Everyday Systems

Hi everyone,

Well, I don't do No-S perfectly, in fact I had given up for awhile, but I am still trying to do it as much as I can. I find my problem is between meals I get hungry, and when I am hungry I get irritable and can't concentrate on my work.

Like this morning, I wasn't overly hungry at all, but I had a toasted small bun, one half with light margarine, the other half with natural peanut butter and coffee with light cream. I know it wasn't the most substantial, but that's all I could eat.

Then around 11am I couldn't wait any longer to eat again. So I started eating some peanut butter, small handful of walnuts, bit of cheese, nutella spread...a bowl of cheerios with skim milk..couple bites of soup...I am the queen of picking at foods. I didn't overeat, but was full and felt good. So instead of calling it a failure because it was actually supposed to be a snack, I decided to call it lunch and just not eat the pasta I have cooking in the oven right now.

Do any of you have this problem? I find I usually can't hold out very well...

Thanks for any input,
Cynthia

Hi Cynthia,
I think since you weren't really hungry when you had breakfast, you could try to wait next time until you are hungry and then just have a later breakfast. That way you could eat something more substantial, and that should be able to hold you better til lunch.

Some people on this board who have a problem between two particular meals even after tweaking up the meal, add a mini meal in there.

Peetie

Thanks Peetie, you do make an excellent point. I should have waited to eat breakfast. I guess the most important thing is making this work as a life long plan - not a diet that has to be adhered to perfectly.

I agree with Peetie, have a later breakfast.

You may still get hungry but that's okay. A little hunger (the kind that arises between meals) is a good thing. It means your body is beginning to burn stored energy. That's what you want. You'll get used to it.

Hi Cynthia,

Three (re)suggestions:

1) eat bigger, later breakfasts so you don't get painfully hungry. It can take some trial and error to get these important details right.

2) As spiralstares suggests, reinterpret (mild) hunger: it means "I haven't been overeating. I'm burning more calories than I've taken in. I'm succeeding." At the same time, think of how much you'll enjoy the next, coming meal. With a little nudge from your conscious self, hunger becomes intimately associated with feelings of triumph and anticipation.

3) if 1 and 2 won't cut it, consider the mini-meal as Peetie suggests.

Keep us posted,

Reinhard

Thanks all so much for the suggestions. I read them with such anticipation! I love learning from masters.

Anyways, today I my problem was not breakfast or lunch - I nailed those two. My problem arised at Dinner (or prior to). I got home from school at 4:30pm and I knew I just couldn't wait for dinner. I didn't feel weak or have a growling stomach, but I felt very hungry, like I would not be able to run my errands or start my work until I ate. So I did. And I lost a bit of control. I even had half (or a little more) of a pastry. I felt like I couldn't help myself.

Rather than write this off as a total failure and keeping eating, I'm going to count it as my third meal (albeit one huge meal) and I don't expect to have any problems resisting the rest of the night.

The only small accomplishment here is I would normally keep on binging until I go to bed. It is 5pm now, I have a bunch of stuff to do, a fav TV show on tonight and hope to workout, all b4 bedtime at 10pm. I should be ok not eating anymore.

Does this ever happen to anyone here? Maybe I just need more practice, but when I get that hungry, it's like I am useless until I eat...such a pain in the butt!

Oh yes, I know what you are going through. I'm pretty successful with no-s, but there are times when I really get hungry between meals. I can't drive like that (we're in the country and everything is highway and many miles away) and sometimes it's even hard just to work around the house or church. If I were in school, and trying to study, it would be impossible! Fortunately, this doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I just break down and have something. My favorite between-meal hunger killer is a glass of orange juice. If I really and truly can't wait to the next meal, a small glass of juice will do the trick. It's fat-free, not too high in calories,contains no added sugar5, all-natural, and filled with vitamins. Maybe you could try this and see if it helps?

When I get super hungry between meals, I will often have a glass of milk. Or, if I'm concerned about calories, I might make a large pot of decaf coffee (or buy one from Starbucks etc), particularly flavored coffee because it tastes like a treat. (I looooove coffee!) I put milk or cream in the coffee but no sugar. After drinking that down (the larger the better), I find that even the small amount of milk/cream is enough to take the edge off and tide me over until my next meal. It works way better than a glass of water.

I expect a cup of tea with milk would have the same effect.