what if I am really not hungry when it's mealtime??

No Snacks, no sweets, no seconds. Except on Days that start with S. Too simple for you? Simple is why it works. Look here for questions, introductions, support, success stories.

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whitster
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what if I am really not hungry when it's mealtime??

Post by whitster » Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:53 am

I think I have the principles of No S down and have been doing it for about three weeks. However, do I still eat even if it's mealtime and I am not hungry at all? I have skipped a few meals when not hungry and woke up in the middle of the night with a growling stomach - eating would definitely be considered snacking since 2 a.m. isn't mealtime in my house!! What do you do in that situation?

Thanks for the tips!
Keep your eyes on the prize!

blueskighs
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Post by blueskighs » Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:05 am

whitster,

I don't ever completely skip a meal time. If I am REALLY not hungry I will have 8 oz of juice. It has helped with keeping my HABIT.

I am sure you will get a lot of tips,
just figure out what works the best for you in building HABIT,

Blueskighs
www.nosdiet.blogspot.com Where I blog daily about my No S journey

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Mavilu
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Post by Mavilu » Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:50 am

If that meal at 2:00 AM is your third meal, then, it isn't a snack.
I'm a night owl, therefore, my last meal, "dinner" is usually after 3:00 AM, eat your meals never mind what time is; waking up in the middle of the night with a growling stomach and having to get up to eat and then brush your teeth, when you'd rather be sleeping is horrible.

kccc
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Post by kccc » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:56 am

It's easier to build habit if you have regular meals.

Those meals can be at any time that works for you. If you normally want to eat at 2 AM, as Malivu says, you can count it as a meal.

But if that's NOT when you want to eat on a regular basis, then eat something light at mealtime.

Over time, your body will become accustomed to "it's time to eat now," and being strict will help it. (If you haven't listened to the "strictness" podcast, I totally recommend it. Part of the message is that being strict at the beginning makes the whole process MUCH easier in the long run.)

Good luck!

Dawn
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Location: So Cal

Post by Dawn » Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:22 pm

For me meal skipping leads to trouble. I seem to feel it's OK to over eat at my next meal or eat high cal foods - not the habit I am trying to establish.

Right this second I am eating a bowl of Fiber One cereal. It's much earlier than I usually eat but I am going to have one of those days so I am making myself eat something that goes down easy enough but will stay with me until I have lunch which I predict will be around 1PM.
Dawn

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:17 pm

Welcome, whitster!

Relevant "teaser" content from the book:

(from pages 50- 53)


Isn’t It Better to Eat When I’m Hungry?

You often hear formulas like “Eat only when you’re hun-
gry†and “Eat what you want, not what you shouldâ€
touted as liberating, antidiet weight- loss wisdom. But
despite their appeal to nature and their warm- and- fuzzy
feel, these formulas are no more effective than “Don’t eat
too much.†In fact, they’re worse. They are not merely
impossible advice, they are bad advice. And they are pro-
foundly unnatural.

I have two cats. The concept of should is utterly
alien to them. But if I give them too much food, they
happily eat it and get fat. They want too much. So do I.
Superabundance is not a natural problem, so we don’t
have good instincts to deal with it. Why would we? No
animal (until us, now, perhaps) ever died because there
was too much food. Plenty died because there was too
little. That all too common scenario is the reason the
feeling of hunger evolved— to avoid starvation. So it’s
not going to be a very reliable guide to moderating
intake; that’s just not its job.

Eating whenever you’re hungry is not only unnatural,
it’s uncivilized. Human beings in traditional societies
didn’t eat when they were hungry; food was too scarce
and precious and hard to prepare for that. Our ancestors
were hungry a lot. When times were good, they ate at
regular, discrete, social meals, with real gratitude. When
times were not so good, they experienced something
that makes our “hunger†look like a joke.

Furthermore, if you’re a so- called emotional eater,
you may not get an honest answer to, “Am I really
hungry?†Depression is going to attempt to pass itself
off as hunger. So will stress. So will countless other
emotions. And they’ll be quite convincing.

It’s harder to deceive yourself when the question is,
“Is it mealtime?†or “Is this a brownie and is it 4 a.m.
Monday morning?†Self- deception is a powerful force,
and you can’t afford to be naive about it. No snacks
blocks this kind of self- deception. It simply doesn’t
matter when you’re hungry; you’re not allowed to eat.

Real or imagined hunger is not a valid excuse. And
soon enough, if you’re firm, you’ll stop even trying to
make emotional excuses; any real hunger you have will
start to coincide with mealtimes.

.......

So don’t eat when you’re hungry. Don’t eat when
you’re depressed. Don’t eat when you’ve seen a good
number on the scale and you think you can afford a
few extra calories. Eat when it’s time to eat, just like
thin people did for thousands of years.
This doesn’t mean you’ll be starving all the time.
Limit your intake to meals and your appetite will grad-
ually learn that that’s the time to get hungry.


What If I’m Not Hungry at Mealtime?

If you’re not hungry at mealtime, you will be hungry
an hour later, so eat preemptively. Once you get a regu-
lar routine of mealtime eating down, this won’t happen
often. Remember: You’re the boss. You’re the trainer.
Your appetite is a dumb brute, an animal. You tell it
when to get hungry; and, like Pavlov’s dogs, it’ll learn.
If you let your appetite lead you, that’s like the dog
leading the trainer: not only counterproductive but
degrading.



Reinhard

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