel a growling tummy.
  • Mycophilia
    Mycophilia Posts: 1,225 Member
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    I don't. That's why I got fat.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Hunger comes and goes. You may have been hungry but stopped being hungry after a while. I've learned that doing intermittent fasting.

    I believe most people's hunger signals are just fine. When I was at my highest weight I felt hungry when I was too busy to eat, so I knew the difference between hungry and not hungry. The problem was not that I had messed up hunger signals, because most of my eating was not motivated by hunger in the first place, but by habit.

    Personally, I try not to use "listening to my body" as my sole eating trigger because I'm capable of psyching myself into eating less than 800 calories without being hungry if I pick the right foods and/or wait for the right duration of time. That would not be a smart thing to do. I have a variable appetite so I listen to my mind and common sense more than I listen to my body, although I have to admit that more of my current eating is motivated by hunger than before.
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
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    I use unconventional methods for cutting, so unlike many I know what actual hunger feels like.

    How can I tell when I am there? When random *kitten* laying next to a dumpster starts to look appealing. Until then, it's just my brain being a whiny *kitten*.
  • kpkitten
    kpkitten Posts: 164 Member
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    I feel kinda nauseous. I used to think that if I felt a sort of hole above my stomach, that meant I was hungry but I think that might have been carbs talking. If I eat a lot of them before bed, I wake up feeling like it, usually the more i'd eaten, the hungrier I'd feel the next morning.

    Now I know that it's the almost nauseous feeling much lower in my stomach that means I'm actually hungry. But rather than waiting to that point, I try to eat at reasonably consistent mealtimes. If I fancy a snack, I'll prepare it than wait half an hour and see if I still fancy it
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
    edited February 2017
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    It's difficult. Basically by waiting. Either the feeling goes away, as you described, or it stays and gets more intense and is accompanied by a feeling of weakness or slight nausea. If that happens, I'll eat something. But it has to be said most of my hunger is habitual at certain times of day and has nothing to do with needing food.

    What's particularly difficult is that sometimes the actual hunger will fade, leaving only weakness and nausea. When that happens, I know I really need to eat, but by then I don't want to and have to force myself.

    "intuitive eating" is a nice idea but I don't think it would work for me.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited February 2017
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    I use a range of approaches to decide whether to eat or not.

    Is it time for a meal? I normally eat breakfast, lunch and dinner 3-4 hours apart. Yes, that translates to "intermittent fasting" or 16:8 or 18:6 now - ridiculous.

    I use "the hunger scale" and assess the cues - churning in stomach, headache, weak?

    I pay attention to where the hunger sits - if it's in my mouth, it's a craving, if it's in my stomach and all-over, it's hunger. If I want a meal, I'm hungry. If I want a treat, it's a craving.

    If it's "mouth hunger", I decide whether to eat or not, based on my weight the last few days, how long it's been since I've had anything "extra", and how strong the craving is.

    I aim to hit the point where I'm "pleasantly hungry", when I have both desire and drive to eat. When I say to myself, "no, it's time to eat NOW".

    I want to respect my appetite, and that means that I should respect both hunger and satiety.

    It's more difficult to tell when I've had enough (especially after breakfast and lunch). It takes time before food hits the satiety sensor (if it even does). So I portion out what I'm going to eat, and eat it, and that's it; I trust that I've eaten enough. Sometimes I feel a bit uneasy, but that's just because I'm used to overeating. I prefer the not-hungry feeling to the stuffed feeling, and knowing that I'm not going to feel uncomfortable after I've eaten, makes me look even more forward to eating.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,202 Member
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    It took me about 3 weeks to set up a schedule of eating that worked for me. I know that if I eat according to that schedule, I will take in enough calories, so I'm not really hungry.
  • ajoseph5
    ajoseph5 Posts: 25 Member
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    Make sure you are drinking enough water. If the body is dehydrated, it can truck us into thinking we are hungry when all we need is to be hydrated. Hope this helps.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    I use a range of approaches to decide whether to eat or not.

    Is it time for a meal? I normally eat breakfast, lunch and dinner 3-4 hours apart. Yes, that translates to "intermittent fasting" or 16:8 or 18:6 now - ridiculous.

    I use "the hunger scale" and assess the cues - churning in stomach, headache, weak?

    I pay attention to where the hunger sits - if it's in my mouth, it's a craving, if it's in my stomach and all-over, it's hunger. If I want a meal, I'm hungry. If I want a treat, it's a craving.

    If it's "mouth hunger", I decide whether to eat or not, based on my weight the last few days, how long it's been since I've had anything "extra", and how strong the craving is.

    I aim to hit the point where I'm "pleasantly hungry", when I have both desire and drive to eat. When I say to myself, "no, it's time to eat NOW".

    I want to respect my appetite, and that means that I should respect both hunger and satiety.

    It's more difficult to tell when I've had enough (especially after breakfast and lunch). It takes time before food hits the satiety sensor (if it even does). So I portion out what I'm going to eat, and eat it, and that's it; I trust that I've eaten enough. Sometimes I feel a bit uneasy, but that's just because I'm used to overeating. I prefer the not-hungry feeling to the stuffed feeling, and knowing that I'm not going to feel uncomfortable after I've eaten, makes me look even more forward to eating.

    Great post, @kommodevaran

    As for me, I keep an eye on my calorie limit for the day (including exercise calories earned).

    I like to have my stomach rumbling by meal time.

    If my stomach is gnawing, I'll only schedule a snack outside my normal meal time if I've got enough spare calories.

    This worked for me when I was losing weight, and it works fine now I've been in maintenance 11 months.


    I'll just add this:

    water%20prosecco_zpsdkx70vqk.jpg

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