Does eating more make you feel more satiated or more hungry?

It might appear as a strange question, but I've been wondering more and more lately if - for whose of us who eat at a caloric deficit - eating more than usual might not have the effect of increasing hunger? I struggle with hunger a lot and I tried doing refeeds or simply eating at maintenance for a day or two and it seems like almost every time I try it, I end up feeling even hungrier and often end up eating much much more than I'd like to.

I'm suspecting that maybe being in a steady caloric deficit (even not a very large one) and then receiving more food, the body sort of goes "oh, food has become more available, we should eat as much as possible while it's available to make up for the previous caloric deficit". Of course, it might be psychological, at least, in part but I think there's a physical aspect to it as well.

Does this happen to you a lot?
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Replies

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,329 Member
    Try to find the food that works best for you. I can eat tons of fruits, and I still feel hungry. Same with things like granola or yoghurt. Don't get me started on a Full British for breakfast. It's not working at all for me. A little portion of good bread or rice though keeps me full for quite a while.
  • jasummers76
    jasummers76 Posts: 225 Member
    Try eating slower if you're not already. Takes 20 minutes for the signal to go from your stomach to brain that you are more satisfied. This is harder to do than most people think, specially if you live/work in a busy environment where you can't always savor every bite.

    I also eat lower calorie foods and proteins more mass with fewer calories. However for me I could eat four pounds of salad and still be hungry. Really is trial and error too find the right foods and times for everyone.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    I am one of those people that eating makes me hungry. It's one of the reasons I gave intermittent fasting a try. It's much easier for me to just not eat for a while so I don't have to fight hunger.
    I have also noticed a few times the morning after a huge meal I would wake up hungrier than had I eaten normally, or lightly the previous night. You may try to play around with meal timing, to see if it affects your hunger.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
    I'm satisfied when I eat "enough" (what my lizard hind brain calls enough) food. I do get quite hungry the following day, likely because my body/brain is expecting the same amount of food and is not getting it.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    I ate 1700 for 18 months and was doing awesome losing without being hungry or feeling deprived, with just a couple days going over in that time, then went on vacations and had a 'diet break' for a week (eating out all the time, hard to stick to 1700 calories because I'm HUNGRY in the morning and they had no low calorie/filling options)... been way hungrier since then and never managed to lose my last couple pounds (actually gained 15 back).

    That was 3.5 years ago, so yeah, let's just say that there's definitely something to do with hormones there. That being said, my appetite is always all over the place and sometimes I get very hungry after a higher calorie day, sometimes not, but I'm female and hormones really make a huge difference for me.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    Yes. I’m not sure of the science behind it but if I over eat I wake up the next day starving. If I eat normally I have no problems. I’ve been wondering about this and glad it happens to others and not just me. Meaning there has to be a reason for this.

    Yes! Eating more than usual makes me wake up so much hungrier the next day whereas normally I am not hungry for a few hours after waking up. I'm glad I'm not the only one!
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I ate 1700 for 18 months and was doing awesome losing without being hungry or feeling deprived, with just a couple days going over in that time, then went on vacations and had a 'diet break' for a week (eating out all the time, hard to stick to 1700 calories because I'm HUNGRY in the morning and they had no low calorie/filling options)... been way hungrier since then and never managed to lose my last couple pounds (actually gained 15 back).

    That was 3.5 years ago, so yeah, let's just say that there's definitely something to do with hormones there. That being said, my appetite is always all over the place and sometimes I get very hungry after a higher calorie day, sometimes not, but I'm female and hormones really make a huge difference for me.

    Yeah, I've seen you mention this before in an another thread. A similar thing happened to me, I was able to lose a considerable amount of weight in the past, relatively easy and could handle the hunger before. Then one time, about 2 years ago, I overate for a while and has been struggling with hunger ever since and am unable to lose much weight since then. I thought it was cycle related in my case as well, but after tracking my hunger levels for months came to a conclusion that there's absolutely no correlation. I am pretty sure it's something to do with metabolic hormones though, probably a form of reactive eating or something.
  • Good_Morning_Glory
    Good_Morning_Glory Posts: 226 Member
    I don’t understand it either, but two weeks ago I dropped my calories from 1800 to 1370 and I’m not anywhere near as hungry as I was at 1800.

    Too weird.
  • DKG28
    DKG28 Posts: 299 Member
    yep. for me there's a window where if I eat below that amount, I'm fine, not unusually hungry, and if I eat over I'm fine, but if I eat in that window, I'm hungry. Unfortunately, that window seems to cover maintenance calories...Cutting back, fine. Eating over, fine. But in between...oh man, the stomach grumbles...
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    edited January 2018
    So far today, it's 5:00 pm, I've consumed less than 1000 calories. I have a desk job and have done little moving about today. I'm not particularly hungry. I'm going to get home in about 90 minutes and start cooking my dinner pizza. That will give me 500 calories of a variety of fat, protein, and carbs. After that, I know from past experience, is when I'm going to be hungry.
  • YvetteK2015
    YvetteK2015 Posts: 653 Member
    Same here. The more I eat, the hungrier I am. That's also why I started intermittent fasting. That has helped me so much with my calorie intake.
  • GoldenEye_
    GoldenEye_ Posts: 330 Member
    Yes! I was actually wondering the exact same thing the day before yesterday. I wanted to start eating more because I was losing weight too fast and went to 1650 calories from my usual 1400-ish. I spread the extra calories out over the full day. I'm never hungry on the lower calorie days, but that day my body wanted ALL the food. Today I went down to 1500 because I thought a slower increase might be better and it was back to usual.

    I also don't have the science behind it, but had the same reasoning.
  • crabbybrianna
    crabbybrianna Posts: 344 Member
    Yes, eating more makes me hungrier as well! That’s why I hate taking diet breaks and eating at maintenance. I always end up really hungry and have a hard time dropping my calories again. It’s much easier to just eat low calorie all the time.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    I think this is one reason IF works so well for me. If I eat breakfast, I’m hungrier for the rest of the day.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    rybo wrote: »
    I am one of those people that eating makes me hungry. It's one of the reasons I gave intermittent fasting a try. It's much easier for me to just not eat for a while so I don't have to fight hunger.
    I have also noticed a few times the morning after a huge meal I would wake up hungrier than had I eaten normally, or lightly the previous night. You may try to play around with meal timing, to see if it affects your hunger.
    Same here. The more I eat, the hungrier I am. That's also why I started intermittent fasting. That has helped me so much with my calorie intake.
    I think this is one reason IF works so well for me. If I eat breakfast, I’m hungrier for the rest of the day.

    When you switched to intermittent fasting how fast did your body adjust to this way of eating and were't hungry anymore outside of your eating window?

    I used to be able to do IF several years ago for a short while, then went back to regular meals and now I'm very used to eating 3 meals with 1-3 snacks in between. I am afraid that switching to IF will make me feel super hungry outside of my eating window, at least for a while...
  • crb426
    crb426 Posts: 652 Member
    I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that eating more stretches your stomach out more to accommodate the larger amount of food. Then when it's empty, there's more "empty" to feel the hunger.

    When you're eating smaller amounts, your stomach stays smaller and there's less "empty".
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    @oat_bran my adjustment was pretty quick. A matter of a day or two. Very occasionally I will get hungry outside of my window, but it's nothing intolerable
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    That does happen to me sometimes. But honestly once I start eating I always want to keep eating. That's why I rarely eat before mid-afternoon whether I'm having a low calorie day or high calorie day. On the rare occasions that I eat breakfast I struggle with hunger all day and often end up overeating.
  • YvetteK2015
    YvetteK2015 Posts: 653 Member
    oat_bran wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    I am one of those people that eating makes me hungry. It's one of the reasons I gave intermittent fasting a try. It's much easier for me to just not eat for a while so I don't have to fight hunger.
    I have also noticed a few times the morning after a huge meal I would wake up hungrier than had I eaten normally, or lightly the previous night. You may try to play around with meal timing, to see if it affects your hunger.
    Same here. The more I eat, the hungrier I am. That's also why I started intermittent fasting. That has helped me so much with my calorie intake.
    I think this is one reason IF works so well for me. If I eat breakfast, I’m hungrier for the rest of the day.

    When you switched to intermittent fasting how fast did your body adjust to this way of eating and were't hungry anymore outside of your eating window?

    I used to be able to do IF several years ago for a short while, then went back to regular meals and now I'm very used to eating 3 meals with 1-3 snacks in between. I am afraid that switching to IF will make me feel super hungry outside of my eating window, at least for a while...

    I don't know what you would consider "fast". It wasn't like 2 days went by and my body was like "Yes, this is the best and I'm not hungry at all" lol. I think for me, it probably dawned on me between the 1 and 2 week mark that I was not feeling hunger pangs while waiting til 2 pm to eat. Then I thought "This is exactly how I should be doing it." I just wasn't ravenous anymore and I actually stayed within my calorie goal.