how to tell when you're hungry
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EloiseBean
Posts: 16 Member
i know this sounds stupid but i have a hard time knowing when i'm really hungry. for the most part i eat out of boredom or stress. my first meal of the day is the only time i can tell when i need food, but after that it feels like boredom binging. should i only eat one meal a day.
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Replies
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if you want to eat all your calories in one meal, and think it will help you stick to your calorie goal then go for it. as long as you can fit all your macros - it may be difficult to get enough protein, depending on what your goal is?6
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One good thing I appreciate about keeping a food log is that it makes it easier to tell if I'm probably just bored or if my body actually needs something. At 9pm on a Friday when I've eaten my normal amount of calories, that little rumble in my tummy is veeerrry unlikely to be an honest one. But if it's 9pm and I've only eaten like 70% or I've exercised then sure, it snacktime.
It's okay to eat before you get hungry though. I am miserable when I'm hungry and my blood sugar can get weird so my preference is to keep the tank topped up when I can. Try one big meal a day if it suits you better but so long as the calories/ nutrition even out it makes no difference really.11 -
I struggle with a similar issue. I am often not sure if I'm hungry or not. I often feel this uncomfortable hollow-like sensation in my stomach which feels like hunger, but I know I've eaten a decent-sized meal an hour or two ago, so I tell myself I can't be hungry even though it's uncomfortable. Maybe it's how digestion/stomach emptying feels? Sometimes if I distract myself it passes. Other times it doesn't.
Hunger is supposed to feel like an uncomfortable emptiness in the stomach, which gradually turns into spasms and stomach growling. I've heard that one way to tell if you're hungry, is that hunger is increasing gradually. And if you wait out and the feeling passes, then it's not hunger. But I think that it can be more complicated than that.
But one thing I've noticed over time is that there are different types (or levels) of hunger. Stomach hollowness, contractions and growling for me is a superficial type of hunger which simply means there's no food in your stomach. It's pretty easy to tolerate. But when I'm in a large calorie deficit, I can satisfy the superficial hunger with small meals, but my body knows I'm in a calorie deficit, so overtime I develop this generalized hunger, not sure how to describe it but it's a dull sensation which I feel everywhere in my body and which makes me think about food constantly and is very difficult to ignore. My energy levels also go down. This is when I know that my deficit is too aggressive.
There's also hormonal hunger, which is probably the most annoying. I struggle with it a lot. It comes in steaks of several days where I just feel an overwhelming drive to eat non-stop. And even if my stomach is full, I still feel as if I'm hungry. It's incredibly annoying.7 -
TavistockToad wrote: »if you want to eat all your calories in one meal, and think it will help you stick to your calorie goal then go for it. as long as you can fit all your macros - it may be difficult to get enough protein, depending on what your goal is?
It also isn’t the most optimal way of doing things though and what if opie is ravenous 12 hours later before bed....4 -
pinggolfer96 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »if you want to eat all your calories in one meal, and think it will help you stick to your calorie goal then go for it. as long as you can fit all your macros - it may be difficult to get enough protein, depending on what your goal is?
It also isn’t the most optimal way of doing things though and what if opie is ravenous 12 hours later before bed....
that's for them to figure out...11 -
EloiseBean wrote: »i know this sounds stupid but i have a hard time knowing when i'm really hungry. for the most part i eat out of boredom or stress. my first meal of the day is the only time i can tell when i need food, but after that it feels like boredom binging. should i only eat one meal a day.
Have you tried doing a version of IF for a week or so? it helped me see the difference between "I'm hungry and my belly is making noise" and "I feel like eating something to stay awake during this movie"8 -
If you think it might be boredom or stress or something, try substituting another habit.
For example, if you feel you might be "boredom hungry", drink a glass of water, and go for a quick walk. (That's not the only possible activity - pick anything distracting that you can do for maybe 10-20 minutes that isn't linked in your mind to snacking). While doing this other thing, think about puppies, or your favorite TV show and what might happen next, or deep breathing (not about eating/food - but it works better to decide to actively think about something else, than to not think about something
).
If you're still hungry after the distraction, it might actually be time to have a little snack. Eat something small and sensible, then wait/distract 20 minutes for your stomach and brain to register. Etc.
Longer term, if boredom eating is a problem, it might be good to take up a new hobby, or restart an old one. Particularly good are things that require clean hands (sketching, needlework, playing a musical instrument, etc.) or create dirty ones (gardening, carpentry, painting your living room, etc.).14 -
I think it’s important to eat at regular intervals, or you risk a binge. The sad thing is most of us could go many hours and not “ feel “ hungry , after stomach surgery I lost the ability to feel hunger/full triggers.
Try planing your 3 meals and two snacks for a week and see how you feel , but don't base your decisions on feelings look at the facts .You need fuel to function at full capacity.
You are definitely not alone in this 🌼12 -
Phoebe5164 wrote: »I think it’s important to eat at regular intervals, or you risk a binge. The sad thing is most of us could go many hours and not “ feel “ hungry , after stomach surgery I lost the ability to feel hunger/full triggers.
Try planing your 3 meals and two snacks for a week and see how you feel , but don't base your decisions on feelings look at the facts .You need fuel to function at full capacity.
You are definitely not alone in this 🌼
I don't think 'most' of us could go many hours without feeling hungry... I don't think many people could. Not sure where you get that impression from?9 -
Slow down.2
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I can only tell if I’m hungry if I’m in pain. That sounds bad but I’m not a big eater. I don’t snack around or eat out of boredom, so I eat when my body yells at me to eat.0
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I struggle with a similar issue. I am often not sure if I'm hungry or not. I often feel this uncomfortable hollow-like sensation in my stomach which feels like hunger, but I know I've eaten a decent-sized meal an hour or two ago, so I tell myself I can't be hungry even though it's uncomfortable. Maybe it's how digestion/stomach emptying feels? Sometimes if I distract myself it passes. Other times it doesn't.
Hunger is supposed to feel like an uncomfortable emptiness in the stomach, which gradually turns into spasms and stomach growling. I've heard that one way to tell if you're hungry, is that hunger is increasing gradually. And if you wait out and the feeling passes, then it's not hunger. But I think that it can be more complicated than that.
But one thing I've noticed over time is that there are different types (or levels) of hunger. Stomach hollowness, contractions and growling for me is a superficial type of hunger which simply means there's no food in your stomach. It's pretty easy to tolerate. But when I'm in a large calorie deficit, I can satisfy the superficial hunger with small meals, but my body knows I'm in a calorie deficit, so overtime I develop this generalized hunger, not sure how to describe it but it's a dull sensation which I feel everywhere in my body and which makes me think about food constantly and is very difficult to ignore. My energy levels also go down. This is when I know that my deficit is too aggressive.
There's also hormonal hunger, which is probably the most annoying. I struggle with it a lot. It comes in steaks of several days where I just feel an overwhelming drive to eat non-stop. And even if my stomach is full, I still feel as if I'm hungry. It's incredibly annoying.
THIS!! I feel exactly the same way. This difficult part for me is prior to me actually paying attention to what I was eating, it was a free-for-all. If I felt "munchy" I'd eat. I'd never stop to think about it. I've found what helps is eating enough of the right things throughout the day. If I eat my 8-10 servings of veggies and fruit for example, I think the fiber really makes a difference. But since I'm just getting started (again) I'm feeling all of the "symptoms" too. I'm hoping that once I get a few weeks in, my brain will start paying attention and it'll get better lol0 -
I used to think that any rumbling or emptiness I felt in my stomach meant that I needed to eat. Then I tried not to eat other than 3 planned meals, no snacking in between, and I then realized what true hunger felt for ME. It was definitely a hollow emptiness and desire to eat, but one that I felt in control about. It was not the same as when I was just trying to fill a head hunger from boredom. I actually feel more able to control my eating when I'm REALLY hungry than when I have head hunger. I took me trial and error to realize the difference between the two. Do I still eat from head hunger? Yes I do unfortunately but I also know that its only head hunger and just giving in to it. Maybe, I'm a little different. I never used to feel hunger, but only because I never let myself get to the point of real hunger. I was so afraid to be hungry that I always was eating. Stupid on my part. Oh well....6
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rikkejohnsenrij wrote: »EloiseBean wrote: »i know this sounds stupid but i have a hard time knowing when i'm really hungry. for the most part i eat out of boredom or stress. my first meal of the day is the only time i can tell when i need food, but after that it feels like boredom binging. should i only eat one meal a day.
Have you tried doing a version of IF for a week or so? it helped me see the difference between "I'm hungry and my belly is making noise" and "I feel like eating something to stay awake during this movie"
Dumb question. Does IF stand for something? Or is it just "if I'm hungry. Lol thanks0 -
rikkejohnsenrij wrote: »EloiseBean wrote: »i know this sounds stupid but i have a hard time knowing when i'm really hungry. for the most part i eat out of boredom or stress. my first meal of the day is the only time i can tell when i need food, but after that it feels like boredom binging. should i only eat one meal a day.
Have you tried doing a version of IF for a week or so? it helped me see the difference between "I'm hungry and my belly is making noise" and "I feel like eating something to stay awake during this movie"
Dumb question. Does IF stand for something? Or is it just "if I'm hungry. Lol thanks
"Intermittent Fasting." It's a practice where people only eat during a specific part of the day, like fasting for sixteen hours and only eating during eight (that's an example, people have different "eating windows").0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »rikkejohnsenrij wrote: »EloiseBean wrote: »i know this sounds stupid but i have a hard time knowing when i'm really hungry. for the most part i eat out of boredom or stress. my first meal of the day is the only time i can tell when i need food, but after that it feels like boredom binging. should i only eat one meal a day.
Have you tried doing a version of IF for a week or so? it helped me see the difference between "I'm hungry and my belly is making noise" and "I feel like eating something to stay awake during this movie"
Dumb question. Does IF stand for something? Or is it just "if I'm hungry. Lol thanks
"Intermittent Fasting." It's a practice where people only eat during a specific part of the day, like fasting for sixteen hours and only eating during eight (that's an example, people have different "eating windows").
Thank-you
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I can only tell if I’m physically hungry at the point where I get cold and start shaking. Everything else is mental hunger signals, which half the time are just boredom.
So... I’ve given up trying to tell the difference betwen my brain being truthful about hunger and it lying like a cheap Persian rug. Instead I just eat by the numbers, most of the time.4 -
I second the idea of having a glass of water, tea, etc. To see maybe that will quiet your stomach and or brain down from thinking it might be hungry. Also going for a walk or some form exercise is another good idea. One thing I was wondering about is if you have put all of the info into MFP so you know how many calories ideally you should consume per day. And still lose per week how you plan to. Are you tracking how many calories you are eating in that first big meal of the day, when you say you know you are hungry then? How often are you actually eating per day now?0
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When I get hungry it hurts, it’s actually painful. Next usually comes the feeling of light headed and shaky. Anything other than that and I know I’m not actually hungry.1
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