Everyday Systems

Does anyone else feel a mild sense of panic when you reach the last bite of a meal because you won't be able to eat again for hours? Maybe the pros can weigh in....does that feeling ever go away?

Yes, I felt it sometimes.

Yes, it goes away.

What COMPLETELY CURED me of it was a YA book series that's really popular -- The Hunger Games. I'm NEVER more than a few hours away from a meal and feel a bit silly panicking about it after reading that first book.

I'm hungry for dinner right now and the idea that there was a time when I would have had a snack less than 30 minutes before a WHOLE MEAL seems goofy to me now.

I have a bit of a last bite panic at lunchtime. For various reasons I can't have lunch later than 1, or dinner earlier than about 8, and it feels like an enormous stretch of time coming up before I can eat again.

I just try to remind myself that I did it before, and it was fine. I hope that in time I'll get used to feeling hungry for a couple of hours, and won't think anything of it.

When I first started experimenting with a No-S-like approach a couple of months back, I thought there was no way I could do just three meals a day and go without a late-evening snack, because that would mean maybe fourteen hours between dinner and breakfast! So for a while I went with three-meals-and-a-snack, to avoid last-bite panic at dinner time.

That was actually a pretty good system that felt sustainable, but having actually tried doing just the three meals, I find that I'm quite comfortable with it. The dreaded hunger pangs at ~10pm don't really materialise. I have a "safety valve" rule that if I am really craving something later in the evening, and if a glass of water or whatever doesn't cure it, I am then allowed a snack. Haven't had to invoke the rule so far, though. I do make sure that the last meal of the day is big and satisfying.

"Last bite panic" is a good way to describe it! I've been doing no-s for about three weeks and I'll admit to feeling that way at the end of nearly every meal. Part of the reason is that I'm finally eating what I want (which turns out is surprisingly healthy) and truly enjoying my meals for the first time in years.

I eat breakfast at 6:30 and lunch at 10:45 (school counselor with a first lunch schedule), so dinner (usually around 6:00) seems like a long way off. I didn't think I'd ever be able to go all afternoon without a snack, but I've been able to redefine hunger as anticipation and it's made all the difference.

I was still sad to take the last bite of quinoa and brown rice (with a bit of butter!) tonight, though.

Whidbey Woman wrote:I've been able to redefine hunger as anticipation and it's made all the difference.

That's a good way of looking at it! Much better to look forward to how good the food will taste in a while instead of bumming about not being able to eat right then.

I've also recently been trying to look at my huge 4:00 snack craving a different way.....Instead of wilting when that time comes because I always used to start snacking around that time of day, I just focus on the fact that dinner is just 2 short hours away. I keep myself so busy during that time that I'm usually surprised when I notice my wait time is up. (Coincidentally, ever since I've started using cleaning and organizing as a distraction, I'm seeing quite the difference in my house! Amazing how much energy hunger can produce.)