Food noise- urge to snack/something to do

[BleachedWail]

I understand the jabs make you feel full but I can’t imagine how they can stop the urge to eat when you are not hungry. I constantly eat just out of boredom, almost just to have something to do- I’m not hungry, I just buy and eat things out of habit, for comfort, it’s not related to being hungry at all.

I’ve ordered the medication but I’m really concerned that my brain/habits will tell me to snack and eat regardless of whether or not I feel full, and I might make myself ill as a result.

Can anyone help?

Well, certainly for me, the interest in snacking just completely disappeared. I too would continually graze and snack, and it just stopped. I think it’s more to do with blood sugar than we realise, and the Mounjaro levelled all that out for me.

Not on it anymore but it killed my cravings too. You just lose interest in food. It was actually really inconvenient as I cook for the family every evening and I lost all motivation as just wasn't hungry.

I fell off the wagon a couple of times towards the end of the weeks, but binging was just impossible. I got two bites into a piece of cheese cake, looked down at it and decided I didn't want anymore. Unbelievable for anyone who knows me. I could out-eat most of my male friends.

I think pp is right. I keto now and you get a similar but less reliable appetite suppressant effect when you give up carbs, so blood sugar levels are responsible for a lot.

You simply do not view eating as an ongoing, time filling, emotion giving activity anymore.
I can give my dc a biscuit but not eat one ( 5) myself. I eat balanced nutritious meals 3 times a day instead . Agree with others that it’s a combination of stable blood sugars, fullness and some magic snacking off switch!
I see the crisps but do not mindlessly fill my face with them like I used to ( then regret instantly) .
Im making a lovely crumble tonight for us all and will have a small bowl as it’s so tasty. I won’t need seconds.
I’ve never had this structure and control before and it’s amazing. I have a completely different relationship with food . Good luck

Thank you!

I wouldn’t be giving my 5 year old biscuits - maybe start healthy snacks early so we don’t have another generation of us!

I can't help with the science but I have only taken two jabs and notice a difference. I still think about food all the time, but it's easy enough to say no or grab some actual food as opposed to some sweet treat. I need this to disappear though in order to make significant weight loss happen.

I don’t have a 5 year old but if i did they could have a biscuit. There is nothing wrong with a biscuit.
Let’s not demonise foods in to good and bad because that isn’t helpful.
Those who overeat, overeat everything including healthy food. The problem is excess eating and WLIs help that issue and can provide balance not restriction.

@Acommonreader didn't say she had a 5 year old. She said she would previously have had one biscuit when giving one to her DC, and then in fact 5 biscuits herself as well.

"Let’s not demonise foods in to good and bad because that isn’t helpful." - this, exactly.

Thanks. Yes I now feel I can model better eating habits by enjoying one biscuit with the dc. Nobody needs 5 !

Also, op, I find I no longer favour certain foods over others. As in, just having gone through Christmas, I've not been thinking I need chocolate, it's there I'm having it, because it's chocolate. Suddenly chocolate is not more desirable than grapes or yogurt or lentils or chicken or whatever. Or favouring wine, or white bread as well as chocolate or whatever.

And yet I'm still enjoying eating the same foods.

It’s amazing and powerful

So you just don’t mindlessly shovel something in at all? It’s so unconscious I can’t imagine not still having that habit, same with not being able to go past a drive through !

I think the degree that it works can vary. Some people it's a really strong instant off switch that just kills all that interest in food. Other people, it dials it down a chunk and they are also able to ignore the urges but it take a bit of effort. Some people it's only a small effect and they still need a lot of willpower but it's doable. It can also take moving up to the higher dose levels to kick in.

I found for me that the effect was strongest in the first months, and now it's a more subtle effect. But by this point I am very used to not grazing and snacking, so it's more of a habit now.

Im the biggest binger. It's definitely much easier. Also, I feel restricted in how much I can eat physically. I just feel full. It's the same feeling you'd get eventually after eatings loads. Except I ate maybe half or a third.

I’m still in my first week but I can tell you that already the behaviours you describe (which are the exact reason I got fat) seem to be disappearing. For instance my biggest problem has always been evening grazing - while cooking dinner and again between dinner and bed. Now the thought might cross my mind but it’s not an overwhelming urge at all. I can sit and think calmly about whether I’m actually hungry, and if I am I’ll go get a few radishes or a piece of fruit and that will suffice (rather than having a pile of buttery toast or whatever comfort food I would have needed before). I’m so excited for the next few weeks!

Can I ask how you found going off the jabs? I definitely can’t afford to stay on them forever so am already thinking about what strategies I will put in place to ensure I don’t put the weight back on. Did you put any on or did you go onto keto at the point you came off to prevent that?

What? Kids are allowed a biscuit; there is nothing healthy about not allowing occasional sweet foods.

It’s the weirdest thing. I injected a few drops of liquid and suddenly had a thin person brain.

I did gain weight but only about half back as my appetite was crazy. Unfortunately I didn't get to goal weight on mj, I came off due to having a mild allergic reaction so had to stop after 4 months. Ideally I would have come off more gradually and at a lower weight.

The appetite did normalise again after a couple of months but obviously that's a lot of time to do damage.

I paired the jab with keto anyway as they are very effective together. I lost 2 stone in the 4 months so I have no regrets about taking it.

I'm back to yo-yoing but a stone lighter 😂
It was very useful to see just how much food I need to eat to lose weight and how long I can manage without food at all. I currently do intermittent fasting with the keto. I'm not weighing myself though as it makes me obsessive.

No. I swear it feels like magic, though it's in fact science 😆

I find that whereas I used to sort of picture things that I fancied eating now I might muse about them but as I consider each one none appeal enough to make me go to the kitchen and eat them.
It is a different world.
Add to that having a “full” sensation which I never had before.

It’s different for everyone but I awoke the morning after my first jab and had lost my inclination to snack. It was like magic.

My understanding is that the medication affects the hormones that compel people like us to eat.

Now I only eat when I’m physically hungry, which is a completely different sensation, and one I rarely felt before.

Was this the same with both Mounjaro and ozempic, like you say I can’t quite believe the promise of the ‘sciencey magic’ after feeling like this all my life

The lack of food craving is caused by a hormonal reaction basically. The food cravings when not hungry are caused by an inbalance in the way the body sends messages to the brain about hunger.
People who already have a well regulated system don't get them. They already produce adequate glp-1. The jabs help those of us who don't produce their own glp-1 properly.
There are other things going on with the jabs too which help weight loss but this is basically what kills the food noise. For me it was instant, within hours of taking my first 2.5mg dose. Like someone turned off a switch.

@BleachedWail l, I didn't realise how chronic and endless my food noise was until I started MJ. I thought I lacked will-power and self-discipline. I'm 18 months down the line now from when I first started and I still don't fully understand the mechanism that helps with food noise, but for me it was and is life-changing.

It went from constantly there to completely gone within hours of taking my first dose. What I did feel instead was constantly angry, as I think I'd been squashing down all sorts of emotions, particularly anger, with mindless eating.

I lost the weight and then came off. I was off for 5 months and didn't regain the weight (other than 3lb). But the food noise slowly came back and it actually made me feel like a bit of a nutcase, so I went back on. I'm doing a half a dose weekly (entirely on my own advice, so I am not suggesting that anyone else should do that) and that makes a huge difference.

Still trying to work out if hypnosis or counselling could help, or if there is some kind of physiological imbalance that the MJ addresses.

@BleachedWail I've been on Wegovy for a month now, and from the very first day I could not believe the difference...it was a revelation, like someone had flicked a switch that took my mind completely off food. I hadn't even realised I was always thinking about food until I suddenly wasn't.

I eat emotionally, and the first two weeks I was on WLI were very difficult cos of family stuff; usually I'd have had my head in the fridge every five minutes but nope, nothing. It is truly miraculous.

I keep thinking "so this is how it is for everyone else"...no wonder I've not been able to do anything about it, my brain/body with Wegovy, and without, works completely differently!

Get on with it my love, you won't regret it!