I feel so stupid - how little I actually need to eat

[WhatWouldHopperDo]

I am in my early 50s and have steadily been putting weight every year since I was about 30. I am just over 20 stone now.

Recently it really got to me and I had a bit of an epiphany that I can't keep just putting off doing something about it.

So I have been very mindfully eating. I am not currently calorie counting or even tracking my food but rather have just been stopping and thinking every time I thought about eating. Assessing my hunger and eating according to my hunger and what I feel like eating. I have cut out crisps as they are my Achilles heel but otherwise haven't 'banned' myself from any particular foods.

It has really surprised me how little I actually feel properly hungry. Today for example, I got up at 7.30 and I am still not hungry at 11.30. My brain is trying really hard to convince me I 'should' eat something but I just don't feel I need to.

Most days I have found 2 meals is enough maybe with either fruit or a piece of toast as a snack at some point.

I am finding it fascinating to start to break the habits I have got into, some especially bad ones over the last 2 years. It sometimes feels like such a physical compulsion to eat - I suppose it's a kind of addiction.

Not sure I'm looking for anything in particular from this thread but interested to know if other people have experienced this.

I find this with intermittent fasting - people say “ooh I’d be starving by lunch” but I’m not! I’m hungry for a nice meal but not crazy with hunger or anything. I just don’t need food as often as I was consuming it. I do eat heartily when I eat meals.

Never in my adult life have I ate breakfast - mainly because I'm a lazy sod in the morning and would rather an extra 10 mins in bed! Never hungry until lunchtime.

I don't always have an evening meal either. If I'm not particularly hungry I'll just have some soup or a sandwich- I think it's engrained in us that in the evening you have to have a big hot meal whether you want one or not.

I was forced to sit at the table as a child and eat what was on my plate, so I cut that out as soon as I left home. It was empowering to eat until I was full then leave the rest. Never been larger than a size 10 despite the afore mentioned lazy sodness lol

I think so much about the way we eat is about "treating" ourselves or as entertainment. The food companies market ever newer, tastier, faster foods and we all fall for it. If you focus instead on nutrition you will find yourself eating better.
For example is there any nutrition at all in crisps? Cake? Puddings? What good will they do your body? There are infinite meals you can make that will nourish your body that are tasty, filling and yes, cheap. Simple, sure. good for supermarkets profits, no. But they aren't in business to help you stay healthy, you have to look after yourself and see through all the ads.

It's interesting. I've never been overweight but this winter/spring, I have really struggled with feeling low and have craved carbs - pasta, risottos etc. I've added 2kg since Christmas.

Now the sun has come out, my appetite has shrunk significantly and I'm eating only when I feel hungry, and a veg first diet - so grilled meat or fish with at least three veg or a mixed salad, and that's enough.

The excess weight is coming off again.

I think a lot of people have struggled with the weather this spring.

At the weekends it’s not unusual for me to skip lunch or breakfast unless I’m doing something like gardening and know I’ll need the energy.