Need Some Advice

[kayeandjim00]

I am beginning an experiment of sorts with my calories. I am on a "counting calories" plan and I am really trying to identify when I'm TRULY hungry. For example I am a routine person - when 3:00 comes around every day I have a snack even if I'm not hungry. I really want to stop doing that. Today I tried to be very conscious of my choices and I noticed a few things. I wasn't hungry but finally ate breakfast at about 9:30. At lunch I wasn't really hungry but did eat at 12:00. I skipped my afternoon snack and was hungry by the time I was cooking supper but I think I can work around that. My question is if you truly only eat when you are hungry - what if you don't get hungry until 3:00 in the afternoon and didn't eat a thing all day? Do you go ahead and eat at meal times but eat smaller portions? I really want to get to a point where I truly know if I'm hungry, bored, sad, etc. Any suggestions? Is there a "right" way to do this?

 

[wtpclc]

You shouldn't force yourself to eat if you are truly not hungry. However, the less you eat, the more your metabolism goes down. It's generally recommended to eat smaller meals/snacks more often. I would say five to 6 small, healthy meals or snacks would be a pretty good place to start. If that's too much, go down, but I would not go below 3. Good luck!

 

[sharoncity]

I just want to second what wtpclc said. You could definitely screw up your metabolism by not eating enough or often enough. I did exactly that to mine and I just can't seem to get back on track. Now if I eat the slightest bit off plan, I gain weight.

I would recommend eating something light within a few hours after waking up even if your not hungry. Then at least 2 more "meals" during your day. They don't have to be anything big if your not hungry, but just a little something. If you don't give your body fuel, it automatically thinks you are starving and begins to slow down.

Good luck with your "experiment"! Let us know how it goes.

 

[kayeandjim00]

Thanks so much for the input! I really appreciate it. I never even thought of the metabolism aspect It's hard enough to lose weight without starting to cause problems there! I think the smaller, more frequent meals sounds like a really good idea and making sure I eat within a couple hours of waking up. Thank You both!

 

[disneygoof]

Maybe you're all set here, but I was thinking that "eating when you're hungry" refers not to eating only when you're hungry, rather to not eating when you're not hungry. Does that make sense?

In other words, when you're mindfully eating, you're eating three squares a day plus appropriate between meals snacks (read, keeping your metabolism balanced). When you're mindlessly eating, you're eating due to habit (food at a meeting, and snacking while watching tv come to mind) or boredom (well, meetings and tv come to mind again!).

Also, I find if I wait until I'm hungry to eat, then I binge, and if I've waited way too long, I eat junk because I can't wait to prepare something healthy. On top of that, I get grumpy, and then blame eating the junk on the mood, rather than the lack of planning.

I'm curious to see if you tried it out and how it went!

 

[pixiedust23]

Ok here comes the biologist's perspective:

You need to eat something in the morning. It will get your metabolism up and going for the day. After that make sure you eat enough during the day (even if you're not hungry). You're body knows to maintain approximately a specific weight (called your set point). If you starve yourself of food your body will try to store up food when it finally gets some, which raises your set point. This is how anorexics ruin their metabolism. For all your carb cutters/Atkin/South Beacher, the same thing applies. If you starve yourself of carbs (it a biological molecule which your body likes) when you eat them again your carbohydrate set point will be higher. Hope this makes sense

In summary: Don't ever deprive your body of food (or a specfic type of food) even if youre not hungry. Just eat smaller portions, but eat something!

I think this might be why WW requires you to consume a min amount of points daily. You won't mess with your set point/metabolism in a negative way.