Hunger

robm1brown
robm1brown Posts: 71 Member
edited November 21 in Getting Started
This may sound like a silly question but how hungry should one feel?

In the past I have avoided hunger at all costs I ate well before feeling hungry until bloating to prevent me getting hungry too quickly again. I am aware this is not a good attitude but alas it is the way. On the diet I find that I get hungry just before going to sleep. Is this normal? Do people literally wait until their stomach is rumbling?

I understand in terms of weight loss it doesn't matter when I eat my calories but I need to reducate my body for what is a normal experience and what is actual 'you should eat now' hunger.

Replies

  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,748 Member
    I've learned to differentiate between hunger that is just an empty stomach and hunger that is going to keep me awake at night. If I'm a little hungry, I can ignore it. If I'm really hungry, I'll eat a slice of cheese and that will take care of it.

    It is good to learn to listen to your hunger/fullness signals. Waiting to eat until you are hungry (but not waiting until you are starved) keeps you from a lot of mindless eating. Stopping when you are satisfied instead of waiting until you are stuffed or until the plate is empty is also a way of paying attention to your body.

    On a scale of 1-10, with one being starving to death, 5 being comfortable, and 10 being so full you will explode, eating at 3 and stopping at 6-7 is good.
  • ElizabethHanrahan
    ElizabethHanrahan Posts: 102 Member
    Can you go without eating if you are busy? If the answer is yes, you are probably just wanting something. Try saving a small snack for before bed and see if that helps. If the answer is no, see if you can adjust when you eat to keep this from happening. Good luck.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    I can honestly say I have never found it necessary to be really "hungry" to lose weight or maintain my lower weight.

    I think it's normal to start to get hungry 3 or 4 hours after you last ate depending on how large a meal it was. If I get hungry in between meals I usually try having a cup of tea or a glass of water or diet soda and if I'm just bored or peckish that will often take care of it. If not, I have a small snack. I also like to eat a little something about a half hour or so before I go to bed, so I save a few calories for that!

    If a person is drastically cutting their calories though, I'd expect to have to deal with a little hunger at first as your body gets used to the new normal.
  • My4happykids
    My4happykids Posts: 124 Member
    I actually started my weight loss /healthy living journey with a 3 day fast. I taught me so much. In my body there were four pains that before I went on the fast I associated with hunger. But only one was actual hunger.
    Interesting thing about a fast by day 3 I felt wonderful, had energy and my mind was clear.
    I needed to lose 117 pounds at the start of my journey. The fast only took off 6 (3 after I started eating again) but the knowledge I gained was worth it.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    This is not a silly question! It's an important and interesting question.

    As animals, we need to eat, and deep instincts make us seek out food and eat. Because we are very clever animals, we have figured out ways to get more than enough to eat. This is actually a very cool and sad dynamic: We have been brainwashed by the food industry to think that we can and should eat more, and that hunger is a bad thing that has to be avoided at any cost, and by the diet industry to think that losing weight implies getting hungry and that getting hungry is something bad that has to be avoided at any cost.

    The thing is, hunger has very little to do with weight. Hunger is a sensation - individual, subjective, a matter of habit and preferences, and situational. And it's not the same as appetite. You can get in sufficient calories and still be starving (this is where many people gain weight) or get in sufficient nutrition while in a calorie deficit (healthy weight loss).

    "The hunger scale" helped me with awareness and to normalize feelings of hunger. You can google it.

    I have eaten up to seven meals a day believing that it was good for "metabolism" or to avoid getting "ravenously hungry" and overeat uncontrollably. But over time, eating well and paying attention, my appetite has become finely tuned to my needs. When I finally, and reluctantly, went from four to three meals a day, food and meal planning just stopped being an obsession, because there aren't that many ways to combine what I bought, into three meals. I feel so free eat when it suits me, when I'm ready to eat and not in the middle of doing something else. I enjoy waiting for a good meal, because I take great care (pride?) in planning and preparing tasty and delicious but simple and balanced meals.
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