So, how hungry am I supposed to be?

florafloraflora · Post by **florafloraflora** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:02 pm

As I head into my second week, I'm doing a bit more exercise than usual and I'm finding that most of the time I feel starved. I'm eating generous meals (details in my check-in thread), but I still have that sort of gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach, and my lizard brain is always sort of poking me, going "OK, so how about some food now? Is it time for lunch yet? What are we having for lunch? Some lunch would be great right about now."

Then again, if for some reason I go past mealtime without eating, the hunger sort of subsides, like my body's giving up. Then if I get near food, the hunger comes roaring back.

I realize that weight loss means being a little hungry, especially initially, but I'm wondering how much hunger is OK and how much means I should be eating more. I'm about to go out and have a huge lunch (all on one plate, but it will be a big one) because I'm tired of feeling this way.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:00 pm

Huge meals are okay. I also found upping the protein helped.

Your body will adjust, and the lizard-brain panic will subside.

If you're fairly new, this particular podcast on strictness might help (linking to text version). It's my personal favorite.

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Post by **reinhard** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:18 pm

It can be tough in the beginning, but your appetite will adjust. It's all about habit. Your appetite has been led to expect frequent propitiation and it's a little irate that things have changed. But it will learn. 3 meals is plenty by historical standards. Give yourself big plates to keep the hunger to a minimum and hold firm.

If you find it utterly impossible to limit yourself to 3 meals, you can go to 4 instead of giving up altogether. But I'd try sticking with the 3, because the more input opportunities you have, the trickier portion control is to manage.

Reinhard

joasia · Post by **joasia** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 2:59 am

I know what you mean. Weight loss has always meant hunger for me.

billyymc12508 · Post by **billyymc12508** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:41 am

FWIW, I eat either three or four meals a day. I know this might not be ideal in terms of establishing habit, but on days when I swim in the morning, I need to have something in my stomach. And since I swim at 6:00, that means eating (usually a slice of whole wheat bread with about a half tbsn of PB) around 5:15. Then, I would have some oatmeal with a few crushed almonds and a few (about 10) dried cherries around 8:00 or 8:30. Then, if I do my usual noon workout, I'd eat a light meal (a piece of fruit and 1 or 1 and a quarter cups of kashi cereal - either Heart to Heart or Go Lean -- yeah, I know my meals stink) around 2:00. Then dinner around 6:30 or 7:00. For dinner I don't put any special limits on myself except to make sure I'm getting a good amount of veggies on my plate. I do most of the cooking in our house, and I'm liberal with the olive oil, and even the occasional dollop of cream to richen up a sauce or soup or whatever.

On days when I don't swim in the morning, I skip that first "meal" and have my oatmeal around 8 as usual (take it to work).

I've definitely gotten used to not snacking. At work, I"m temporarily on a large project, and the team is put together in a separate building where these types of projects are run. I've been here a month, and have barely touched the free snack food -- a dozen varieties of chips, various cookies, pop tarts, rice krispy treats, sodas, and after 5:00 pm all kinds of ice cream bars -- that they stock to "help" the teams through the long hours. I stick to my meals I bring in, and have had two bags of pretzels on days I forgot to bring lunch.

Your body will adjust. Now I just have to reel in my S-days, since I occasionally break the "don't be an idiot" rule!!

florafloraflora · Post by **florafloraflora** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:02 pm

Yeah, my biggest problem is scheduling meals around my evening yoga class. It used to be that I'd have a tiny bit of plain yogurt before class and then dinner afterward, but now I can't do that. If I eat first I feel all sluggish in class, and if I wait until afterward I feel shaky and weak. If my exercise were self-scheduled like SG or UR it might not be such a problem, but I love doing yoga and I like the discipline of a class with a set schedule. It's just that the time is really inconvenient if I can only eat once in the evening. I'll try to stick with three meals a day at least through day 21, but if this doesn't get better I might have to break dinner into two tiny meals on either side of yoga class.