Eating less is key to feeling better.

[SitSea]

For a while I have been only eating between 10am and 6pm. I also try and keep my calorie intake to 1,800. I am trying to slowly loose weight (need to lose 7lb) but didn’t want to do really low calorie.

The results are that I sleep better, feel better, my period pains are less (I have suffered from crippling cramps in the past). I am also slowly losing some weight when I stick to it.

I am sure this stating the obvious but it’s something I have really been dwelling on because it’s a very boring thing to accept. The truth is I am also quite hungry a lot of the time. Not starving but a manageable feeling of hunger. I have had to learn to just kind of accept that because feeling hungry is definitely worth all the other benefits.

I do break my own rules sometimes. If I am socialising or it’s a special occasion I will eat later and eat more but I try to stick to the restricted eating the rest of the time. However I try really hard not to focus on food as a treat as this makes the emotional connection. I have started to see food as just fuel.

If I mention any of this in real life I am told it’s unhealthy and you shouldn’t have to feel hungry. I think that’s just not reality and people just don’t want to accept that we are not designed to overeat at the level we do. I accept it would be different depending on lifestyle but I work in an office and am mostly sedentary so don’t need loads of calories to get through the day.

I agree in the sense that it we've forgotten it's normal to feel hungry for a bit before your next meal. It's how your body tells you it's time to eat.

You shouldn't feel hungry a lot though.

I agree with you, I've recently come to the same conclusion myself.

Eat smaller meals, don't snack between meals but if you do, make it something reasonably healthy.

It's a mindset change.

People will say it's not realistic, but it really is the only way, for me.

I agree. I’m doing the Fast800 and one comment I read on the Facebook group that I follow, was “don’t fear hunger.” It made me think how before starting the Fast800 so often I wouldn’t be hungry at mealtimes because either the previous meal was too generous or I’ve had a snack. Then of course I became overweight. Food should be flavourful and enjoyed but it is primarily fuel for your body (many may argue about that!).

I also do TRE (time restricted eating) but rarely feel hungry all the time because I eat a good balance of high protein, good fats, and low carb. Cutting carbs/sugar has made me feel so much better!

My diet is currently not under control. But I do agree - the times I have got it under control, have felt healthy and energetic, and lost weight (which I need to), are the times when I have managed to embrace hunger as a normal, natural part of life. Not to the point of starving or anything, just allowing my tummy to rumble without stuffing something in it!

I completely agree. Feeling slightly hungry is something I have had to learn to live with and not react to. Hunger is cyclical too so it might go away for an hour or so then come back. So I often will eat on a 2nd cue not the first. I’m not looking for instant gratification like I used to, I am looking for health and one side effect is that I may at times, be a bit hungry and it is normal and not scary

no one is advocating for starving yourself we are talking a rumble in your tummy or slight hunger pang between meals

I agree. Your diet sounds perfectly healthy. I’m disabled and only burn 1500 calories a day, and I had 3 1/2 stone to lose (only a stone to go!) so I have to stick to 1000 calories a day to lose half a pound a week. As long as I’m careful, and don’t eat empty calories I can keep myself reasonably satisfied by eating lots of veg and lean protein, and I never eat before early afternoon. I do have times where I feel hungry but that’s normal. We shouldn’t constantly feel full. I feel so much better since I’ve lost weight and adopted a healthier diet. Friends are horrified at 1000 calories but I’m not blessed with their fast metabolisms and can’t physically do any more than I’m doing.

It’s encouraging to see other people feel the same. Accepting hunger has really been key for me. I do admit there is probably some things I could to feel full for longer. When I have the time and inclination I batch cook things like spicy lentils which fill me up for longer. The reality is I am often time more so fall back on calorie counting.

I think this stuff matters less when you’re young but I am getting close to menopause age and any over eating just results in weight gain and feeling rough.

@SitSea literally everyone on the weight loss drug threads are absolutely fearing hunger and looking for ways to get it to go away. It only truly is manageable when you put a number of these actions together, and you learn to live with it long term. Protein, not eating until over full, eating regularly etc. I had a nice lunch today, could still eat something I’m not overly full but I will now only next eat when I have had 2 recurring hunger cues and I won’t leave it too long. I’ve had a couple of times of waking up hungry at 2am but went back to sleep and nothing bad came of it!

I think I've had this realisation in the last week!

I think, for me, there can be a very sudden tip over from being a bit hungry to suddenly being too hungry and then I overeat.

I seem to be handling it better now - famous last words - and I have come off antidepressants after being on them for years - and that sudden tip over doesn't seem to happen now.

I had a big lunch yesterday and didn't eat for seven hours after, which is a gap I'd not normally have naturally.

So I'm hoping this is progress.

Or eat until you are not hungry anymore but not full either.

I really enjoy the feeling of hunger. It's a positive, healthy thing.

I agree with you too though ima terrible snacker. I notice that I feel much better generally when I do intermittent fasting and cut down on my food.

I also feel that the benefits of regular walking is so underestimated. It doesn't even have to be 10k steps. Just 20 mins of brisk walking is enough to bring many mental and physical benefits. It reduces risks of many diseases as well as reducing (not severe) depression and anxiety.

Imagine how healthy we'd all be if theses two things were really informed on and encouraged.

It is also normal to be hungry when you drop from excessive calories to less calories and move around more but it doesn’t last forever, your body adjusts.

I wonder if it is what you are eating rather than timings?
Over the last couple of years, I've pushed up my protein and veg massively and don't have pasta, bread, potatoes etc but I do have carbs in beans/pulses (my view is that these white carbs aren't so nutritionally dense so I'm better off having stuff that is). No sugar but I do have a fruit item most days. And dry wine.

I feel better energy wise than I have for my adult life as far as I can remember and I'm sure it's diet related

I don't fast or do any form of time restricted eating because it doesn't help my goal of building as much muscle as possible but I do fully get the hunger thing. I don't understand the snacking phenomenon, I've never been a snacker and even when I was fat it was just my portion were outrageous rather than continual eating. Hunger is a perfectly normal part of life for me now.

I remember hunger pangs between meals back in the 1970s and 1980s. And people were smaller then.

Just a reminder, the reply button doesn't work - I think a few posts on here might be replies to people other than OP, but they don't show up that way.

I may be really lazy but I've also realised I need to put a session of cooking prep into my weekend so that chopped veg etc is ready on a weeknight. Boring but necessary for me, I think.

I am trying to lose weight again but not telling anyone. Advantage of having so little social life - this time there's not really anyone I need to tell!

Telling people is always a minefield. I have a lot to lose, so I feel like people would ask how I was getting on if I told them.

Let me start my saying: I'm always a little bit fat.

I've struggled with hunger, and hate the feeling of being hungry "all the time". I would say it's less "fear" for me, but it just makes me feel really miserable. And then added to normal daily stressors at home or at work, plus feeling a little bored, I get to the point where "my whole life feels miserable" (ott I know). All I do is work, clean, sleep... give me my cake 🤣🤣

But I think it's a mindset thing, it's like learning to run or do exercise and "feel pain", it's normal to feel uncomfortable, and just because a person feels uncomfortable it doesn't mean you shouldn't do something (e.g. diet, exercise).

I find it tough to be consistent long term, and when I hit a rough patch diet and exercise are the first things to go.

@RedLorryHelloLorry I get what you mean it can be uncomfortable to be hungry but it’s also really uncomfortable to be 5st overweight, so for me, it depends what I want to choose in terms of short or long term discomfort. Being hungry for a little while before my next meal, or being obese with bad knees and a bad back and verging on type 2 diabetes? I choose mild hunger sometimes

I used to choose the cake for a short term hit of dopamine and stress relief so I do know how it feels but I know now all the cakes just added up to more stress than I originally had anyway! The time and energy I have had to invest in losing all this weight really wasn’t worth all the cake, no cake is that bloody nice.

you need to find a way to reward yourself that isn’t centred around consuming food or drink. Having a stressful day can be decompressed by going on a walk, listening to something funny or your favourite songs, treating yourself to some self care, meditating, all kinds of ways. Food is a destructive tool to manage stress.

@WithIcePlease i am not the best eater but am trying to improve. I generally try to reduce sugar and definitely need to increase my protein. At the moment my focus is on calories but I want to progress to choosing the most nutritious foods. I am a bit of a lazy cook so don’t love having to do a lot of prep for meals.

You should feel very hungry before meal times. But not hungry all the time as that would be miserable and not sustainable.

My problem with intermittent fasting isn't hunger, it's that it plays havoc with my digestive system! I'm perfectly used to feeling hunger when not fasting. I'm ravenous by lunch time and by dinner time.

I totally agree!

I spent most of my 30s really overweight and have lost 5 stone now.

When I stick to what I know works, I feel really good; lots of energy, sleep well, no more heartburn etc.

On the odd day where I fall off the wagon (like today, first day of my period) I feel bloated, unhealthy, sluggish, and I know I won't sleep well because my stomach feels too full.

I have come to prefer the feeling of hunger to the feeling of being full - I think that's a sign of disordered eating tbh but it's better that than being unhealthily obese.

@WhenWereYouUnderMe can I ask how you lost your weight?

By eating a whole lot less!

Now what I do is make a big pot of soup full of veg and I eat that for lunch and tea until it's done. No breakfast, no snacks.

It's not fast or anything but tbh I don't do any exercise, and it easily maintains the weight that I'm (sort of) happy at.