hungry

jellybeans01 · Post by **jellybeans01** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:50 pm

I was reading some info on thin eaters and something interesting is that lots of naturally thin people do feel hunger, but it is no big deal to them. If they are hungry at 5 but know they are eating dinner later they can wait, it is no big deal. This is so interesting to me because for some reason many people are scared and freaked out to feel hunger and feel that they have to take care of that need NOW. Hunger is a natural feeling though and it will go away.
My husband is a natural thin eater. He is trim and does not do a lick of any workout. I notice he never snacks. I asked him if he feels hungry at times. "Well, yes, but if I'm busy or doing something I just wait" I know I will eventually eat. He has even at times forgotten to eat. Can you believe that? I have never forgotten to eat a meal.
Just thought this was interesting

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:17 pm

Yeah, I think we've totally lost the distinction between "Having a good appetite for dinner" and "starvation." A little hunger makes your meal more enjoyable, it's not a bad thing!

Imagine if you tried to nap five or six times a day when you weren't sleepy, because "you might get too tired later if you wait." Or if you lay down for a nap every time you yawned.

Grammy G · Post by **Grammy G** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:25 am

It has finally dawned on me that if I refrain from snacking, especially at night, I feel so much better and enjoy my meals so much more! I'm almost at the place where I don't have to remind myself that feeling a bit hungry is much better than feeling overstuffed and sluggish.

Baby steps in the right direction

will still get us there! Think thin thoughts!!

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:28 am

I have often missed meals. When I was working it was the nature of the job. If stuff happened, meals were delayed or missed. But I've also gotten so engrossed in a project that I've forgotten to eat.

pepper33 · Post by **pepper33** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:56 am

I have often thought this myself. I understand that afraid of hunger feeling. I've been a binge eater as long as I can remember. Both my parents, on the other hand, are naturally thin people and would work through meals on the weekend. This killed me as a kid - I would be almost frantic to eat and they would forget! It didn't happen too much, but I obviously remember it.
I am new to no-S, but I feel like I am remembering how to feel hunger - and I really enjoy it. I feel thinner, because I feel like I am making decisions like thin person!

kariev34 · Post by **kariev34** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 11:07 am

"many people are scared and freaked out to feel hunger and feel that they have to take care of that need NOW"

Jellybeans: your statement above is me! I'm having a real hard time and haven't yet let go of eating a snack with slight hunger. For me, this fear comes from years of reading that no snacks result in binges (which i have suffered from in the past even with snacks), unstable blood sugar, and slowed metabolism. You can almost say I have been brainwashed. Prior to the snacking way of life. I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner and just moved on. I never thought about food. Now, i'm a prisoner and I'm really trying to get out. I'm not overweight. My snacks are planned and not mindless but I often find that I eat them hungry or not because external cues (time) tell me its time to snack. Its definately a strong habit. My husband is a natrual eater and embraces hunger and its not an emergency for him when he feels the hunger sensation. He has a hard time understanding why it gives me anxiety and I can understand that. Anyways, I'm rambling. Just wanted to share my thoughts.

Too solid flesh · Post by **Too solid flesh** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 3:38 pm

Thalia wrote:Imagine if you tried to nap five or six times a day when you weren't sleepy, because "you might get too tired later if you wait." Or if you lay down for a nap every time you yawned.

Nice analogy.

Strawberry Roan · Post by **Strawberry Roan** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:38 pm

I am hungry now. BUT, I ate breakfast at 10 a.m., it is only 1p.m so I will wait until 2 p.m to eat. The food is in the kitchen about twenty feet away from my office desk. Should I become weak from hunger - I can probably crawl that distance

BrightAngel · Post by **BrightAngel** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:13 pm

Strawberry Roan wrote:I am hungry now. BUT, I ate breakfast at 10 a.m., it is only 1p.m so I will wait until 2 p.m to eat. The food is in the kitchen about twenty feet away from my office desk. Should I become weak from hunger - I can probably crawl that distance

Love it !!

Post by **reinhard** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:21 pm

Sort of a side note: I'm note sure I believe in "naturally thin people" -- there sure are fewer and fewer candidates for such an appellation. I think "Nurtured-ly thin people" is a more accurate (and more useful) way of describing them. Most people, in a traditional environment with traditional eating habits, are thin.

I know it may seem hard to believe, but I think that with enough time and consistency, habit can actually train a response like your husband's, jellybeans01. I notice myself that I really don't even want to eat between meals on weekdays -- and I even (rarely) have forgotten a few.

Reinhard

DaveMc · Post by **DaveMc** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:47 pm

I've actually come to really enjoy feeling hungry for my next meal. If you say this to people, they often think you're a masochist or taking your life in your hands by allowing your stomach to ever be less than full (think of your blood sugar!), but it really is true that hunger is the best sauce. (It's also true that nothing terrible happens to humans if they go five, six, seven hours without eating. See: all of history, and most of the present-day world.)

mamamia · Post by **mamamia** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:55 pm

It's truly a luxury, isn't it, to choose to feel hungry?

milliem · Post by **milliem** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:55 pm

reinhard wrote:Sort of a side note: I'm note sure I believe in "naturally thin people" -- there sure are fewer and fewer candidates for such an appellation. I think "Nurtured-ly thin people" is a more accurate (and more useful) way of describing them. Most people, in a traditional environment with traditional eating habits, are thin.

I know it may seem hard to believe, but I think that with enough time and consistency, habit can actually train a response like your husband's, jellybeans01. I notice myself that I really don't even want to eat between meals on weekdays -- and I even (rarely) have forgotten a few.

Reinhard

My twin sister is very thin - a UK size 8-10 compared to my UK size 16. We are not identical, but obviously were brought up in exactly the same environment at the same time, with the same influences about food and eating. We've always had slightly different builds - she has always been skinny, I have always been.... rounder

She takes after my dad, I take after my mum and gran. So it's not quite as simple as nature vs nurture - it's probably a combination of both

ImprisonedBeauty · Post by **ImprisonedBeauty** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:41 pm

How true. I know I used to think that I should eat whenever I felt even the slightest bit of hunger... and when I started to change my eating habits, it felt kind of awful to sit and wait through the hunger. Now I am getting used to the feeling, and it is not so bad after all. A little hunger won't do any harm, but it will make meals so much more satisfying.

jellybeans01 wrote:He has even at times forgotten to eat. Can you believe that?

My husband has done the same thing! When he told me that I thought he was crazy, but maybe he's not so crazy after all.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 7:52 pm

The only times I have "forgotten" to eat was when I was on a medication that had appetite suppression as a "side" effect. Sometimes, on No S, I've gotten involved in some activities after work that kept me from getting home for quite awhile, so that there was about 6 or even 7 hours from lunch until dinner. However, I was aware even then that I was hungry, but it felt good, and I enjoyed waiting. I've had other days when I raced home because it did not feel good! But, now I don't want to eat snacks between meals, except for my mocha. I don't want to ruin my appetite for sure.

The other significant thing about naturally thin people (I'm telling you, my brother was one for the first 61 years of his life) is that they really don't like being very full. They'll put one sip of Coke in the cup back in the fridge. They'll skip a piece of pie they love. I've asked him at times, are you doing that so you don't gain weight? No, he'd always say, I'm full. And he'd shrug. And he'd eat a big piece of pie later. He'd scarf down a quart of ice cream. but then he was full and didn't keep going and never felt bad about it. He was about the same weight his adult life until my mother died a few years ago. Not fat now, just a little thicker. And he eats a lot of sweets. But not enough to get really full.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:21 pm

The other significant thing about naturally thin people (I'm telling you, my brother was one for the first 61 years of his life) is that they really don't like being very full.

I agree. And I consider it one of my greatest successes as a parent that my son will do that - put back a piece of pie or cake that he looooves because he's full now. (He does ask if I'll save it for him, and I do. I don't want him cramming it down so he doesn't lose it.)

mamamia · Post by **mamamia** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:25 pm

That is a really interesting comment, that thin people don't like the feeling of being full - I guess much like overweight people don't like the feeling of being hungry! I don't like the feeling of being overly stuffed, but somehow it doesn't seem to stop me.....alas.

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:28 pm

Keep at No S. What it takes to feel full will decrease. And you will like it less.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:04 pm

oolala53 wrote:Keep at No S. What it takes to feel full will decrease. And you will like it less.

That's SO true.

That's what you ("generic" you, not "you" specifically) start to realize when "over the top" S-days are contrasted with how you feel on N-days... Your body starts giving you clear feedback, and you begin to recognize that being too full does NOT feel good.

vmsurbat · Post by **vmsurbat** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 4:49 am

oolala53 wrote:Keep at No S. What it takes to feel full will decrease. And you will like it less.

And the process continues even when you have N days and S days down. I'm 2.5+ years into my (successful--45lbs. down) NoS journey and after the first 2 months, I rarely had a problem with over the top S days.

As I neared what I consider to be a good weight for me, I suddenly found that I wasn't feeling hungry by the time my next meal rolled around. I wondered if I was inadvertently slipping, and filling my plates too full. But careful consideration showed that wasn't the problem. I wasn't snacking or eating sweets, either. My NoS habits were intact.

Surprisingly, while I've been eating virtually the same amounts and types of food these past few years, my "normal for me" suddenly became "a bit too much." I was amazed to realize that it is my body and not my head telling me this, and I can trust my body! I've actually reduced by a small amount what I am eating and am feeling better (aka not stuffed and with an appetite to enjoy my next meal by the time it rolls around) on both my N days and S days.

Because my head will sometimes tell me "That's so little---you can afford to eat more, there's room on the plate", I've come up with a new motto to join the ranks of "one=done" and that is "more=sore." This little phrase has saved me from more than one uncomfortable evening!

If I think too much about how much I am eating now, it seems like so little compared to preNoS days. If I had started NoS with the amounts that now satisfy me, I wouldn't have made it past the first few weeks. It has been a wonderful, glorious process. PreNoS, I never would have believed that I could lose and maintain a healthy weight by eating "what feels best for me" vs. "what I should".

jellybeans01 · Post by **jellybeans01** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:34 pm

vmsurbat, thanks for sharing that, I'm very encouraged by your no s journey.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 1:58 pm

vmsurbat wrote: If I think too much about how much I am eating now, it seems like so little compared to preNoS days. If I had started NoS with the amounts that now satisfy me, I wouldn't have made it past the first few weeks. It has been a wonderful, glorious process.

This is SO TRUE - and beautifully put.

I think new people sometimes get discouraged when they look at the threads of people who've been around a while. They think (something like) "that looks like diet food" or "I thought you didn't have to eat "healthy food". But it doesn't FEEL like diet/health food when you got there gradually and pleasantly. It's just how you LIKE to eat, as you get more in touch with your body and its needs.

And it's NOT the starting point!!! Nor should it be.

My old "5 degrees of change" post speaks to this, I think - how tiny, sustainable changes add up over time. We're all at different places on that journey...

(Edited to fix quote.)

oolala53 · Post by **oolala53** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 10:23 pm

I think I'm going to start a thread about how you don't have to start out eating healthy. I do fear that lurkers get scared off sometimes.

Everyday Systems

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Re: hungry