Dealing with Hungry Days

How do you all deal with days where you are just seriously hungrier than other days?  And I mean, hungry on a physical level, as in tummy rumbling, not just wanna eat?

As a semi-"recovered" emotional eater, one of the things I work with often is tuning into my stomach hunger and understanding the difference between that and emotional or mouth hunger. 

Anyway, yesterday was one of those days where I was just crazy hungry on a physical level and just went ahead and ate a few hundred extra calories over maintenance.  Since I just really don't want to gain any weight back, I found myself fretting a bit, even though rationally I know this small handful of calories on one day isn't going to make or break me.

When I have hungry days I eat more. I figure it is my body telling me it needs more fuel.  I try to add in healthy protein rich snacks or drink more.  Sometimes drinking a lot of water helps, but other times I just need more food. I say eat more and when you are less hungry eat a bit less... that way it all evens out. :)

I think sometimes you just need more food and should eat when you are hungry.  I agree with chub2lose - eat more protein.  I have protein for all 5 meals each day.  I think it helps you to feel full.

I've recently noticed that when I eat sugar, I immediately get more intense desire to eat more.  When you are already eating light, it is definitely real hunger. I suggest possibly looking at what you are eating that might have hidden sugars that could trigger hunger. Even fruit juice will do it for me. I have been replacing fruit juice drinks with a real piece of fruit. i.e. instead of orange juice eating the orange.

The other option is becoming expert at low calorie meals that fill you up. The calorie tracker has helped me tremendously with this. I love to fill a wheat wrap with black beans and a mountain of veggies salsa and just a little bit of avocado (good fat!) to fill up. I also love those salad bars that you can load up on fresh veggies and then dump some tuna (no oil or anything added) on top. 

In the end though, it is a game of averages, so you can also try the strategy of eating a little less on another day or just compensating with a little exercise too. Even walking is supposed to make a big difference.

Hi there,

While I agree with having high protein snacks, or at least low sugar snacks (I believe in low sugar so much I only have deserts on Fridays) I also think I am an emotional eater who rationalizes every hunger pang with real hunger.

What I would suggest would be to give yourself half and hour after you start feeling "hungry". Sometimes when we're bored or tired, our brains say "eat something - i need it." But in reality, a quick walk or reading a book or doing something else may take your mind off of that. i think hunger is a little bit like a muscle - we need to train it a little bit. And I think when we train ourselves to tell ourselves we're only hungry at certain times of the day (ie breakfast lunch dinner) we can have success in eating a more balanced diet during the day.

Good luck! And i hope you're not starving!

Molly

Hmm, well I'm not starving - on maintenance I'm eating around 1900 - 2200 calories a day, depending on what my burn is on any given day.  I run 5 - 6 miles a day 6 days a week and do weightlifting 3 times a week.  Also, because sugary stuff was always one of my triggers, have pretty much cut that out except for whatever is naturally found in fruit and veggies.  I eat really clean.

I've worked hard at understanding the difference between mouth and emotional hunger vs. physical hunger.  What I've been experiencing, on some (not all) days, is much more physical hunger.  My stomach is empty and rumbling.  I think what I'm struggling with to some extent is a feeling of guilt maybe for letting myself eat a little bit more on those days?  I spent so long maintaining a calorie deficit to lose weight and I so much do not want to gain any of that weight back, that I haven't learned to trust my own hunger.

I agree with u, I make sure I eat protein in every meal, it rly fills me up, I eat 5 meals a day too

I found a couple of things help with hunger:

-- Spreading meals out | On good days, I eat every three-four hours on the dot, and divide up my calorie intake to that. I found my blood sugar stays pretty stable that way, and you're never really all that hungry.

-- Diet composition | Hollidays are horrible for this: my body's literally craving fiber, or protein, and of course all that's surrounding me is sugar and refined flour -- which doesn't fulfill your body's need and so you keep munching. If I find I'm getting hungry even with the three-hour rule, I mentally go through my list: protein, fiber, carbs, raw produce, cooked produce. All my usual eating priorities (yours might different depending on diet method). Almost always, I find I hadn't eaten enough of one of those that day.

-- Cooking | This sounds crazy, but I found gourmet ways to make my usual health fare, and really focused on improving my cooking. When I did that, emotional eating took a backseat -- just because I wasn't telling myself "now now, there you go again" but instead "how could you, that food is vile!" Food snobbery is the best emotional-eating check ever. *laughs*

Besides that, if all of the above are in place and I'm still just physically hungry, then by all means eat. As you said y'self,  it won't make or break you. Now, if it continues the next day, and the next, etc. then something's amiss in your usual eating scheme.

Hope this helps!