Does eating more make you feel more satiated or more hungry?
oat_bran
Posts: 370 Member
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?
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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Absolutely! I don’t know any facts/science around it but I know that when I go back to maintenance my body is like EAT ALL THE FOOD PLEASE. I find it requires more self control to stay at maintenance calories than it does to stay at a deficit, but I think after a week or two of maintenance it sorts itself out.5
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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.0
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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.6
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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.0 -
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.0 -
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.0
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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.3 -
GeorgiaAnnaDaughter wrote: »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!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.2 -
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.3 -
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...
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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.0
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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.0
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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.0 -
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.0
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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.2
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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.YvetteK2015 wrote: »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.workinonit1956 wrote: »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...0 -
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".2 -
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.1
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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.YvetteK2015 wrote: »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.workinonit1956 wrote: »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.1 -
This happens to me as well. Sunday is my "cheat" day, so I eat more calories and usually an unhealthy meal. I am always starving on Monday and crave junk. I stick to my plan and just ride it out, by Tuesday I am back to normal.1
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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...[/quote]
I adjusted pretty quickly. You may feel hungry in the morning (if your eating window starts later), but find it’s totally manageable with water and coffee/tea, or not
. My feelings of hunger in the morning vary, some days I really don’t feel it at all and sometimes they kind of come and go.
Edit: something happened with the quote, sorry!0 -
More hungry, without a doubt. I'm fasting for two days a week and helps with hunger. Other 1200 cal days are difficult, although a eating high protein first meal helps.0
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I think this is both physical and psychological. There's part of our paleo brain that says, if there's food, you should gorge yourself now, b/c you don't know where your next meal is coming from. I'm like that with summer fruits that are only in season for a few weeks, like peaches and cherries.
I find that keeping a steady calorie intake from day to day works the best for me. If I don't eat, I get all loopy from my blood sugar being too low.
Suggestion: get more sleep. My doc knows I'm chronically under-rested. This year my resolution was to sleep at least 6.5 hr/night. That would be an improvement from 5.5 hr/night. As the doc promised, I would feel less hungry. I no longer want to carb load to try to stay awake, b/c I've had less shut eye than my body demands. I still get the urge to nibble on junk late at night, but I now know that my body is telling me to haul my tired *kitten* off to bed. Good luck!0 -
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.YvetteK2015 wrote: »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.workinonit1956 wrote: »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...
IF isn't for everyone. I tried it too but some days I just feel horrible in the morning if I don't eat. Usually I'm not hungry really, but just feeling weak, with no energy (I drink coffee, but black), and overall just crappy. I gave up after 10 days or so, which is too bad, because it's indeed much easier to only eat your calories between 11am and 7pm lol. I typically exercise 3 hours after getting up too, which is really hard on me if I haven't had any food, as I typically start feeling horrible 2 hours after getting up.
I think that it really depends on what time you get up though, on days when I sleep past 7 (rarely), it's way easier than when I'm up at 5am, obviously. But I always wait until I'm actually hungry/need food before eating.
When I was obese, I skipped breakfast most days, but I slept in later, ate more overall (obviously), ate later, and I drank coffee with cream and sugar. Clearly that didn't help me lose weight though, haha!
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personally, I've had days where breakfast or lunch was all I wanted, it filled me up and I was DONE, but I've also had days where I wasn't really hungry but I had something small anyways....aaaannnnddd I ate all the food in the house LOL (not literally, but it sure felt like it!)
I like to go with - if I'm not hungry, I don't eat. Keep in mind, I used to let the clock dictate to me when I should be hungry. Only make me "hungry" all the time- because I wasn't paying attention to my gut.0 -
Totally agree with not eating if your not hungry. 3 meals a day diet plans do not suit me at all. I'm looking at calorie intake over a week.1
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I get hungry prior to meal times which I think is normal but I don't seem to eat that much before I feel full. I maintain on 1950-2000 calories and rarely feel as if I am not satiated. I seem to fill up very easily and when I eat that'll keep me full for around 4hrs. My largest meal is my dinner and it averages 600 cals. The only time I wouldn't feel satiated is if the meal didn't have much protein in it.0
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I maintain on 1200 without exercise, hence the fasting.0
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You've got to find what works for you. This is what works for me:
- If I eat breakfast I'm just as hungry by 10:30am as I am if I don't eat breakfast, so I don't eat breakfast.
- If I snack I just want to keep snacking (I think this is more habitual than actual hunger), so I've started to avoid snacking at all.
- If I eat more at lunch and dinner (like 1000 calories at lunch), I can resist snacking at all, which actually results in me eating less over the course of the day.
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