portion size

[finallyfull]

I wanted to check in and see if others have found the same thing I have learned about myself -- something I never knew before No S:

I used to think that if I was VERY hungry, I needed to eat a larger meal. With ten months of No S, I have discovered that, for me, no matter how hungry I am, a regular sized meal leaves me satisfied. (Not that I don't still want to eat more, just for fun, mind you. Especially if I had something good like buttered noodles!). But the truth is that I am always satisfied with one non-piled plate of regular food, and it keeps me satisfied for four to six hours.

I used to tell myself I needed a really big lunch or dinner, say, if I had to wait a long time or was super hungry. Turns out not to be true at all. Very interesting!

[Dhack]

Thanks for posting this. Until now, I was of the old the mindset, more hungry=more food. It makes sense that it wouldn't be true and that it's almost a "diet head" mind game. Just like the word "starving" is so rediculous for the average person these days. Like having few extra hours since a meal makes you "starving" and you need more food to make up for it. You may want more food but do you need it?? It is interesting.

I'll definitely pay attention from now on and feed myself the same amount and see how it goes. Thanks again for sharing this discovery!

[finallyfull]

Another related quirk I have found -- when I eat before I'm truly hungry -- I am LESS satisfied afterward.

I think it might be that the difference in feeling from "before" to "after" is much more pronounced when I start on "empty". So if I go in very hungry, I come out feeling like "hey I feel great". But if I go in peckish, I come out feeling pretty much the same.

Weird.

But I do remind myself of all of these things when I'm starting to feel hungry. I am learning to embrace the growing appetite rather than immediately killing the hunger. Hunger is my friend and partner in an enjoyable dining experience, not an enemy to be killed. When hunger is not at my table, neither is true gratitude and pleasure.

[oolala53]

It's almost as if people lose the ability to observe what is really happening. I've reported this here many times. If I get very hungry AND eat slowly, still savoring my food as I usually, I get full faster! In fact, I have to slow down even more so that I can really get the enjoyment out of the food. There's not much satisfaction in wolfing it, though the desire might be there.

[automatedeating]

finallyfull, I DEFINITELY have experienced this EXACT same phenomenon a number of times since starting NoS. It has been a real shock to me, and I am still "digesting" the concept.

Oolala, I am a wolfer-downer, left to my own devices. I know I need to work on it. I also am terrible about trying to multitask while I eat. I love reading, answering emails, chatting with a friend, while I'm eating. I guess it's just one more food "hygiene" habit to some day work on. But not yet. One habit at a time.

[oolala53]

I live alone and would feel very weird if I ate with no other activity going on all the time. However, this actually helps, as I will stop at times during the meal to pay more attention to other stuff.

Do chat with a friend. Most people in slim cultures also eat their meals with others. Conversation is a good reason to slow down. You can take small bites and chew well while you listen and have food pauses while you talk.

You can do all those other things, too, if you just give some attention to the food. Yes, researchers do find people can eat more when they do those things, but I think the bad habit part is not shifting the attention back and forth.

And occasional meals with no focus but the food can be nice, too. Then you can choose your preference.

[Dhack]

FinallyFull, I also agree with your second point about eating before true hunger leaves you unsatisfied. Reading this reminds me of how I could literally eat everything in sight all day and never feel full in the pre-no s days. I put away insane amounts of food mindlessly. Now with the three meal pattern overeating is so obvious now, bellyache time! That's probably why my s day "treats" are so unsatisfying now. I try to stick to three meals because it makes me feel best and then the desserts just make me overfull. I'm trying to manage this better by saving room for dessert but it feels counterintuitive to my habit building. Hopefully this will all get easier with time. Or desserts will never become satisying and that's probably for the best anyway!

[cdfraun]

Thank you for this post. I also have always believed that if I was REALLY hungry, I needed to eat at least double, perhaps triple?, what I would normally eat. That is a huge step to realize that even REALLY hungry is satisfied by normal meals. And it's kind of nice, isn't it? But also a little sad not to have the excuse to eat more food.

[Bssh]

I often do the 20 minute trick: I serve up a normal plate of food even if very hungry then pause after finishing and if I'm still hungry after 20 minutes (it's very very rare!) I allow myself a top up. 20 mins gives my body the chance to register genuine fullness.

[wosnes]

I often do the 20 minute trick: I serve up a normal plate of food even if very hungry then pause after finishing and if I'm still hungry after 20 minutes (it's very very rare!) I allow myself a top up. 20 mins gives my body the chance to register genuine fullness.

I've done that, too. At the end of a meal I'll still feel like I could eat another plate of food, but 20 minutes later I'm not hungry at all.

[rosie b]

This is interesting and something I'm going to try. I have just returned to Nos after 12 months of more fad diets and yo yo ing - I wanted quicker results. I'm so mad with myself as bingeing became a habit. This idea of just eating a normal sized plate of food even when really hungry never occurred to me. I will give it a go and maybe I will see more pleasing results.

[oolala53]

Welcome back! Please do yourself that favor of giving it a real go-- more than a few weeks. I hope you will look at your change in attitude towards food, especially in really savoring it, as an important part of the pleasing results to start. Be very careful about looking for weight loss as the necessary result early on. If the scale doesn't go down, bingers often look at that as failure and then binge because what's the use? If the scale does go down, it often doesn't lead to more success, but a license to slide back into binge habits. "Oh, I;m down. Maybe I can get away with this, or that."

Make the habit its own reward and reassess in six months. And believe me when I say you will have the best, most enjoyable holiday season in years if you stick with No S through it. Now is the time!

[Dhack]

Wonderful post, Oolala! Should be mandatory reading for all no-s ers!