Only eating when you are hungry?

I usually have 2 meals a day ... I eat when I’m hungry and eat untill my body say I’m full and stop. Usually end the day around 1600 calories but some days 1000 ... I do feel significantly better the next day when I’ve consumed 1600 to 2000 the day before. My main food sources are meat,fish,veggies ... almost no sweets and minimal fruits

For years I bought into the myth about breakfast being the most important meal of the day and forced myself to eat breakfast even though I wasn't hungry. It was very freeing when I realized it doesn't really matter when you eat your calories! I don't start eating until lunch and I'm less hungry throughout the day than I was when I regularly had breakfast. I also find myself feeling a lot hungrier in the afternoons/evenings. I think this may just be because I'm so busy at work I don't notice, and then start feeling ravenous as I'm driving home. I save about 2/3 of my daily calories for dinner and that works for me.

WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »

I think this is a great way to eat. If you look at my diary, you'll see that I changed the name of my meals, it's no longer listed as breakfast/lunch/dinner as I changed it to meal#1/meal#2/meal#3/etc. I felt like having the traditional meal names kept me feeling like I needed to eat on some sort of regimented schedule. When I was younger, I routinely skipped breakfast and sometimes even lunch, it was just natural to me. And guess what? I stayed thin without trying. Once I started working a full time job, having 3 meals a day plus snacks was the "cool thing to do" LOL so I fell in to that pattern and then the weight started piling on. Now I'm trying to listen to my body and eat when hungry. Some days I eat 4 or 5 times, some days I just eat once. I'm still tracking my calories, but it makes it so much easier to stay in my allowance when I'm really focusing on listening to my body and only eating when hungry.

I had a quick look at your diary and would think that maybe this approach is not working so well for you as there are many days when you aren't even meeting the 1200 calorie mark. You are either not logging everything you eat or you are undereating.

Personally, I would love to be able to eat this way but know that I can't. I struggle to get enough calories in and am often forcing myself to eat towards the end of the day, just to get calories in so I don't lose more weight. I really can't work out how I ever had a weight problem to begin with. I am guessing that increasing my protein and complex carbs in place of refined carbs and foods high in sugar and fat has led to much better satiety.

Mandylou19912014 wrote: »

So I’ve started to follow just one rule when it comes to eating. And that’s to only eat when I am feeling really hungry. I feel like I eat for the sake of it, it gets to 1pm and I think oh it’s lunch time I should eat some lunch etc. This is my first day of trying this out and I’ve only had 500 calories and I’m not hungry at all! My first snack was at 11.30 because I genuinely wasn’t hungry until then .. I have more energy today as well. Has anyone else tried this?

Mandylou19912014 wrote: »

So I’ve started to follow just one rule when it comes to eating. And that’s to only eat when I am feeling really hungry. I feel like I eat for the sake of it, it gets to 1pm and I think oh it’s lunch time I should eat some lunch etc. This is my first day of trying this out and I’ve only had 500 calories and I’m not hungry at all! My first snack was at 11.30 because I genuinely wasn’t hungry until then .. I have more energy today as well. Has anyone else tried this?

You basically doing kinda Intermittent fasting, add black coffee and it will blunt your hunger too. Been doing that for a year and half. Will lose weight if you also stick with a calorie restriction, which i dont a lot cause i like costco pizza lol

kgeyser wrote: »

Your logging in your diary is off, the likely culprit being bad choices of entries. The 200 calories for 8 oz of chicken seems low since it's over 200 for 6 oz of chicken, as does 257 calories for 8 oz of steak - you're looking at closer to 400+ calories for that. The Halo Top is going to have 60g of carbs, even if you subtracted the 12g of fiber from that, it's still higher than 24g carbs. Halo Top is also pretty much the exact opposite of a keto friendly choice because it's purposefully low fat, whereas keto is a high fat diet.

I would double check your entries, as you are eating much more than is logged there. But you should also be aiming for your calorie goal and eating back a portion of your exercise calories. On days you wake up late or are not that hungry (we all have those days), choose higher calorie options for meals or snacks to get you closer to goal. One off day here or there isn't a problem, but it's not something you want to make a regular thing, especially if you exercise. Undereating is a great way to get an injury.

My measurements were off a little, but not too krazy. I found that the 8oz of chicken was 341cal and the Steak (Beef knuckle) is 348. So even adding an extra 300 cals still has me under 1200 for the day which states is the bare minimum for a male. The Halo Top I subtract the Erythritol because I know that it doesn't affect my blood glucose levels. I have tested it on myself separately to see what sweeteners cause a spike, so I know what foods I can eat with them. HT wasn't for keto, just was craving some ice cream and that was the best option available.

Point is, I eat when I am hungry now. If I am not hungry I am not going to shove calories down my throat. I am just listening to my body. If it says eat now, then I eat. Usually though I do get hungry every couple hours.

I have done an extreme amount of research on paleo, Keto, HFLC, so on. I like the keto approach, but even still I do a modified version of it to fit my needs. I am on military vessel and am at bay to what the cooks make. They usually work with me and put aside something a little more carb friendly, hence the beef knuckle (they made stew). It's not a prime cut of meat by any means, but it was zero carb, sooo.

As far as my workouts, I do them at night before I go to bed and have had a full day of food in me. As soon as I wake up in the morning I am eating breakfast which usually consists of eggs and bacon.

I do the same, but I'll admit I'm too far under calories some days. If it's nearing the end of my day and I'm in a big deficit I have healthy snacks to eat so my body gets the fuel it needs. But, that's only if I'm way under. Like normally I won't eat before 2 in the afternoon since my stomach is usually blarg until then.

KowboyKraka wrote: »

I just ran across this thread. I have been on Keto since June 1 and I was hungry all the time at first. This past couple weeks, I have found myself still eating breakfast lunch and dinner. The difference now is I am eating a lot less and I am full. I am 6'2" male and I know I should be eating over 1500 kcals a day, but some days like today, I am only at 850. I slept in and didn't eat breakfast, but I did eat two chicken breasts for lunch, a pint of Halo Top ice cream for a snack and a 8.5 oz steak for dinner. A couple hours after that I had a coffee. I was thinking that I need to get more calories in just because it is what THEY say I should do. I am finding that I am only eating now when my body says, "Hey, feed me". Even with less calories over the last couple weeks, I am still full of energy and not getting headaches or dizzy. The only side affect as of right now is I am losing weight pretty fast, but I am trying to lose weight.

Might I add I do cardio 30 mins a day 5/6 days a week. Usually burn about 600 cals. I think maybe since I have not been lifting since I partially tore my acromioclavicular joint, that might be why my appetite has decreased. Doctor says to chill out, but cardio is still ok.

@KowboyKraka at first I was concerned that you were drastically undereating but I took a look at your diary and see you are using a lot of user created entries. I suggest you go to USDA database to get the syntax and plug that into MFP.

For example, when I use "Chicken, broilers or fryers, breast, meat only, cooked, roasted" I get 374 calories for 8 oz chicken, almost double the 200 calories for the entry you used.

I get 404 calories for 8.3 oz of "Beef, round, knuckle, tip side, steak, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0" fat, choice, cooked, grilled", rather than the 257 calories your entry had.

Over the course of a month, how much weight are you losing per week and how much more weight do you have to lose before you hit your goal?