Hunger signals/How do you know when you’re hungry?

I love this question- following to learn more!

Interesting question.

I stagger meals and snacks out all day so I never feel hungry. It’s when I do get hungry that I often go nuts and start eating anything and everything for a quick fix.

A lot of times I also have to step back and ask myself,”is this hunger - or am I really thirsty?”

It’s hot down here, I walk a lot and I prefer hot mat classes, so I tend to stay dehydrated. Can never remember to hydrate. That sounds dumb, but it’s something I have to stay particularly conscious of.

My stomach feels empty, growls and I get a headache. It's pretty uncomfortable. If I can imagine eating boiled chicken breast or something bland and plain and it is appetizing then I pretty much know it's hunger. For me at least.

And yes I will eat when not hungry sometimes because if I don't I will either lose weight too fast, not maintain or not gain (depending on my goals). There are times where my hunger signals aren't strong enough or don't always follow my calorie goal.

I dunno, really. There are some sure signs, like when I've been very active a long time and I start losing energy, maybe getting grumpy and cognitively less sharp. More normal times, it's just amorphous "feelings".

Now that I'm actively managing my weight, if I start feeling hungry, and there isn't a meal coming up pretty soon, I eat a little something (usually protein-y) to beat it back, for pretty much the reasons springlering62 mentioned: If I feel really hungry, I'm more likely to start shoveling in food to excess when I do finally eat.

My one potential problem area I've noticed personally is that once I'm eating, satiation comes slowly - more slowly, often, than the 20 minutes that's often cited. So, I have some strategies for that (varied, but it amounts to eating what I know is sensible based on calories, then distract myself with an activity, eat something low-calorie but higher effort (raw veggies, maybe), sip some tea/coffee/water, really anything to expaaaaaannnnnnddd the time before I decide I need to eat something more calorie dense to feel full).

If you're sensing a theme here, from experienced MFP-ers, that this stuff is kind of individual and even possibly eccentric, so takes some individual figuring out . . . I think that's a good insight. Knowing yourself is powerful.

I'd rarely eat just to achieve a calorie goal, though that's rarely circumstances that happen, for me. I would eat just to achieve a nutritional goal, though, if I have the calories left but not all that hungry . . . and sometimes would even eat to hit a nutritional goal if I *don't* have calories left. I put a high priority on overall nutrition, and a few extra calories now and then is usually NBD.

If someone is extremely (hundreds) under their calorie goal on a frequent basis, I'd encourage them to eat more calories, even if not hungry. From experience, I know that hunger (or energy level) is not a great guide to whether one's undereating. For me, and others I"ve seen comment here on MFP, under-eating or under-nutrition consequences tend to hit suddenly adn abruptly: One is flying along nicely, then suddenly lying on the ground feebly twitching one's wings.

People sometimes experience early satiation (i.e., before sufficient calories or nutrition) in the honeymoon phase of calorie counting, especially when they've switched from a less satiating way of eating (such as lots of highly-processed or calorie-dense but non-satiating foods) to a more satiating nutrient-dense but calorie-sparse way of eating (such as lots of veggies or whole grains, or other high-fiber foods). In those cases, adding something nutrient-dense and calorie-dense but not very satiating can be helpful, like nuts, nut butter, avocado, extra olive oil on salad or veggies, fattier cuts of meat/fish, full fat dairy instead of low/non-fat, or that sort of thing.

I pretty much eat as soon as my stomach shouts at me, because as others have said, there is a much higher risk that I will get too hungry and eat anything - this happened a lot before lockdown because I was so busy with kids/work/housestuff that I often didn't have time, and this resulted in poor choices made in a panic. Since lockdown, we are obviously home a lot more and I'm able to address it.

I drink loads of water every day and try to stay on top of that.

If I've got more than 500 calories left to hit my target by the evening, I will eat for the sake of it. In the last week it's been two shredded wheat and oat milk although I am not sure that eating carbs so late in the day is the best thing, although it's a fairly low calorie thing to eat. I sometimes have cheese and crackers but recently my fat intake has been quite high... Haven't found the perfect food yet.

I would never eat purely to meet a calorie goal, in my head that’s counterintuitive.

I think the perception of hunger is a very individual thing. I’m interested to read AnnPT77 say above that if she’s hungry satiation is slower, because I’ve always found the opposite. The hungrier I feel, the less I need to feel full. There are times when I can feel like I’m ‘starving’ (head swimming, deep nausea) but I can only manage 3 or 4 forkfuls and I get that ‘full’ feeling.

I think I’ve possibly messed up my hunger signals over the years to a point where I’m rarely aware of hunger. Feeling empty is something I prefer - nothing worse for me than feeling ‘full’. That’s a mentally and physically uncomfortable position I try hard not to find myself in.