The More Often I Ate, the Hungrier I Got?

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Elyssa
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The More Often I Ate, the Hungrier I Got?

Post by Elyssa » Mon Jun 05, 2017 10:38 pm

It seems that since starting No S, I am less hungry. Or hungry in a different way. I think I was really trained to "have snacks" (healthy ones, of course) so as not to "let myself get too hungry" that I perhaps never realized that the snacking itself was maybe making me hungrier??!

I am just wondering. I know for sure that my overeating and the binges ALWAYS took place when I could not possibly be physically hungry anymore, AFTER having meals already. At least I think that covers about 80% of the binges.

Now, with No S, I have been experiencing physical hunger, but only about 1 hour before it's time to eat and it feels rather pleasant. It is not the type of urgent physical hunger that I so often got when I would snack between meals - when I constantly felt that I had to be eating something (and something, and something) to "tide me over."

WW (and again, I am NOT knocking the program, I really learned a lot there over the course of one decade!!!) - anyway, WW always teaches you to "stay ahead of" your hunger and don't let yourself get too hungry or else you will binge. I think other approaches teach the same.

My own, subjective experience has been that the more I ate, or the more often I ate over the course of a day, the more I still wanted to eat.

By contrast, I don't know if it's the novelty or what, but I am getting this strange sensation that, by following No S, I do get hungry eventually but not too hungry - and as a new thing, I am feeling NOT AT ALL hungry shortly after meals (let's say, 1 hour after eating).

I am now wondering - was I just activating more hunger before BY EATING/SNACKING?

:roll:
Ahh... relief!

"No S" has become the life-changing answer to my agonizing questions around food...

Trust in the wisdom of structure.

Marina
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Post by Marina » Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:02 pm

Elyssa, i feel exactly the same!

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Merry
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Post by Merry » Tue Jun 06, 2017 3:03 am

Yes--sometimes I'm amazed at how little it takes to make me full and that I can experience hungry and full--and also it stuns me to realize how "stuffed" I was all the time before yet still wanted to eat--it just doesn't make sense!
Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation

oolala53
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Post by oolala53 » Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:10 pm

What you were getting was the desire to eat, which is more like fake hunger/jonesing for food, rather than what I call real hunger. It comes from a different part of the brain. Both the desire to eat and real hunger can be stimulated by all kinds of things AND they can ebb and flow when not fed. I too noticed even before No S that my strongest desire to keep eating and even binge was in the first three hours after a meal, not when I was starving. I never wanted brownie batter when I was truly hungry. If I could get beyond that first three hours, I could do quite well. That's what helped me commit to No S. But I also didn't have to wait wait wait for real hunger, which sometimes doesn't come. I could see light at the end of the 4-5 hour tunnel.

I'm not scientist but what I suspect is that when we're fed often, our bodies expect not to have to use their stores and lose some flexibility. When we don't eat, it gets better at using what's there, which is first stored sugar. We won't use it all in just a few hours, but it probably goes in waves .Then we get that more truly empty feeling instead of the antsy one. It can go back to not feeling either one sometimes if you find out when life makes longer gaps happen.

Yes, in short, you are discovering one of the joys of No S.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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Elyssa
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Location: Eastern USA

Post by Elyssa » Tue Jun 06, 2017 11:39 pm

oolala53 wrote:I never wanted brownie batter when I was truly hungry.


And what Merry said:
"Yes--sometimes I'm amazed at how little it takes to make me full and that I can experience hungry and full--and also it stuns me to realize how "stuffed" I was all the time before yet still wanted to eat--it just doesn't make sense!"

It really is mysterious. I had what I would consider a regular-sized meal this afternoon and felt almost unpleasantly full thereafter. That was my 2nd plate, after a rather late 1st plate a.k.a. breakfast.

Before starting No S, I usually wanted more and more and more & would need to force myself to stop. Where did all that food go? Oh yes, I forgot - after chowing down, all that extra food got digested and then turned into fat being stored everywhere, even in my toes (no kidding).

I am starting to question the common wisdom of "not letting yourself get hungry." My experience now is that I am able to go much longer intervals WITHOUT eating, and then, when I do sit down and eat (ah... sitting down, that is an important piece of it, I think!) - when I do sit down, the food is more enjoyable AND I am not in as much of a panic now when the meal ends. I am more at peace when it ends, rather than forcing myself to stop.

Oolala wrote: "what I suspect is that when we're fed often, our bodies expect not to have to use their stores and lose some flexibility. When we don't eat, it gets better at using what's there, which is first stored sugar."
My sense is that this is true - yet how many magazines have I read where it says "keep the fires burning, keep eating frequently to get your metabolism revved up." Maybe it's just the opposite.

Everywhere you go, you are told "your body will go into starvation mode and THAT will make you fat, so be sure to eat enough." But exactly how many of us got fat from not eating enough? And by comparison, how many of us got fat or overweight from overeating?

That is the question, right...
Ahh... relief!

"No S" has become the life-changing answer to my agonizing questions around food...

Trust in the wisdom of structure.

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:14 am

There is actually a fair amount on the web contesting that idea these days.But you don't have to spend time proving it to yourself. Just keep reminding yourself of two things: 1. Humans would never have made it if their bodies worked better eating every few hours. Conditions just didn't support it. 2. It's hard to find a healthy and slim culture that doesn't have set meals with little snacking. Rest your faith there. We here are just going back to our roots. There are many more examples of slim "success" living like that than ALL the successful multi-meal dieters out there. And modern cultures that succumb to frequent snacking are growing heavier.

The reason that the diet folks recommend not getting hungry is because our culture has also not taught us to savor our meals. In slim cultures, the members get very hungry, too, but to them, that is no reason to wolf their food. Just the opposite: go slowly, savor each bite, make it count. This has to be learned, but so does moderation in the midst of plenty. Thankfully, that's exactly what the prefrontal cortex is for. Your body has the equipment-physical and mental- to wait and thrive because of it.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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Merry
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Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:14 am

Post by Merry » Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:45 am

Elyssa wrote: yet how many magazines have I read where it says "keep the fires burning, keep eating frequently to get your metabolism revved up."
If I recall correctly, Reinhard actually addresses this in the book. I think he mentions that studies with rats do show a very slight increase in metabolism with eating small meals, but that the trade-off is so small and it's so easy to eat too much with more meals, that it's not worth it.
Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation

bd88
Posts: 70
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:11 pm

Post by bd88 » Mon Jun 19, 2017 3:19 pm

WOW!
I could've written this post myself!
I have noticed the exact same thing.
When I was snacking constantly, it took SO much willpower not to binge, and I always felt hungry even right after eating. Now, I go about 5 hours between meals and I never feel hungry or even think about food until about 30 minutes to an hour before mealtime.
Determined to break the diet mindset, confront my disordered eating, and embrace myself fully and unconditionally.

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Sat Jun 24, 2017 1:44 am

:shock: :D
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

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