Food noise. Why can some overcome it and others can’t?

[Foodnoisebattles]

There’s a lot of talk on threads, especially the weight loss injection threads, about food noise. A lot of posters will say that the drugs turn off their food noise and allow them to lose weight. That’s a very simplified version but essentially what is being said. They will say that this lack of food noise must be how slim people stay slim and they dread it returning once off the drugs.

I used to have a severe eating disorder (hence the name change) and food noise was a 24/7 battle. I ignored it. I’m recovered and have been for a long time but still get food noise a lot of the time. I ignore it if I know I don’t need to eat. It’s a challenge and I did gain weight over the Covid lockdowns and tipped into the overweight category but lost it again and am now smack bang in the middle of my healthy weight range. I still get food noise. Every day I find myself wanting to eat, especially things like chocolate, doughnuts, sweets, cake, and lots of it but I tell myself no. I will eat what is a portion of these things then say no more.

What makes some people able to ignore their food noise and others not? I hadn’t heard of the term food noise until I came on mumsnet but it’s a good description of the brain constantly telling me to eat something I shouldn’t because I’m not actually hungry. It takes a lot of self control for me personally. Why is that different for me and people like me? Is it a chemical thing? Behavioural? Do some people not have food noise at all so they don’t need to battle it? It’s worse if I’m bored. If I’m busy I’ll forget to eat. The food noise sets in if I’m not doing much.

You simply would not be able to ignore it if it was like it is for some people.

Stop acting like you simply have more willpower and that it's mind over matter. It isn't.

I have never, ever, been one of those lucky people who 'forget' to eat when busy. It used to drive me mad when somebody said that as I thought it was them being smug, but the truth is I was jealous! My brain never lets me forget 😣

It's not. I am really happy. I have a lovely life can honestly say there is nothing I would change, happy relationship lovely kids great job no financial worries.

My brain tells me to eat constantly despite me inwardly shouting at myself not to eat it's like I'm unable to stop myself at times and there is definitely a hormonal link it tracks like clockwork with certain times in my cycle.
If I lose weight after about 10lbs it becomes completely impossible to continue fighting it.

I would say this is classic eating disorder behaviour.

In obesity the body's satiety signals are dysregulalted

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/obesity-and-hormones

This link summarises some of it but to be honest saying dysregualted satiety signals is not really something that is easy to say.
Once WLI became a thing and people went from overwhelming hunger to feeling 'normal' the name " food noise" was a clear way of explaining this.

For me the noise is overwhelming, the concept of not eating a meal or just ignoring it was not something I could do. It was an absolutely overwhelming feeling that would stop me being able to do my job, I lacked focus, was incredibly irritable, was emotional and teary. I would also get physical shakes from skipping meals.

My point is the concept of dysregulated satiety is not at all new in obesity research there has just been a new name to describe it.

@Emanresuunknownat my worst when in full throes of anorexia I didn’t eat for 10 days. Nothing at all. Just low calories fluids. I lived on Diet Coke, coffee and options hot chocolate. My body was screaming at high volume for me to eat, I felt sick, light headed, was freezing cold and had a permanent headache and still I told myself no. Eating was not an option despite the extreme food noise. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone but it was very much about having control over myself and seeing how far I could push myself. I know that’s an extreme version but I use a much more watered down version of that these days if I’m trying to shift a few pounds. That’s my personal experience though and I’m not suggesting that everyone is the same.

I know it does when I write it down like that. Haven’t done it since my 20s. It was all combined with me suffering from depression and a lot of other self destructive behaviours- self harm, binge drinking, casual sex etc so it’s difficult to separate it all.

Anorexia also fucks up your satiety signals, so do bhinge eating disorders. So essentially your body makes less GLP1 along side changes in kher hormones.

So yeah what your describing is the same food noise seen in obesity.

I've been overweight most of my adult life, and was diagnosed diabetic aged 40 (my Dad was, and my grandmother) so there was a genetic link but my weight didn't help either. I coasted along for 10 years with Metformin and some small diet changes keeping things under control and then boom! my blood sugars were simply uncontrollable. So I knew something had to change - and I've lost nearly 4.5 stone now by lower carb/higher protein. I eat 3 meals a day, and stopped snacking. And I'm nearly off all medication - just take 1 Metformin a day as a kind of safety net. I eat because I feel genuine hunger, not because my body is craving something.

I think we're all so used to constant snacking/grazing; high sugar/fat/carb dense foods being presented to us as normal. I hate going into supermarkets as I can't eat 95% of what's in them. These foods are designed to make us crave more of them and that's food noise. Eat clean, that goes. And goes quickly.

I think your mentality. I'm obsessed with food, always have been.

When I'm in the right frame of mind, I'm size 10-12. When I'm not, I'm a 12-14. So a range of about 3 stone depending on where my heads at.

What I will say is that at any size, the noise doesnt go away, it just manifests differently. At size 10, I'm planning healthy meals, exercise, considering how I'm going to burn off food intake. At size 14, I'm dieting, focused on calories etc.

Same - l have a really healthy relationship with alcohol, just don't think about it really but enjoy the occasional glass of wine - just wish l could be like that with cake!

Really?

this doesn’t sound too different to how I was brought up. Yet I have food noise all the time.

interestingly my sister doesn’t. She can have drawers full sweets and chocolate and ignore it all.

the difference I think is my sister was always “thin”, whereas I was very athletic, muscly, and perceived as “big”. So my sister was pretty much allowed to eat what she wanted. Encouraged to eat in fact. Whereas I had constant “you’ve had two biscuits, no more”, you can’t really want seconds, don’t be greedy, etc etc. as a result I thought about food all the time. Always wanted more.

i still think about food all the time. Constantly. If I could take a wld I would, in a heartbeat. But I’m only just over weight so don’t qualify. So I battle on.

This is interesting. I don’t get ‘food noise’, and I don’t think I ever have. I am slim, a 6-8 in UK sizes. I come from a slim family too, so I imagine there’s a genetic element.

My diet is protein and fat dominant, and isn’t carb heavy, which is cultural influence rather than conscious decision to cut out carbs for the purpose of weight management (Ime there’s an expectation in Britain that every meal has to include a starch in order to constitute a meal). I’m not a snacker, and I don’t have a sweet tooth. I don’t consider not eating things like cake or sweets to be denying myself, as they’re not something I want that I’m stopping myself from have.

Yes, 100%. I barely think about alcohol and can go weeks without. Food is totally different.

No interest in booze. Cake is a different story…

Did you lie to the pharmacy or get the WLI from a dodgy source? A high achieving morbidly obese (when I started on Mounjaro) woman asks. Yes, we exist.

I have been obese all of my life (apart from a brief 4 month spell 3 years ago) and feel the term 'food noise' explains how I felt all my life-obsessed with food and treats.
I started taking ashwagandha tablets 3 weeks ago (they were recommended for calmness) and the food noise is gone.
It is a bizarre feeling- I became aware of an absence about a week after starting taking them but it was a bit longer before I realised that I wasn't thinking about the next hidden treat or meal.
So I shall stick with those!

Oh I know plenty of super high achieving women who are obese or overweight. I know a lot of female CEOs or one rung down from that, and probably more than half are. Those intense jobs plus kids plus loads of corporate dinners and lunches don't make it easy.

These are obviously women who are disciplined in many ways, but being overweight or a healthy weight is not necessarily a matter of willpower.

@Shubbypubby

You've pretty much described an eating disorder right there.

Absolutely.

I really don't think discipline in one area translates to discipline in others.

I am obese and very senior/high achieving in my field.

As I said up thread, I have been a very occasional gambler for decades. I have no difficulty at all restraining myself with gambling and I have a lot of discipline for my career.

I realise that people are - for whatever reason - very keen to see it this way but fat people aren't always lazy and lacking willpower in all respects

I keep seeing the term "food noise" all the time on here.

What does it actually mean?

You feel hungry all the time?
You think about food all the time?

In my case the answer to both of those questions is no.

I only think about food when I am hungry, meal planning or writing a food shopping list. Otherwise I think about what I am doing at the time.

I have been slim all of my life, but being post menopausal I really could do with losing a few pounds. I am now eating smaller portions, fewer carbs and have completely given up eating cakes, biscuits, sweets, puddings etc. Since giving up sweet stuff I just don't crave it. IMO the only way to stop craving sweet foods is to go cold turkey. I also think that using artificial sweeteners encourages the sweet cravings.

I'd describe it as the latter of the two. It's like I can't stop thinking, all day, about when I can have some chocolate or some cake because my brain is screaming about it.
Part of the reason it's being discussed a lot as a phrase at the moment is that I think for a lot of us until we started on Mounjaro we didn't realise quite how loud or how constant it was. And now that it's quietened down I don't have that desperation for sugary snacks and can understand what it's been like all along for the people who are genuinely happy to have just one biscuit. Or no biscuit.

@RampantIvy - I could tell you exactly what cheeses and how much or each are the the fridge, which biscuits are in which cupboard and how much of the chocolate is left on the high shelf behind the tins.

I know exactly what foods are where because I think about them constantly. I imagine it’s like a smoker who’s trying to cut down being hyper aware of where the emergency packet of fags is.

My father and brother only think about food when they are hungry and it’s time to eat. They never give it a passing thought. My SIL frequently skips meals accidentally because she gets distracted and doesn’t notice the time.

This never, ever happens to me.

If there’s a plate with cheese and crackers out, I am looking at it out of the corner of my eye the entire time. I’m relieved when someone eats the last cracker because at least it’s gone now.

Thank you @PinkArt and @BeaAndBen
I had no idea that some people thought about food constantly. I guess it is the same as you not knowing what it is like to not think about food all the time. It must be a physiological thing if medication can stop that feeling.

I hate feeling hungry and don't understand how people can "forget" to eat either.

As I have given up sweet foods until Easter I find it very easy to resist the temptation of eating the scones in the freezer and the chocolate in my baking cupboard - maybe because there is an end date?

This goes to show we are all different.

I was a healthy BMI until my mid 30s, when it crept it slowly and I'm now about 95kg (165cm). I get very strong food noise for very specific things, and when it happens it's almost like a drug addict looking for their fix. Beef hoola hoops is a very common one for me, and it's really upsetting if I can't get those specifically. Late last night I was really craving feta cheese. I don't eat a lot (not big into carbs) but I must eat the wrong things. I have very little interest in eating a massive salad or a handful of nuts/dried fruit, or steamed fish. I could eat massive amounts of these and although I might be physically full I will never feel satisfied until I have what I feel my body needs. I think for me there is both psychological and physiological things going on.