If you're trying to lose, many of you are gonna feel hungry

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  • SteveinChicago
    SteveinChicago Posts: 23 Member
    Similarly, I've had to get used to eating enough to be no longer hungry, not enough to be full.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    nytrifisoul wrote: »
    I hate to tell you, (actually i love to tell you) that i feel less hungry if i skip breakfast and lunch. Every body is different, don't assume your experience is universal.
    I'm a breakfast skipper. I train fasted. I'm not hungry in the morning and don't eat till after 11:30am-12pm. But I do feel a little hungry just before dinner.
    If you're saying you never feel hungry, then that's good for you. This thread doesn't apply to you. Notice the title, it's says MANY not ALL.

    I feel a little hungry before I eat (I currently just eat lunch and dinner, but that was true when I ate 3 meals too). I never perceived that as meaning losing weight was making me "hungry," as it just seemed normal. It's not like I was feeling super hungry all the time, which is what I think people worry about. When I was losing in 2014-15, I would often have lunch at noon and dinner not 'til 9 (work and commute and sometimes exercise) and I'd maybe feel somewhat hungry at 6 or 7, but I'd remind myself I had a great dinner to eat at 9 and focused on something else, and was fine. Never did I perceive this as "feeling hungry" as some sort of unpleasant state associated with dieting.

    I like being a bit hungry before eating -- I call it being ready to eat.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    edited February 2021
    True hunger, habit, emotional hunger. Out of those 3 I think true hunger is much easier for me to recognize and ignore. :/ Emotional hunger is such a tricky thing because it feels like it comes with a switch and if you can't shut it off, it can get the best of you. It's hard to find something that'll replace food when you're emotionally needy. Habit's not easy either. :) Personally, I'd rather listen to my stomach growling than my head talking. I feel that for habit and emotions, it takes a lot more work to ignore the want/need for food and many people(myself included) just do not have the energy to put forth the effort to change things. :/
  • pink_mint
    pink_mint Posts: 103 Member
    Yep. I'm learning to get used to being a little hungry and not panicking. At the same time there is a point at which going hungry backfires and that's probably different for everyone.

    If I go too long without eating and get too hungry, it's very hard to stop eating once I start. I know breakfast is not popular around here, but if I don't eat it I am prone to overeating later. It's different for everyone. But yes, I affirm the original post. Finding the balance of allowing some hunger while not being overly restrictive has been necessary to my 30 lb weight loss so far. 25 more to go. I'm still adjusting as I go.

    Some days it's harder to stretch that hunger than others. I have very difficult menstrual cycles and certain times of the month it's much more mentally and emotionally taxing to push past the hunger.
  • Poobah1972
    Poobah1972 Posts: 943 Member
    edited February 2021
    This is why low carb has worked so well for me in the past and is doing so again. Hunger is hardly ever a thing, and if it is... It's usually just before Dinner time and mild at that.

    I do eat breakfast every morning though, and have a number of snacks (usually 3) before lunch at 12pm to 1:30 pm. So I pretty much keep the conveyor belt going fairly steady most days.

    Although I suspect hunger will become more of an issue as I get closer to goal weight. :P
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    True hunger, habit, emotional hunger. Out of those 3 I think true hunger is much easier for me to recognize and ignore. :/ Emotional hunger is such a tricky thing because it feels like it comes with a switch and if you can't shut it off, it can get the best of you. It's hard to find something that'll replace food when you're emotionally needy. Habit's not easy either. :) Personally, I'd rather listen to my stomach growling than my head talking. I feel that for habit and emotions, it takes a lot more work to ignore the want/need for food and many people(myself included) just do not have the energy to put forth the effort to change things. :/

    Emotional hunger is by far the hardest for me too. Actual hunger isn't really an issue (I eat in a pretty sating way, and don't think I've ever overeaten over time due to physical hunger). Habit can be difficult, but it also can be changed over a reasonably short period of time, IME--at least I've found getting into positive food-related habits and ended bad ones (i.e., snacking at work)--to be not too bad. The emotional stuff is what trips me up, and why this covid period has been difficult, I suspect.

    I really do way better with the emotional eating when I am really mindful and when I'm journaling and forcing myself to deal with whatever it is I'm stuffing with the food.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    pink_mint wrote: »
    I know breakfast is not popular around here, but if I don't eat it I am prone to overeating later. It's different for everyone.

    It's interesting that you perceive this place as being anti breakfast. I'd say it's mostly neutral about breakfast (or any eating pattern other than multi-day fasts), with likely more posters eating breakfast than not.

    I ate breakfast the entire time I was losing 90 lbs in 2014 and 2015, and from then until 2020. I was a big fan of the traditional 3 meals, and did not snack (I often had a little dessert or other indulgence immediately after dinner if I had the cals). I liked eating breakfast and disliked eating snacks or between meals, but I also think that was just me and as you say everyone has a different preferred pattern for eating.

    Right now my workout schedule is different (I tend not to workout first thing in the morning), so I've been experimenting with skipping breakfast and liking it (I now have only 2 meals), but that doesn't mean I'm not pro breakfast for others, or for me once again someday (likely when I'm back to going to the office daily and working out first thing in the morning again).

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