A Question of Hunger - What do You All Think? page 2

[Paleobird]

I get that way, even when I'm deep into ketosis, which I am quite often (though probably not right now because of the Thanksgiving holiday). I am used to going for multiple-day fasts, but eventually, I do start to get cranky, even if it takes three days.

That's interesting. When I do a long fast I generally just start feeling kind of weak about day 3 or 4 even though the tummy gave up and stopped rumbling after the first 24 hours. Day two is always the best one for me.

I thought you were talking more about the kind of cranky that CW dieters get if they don't get their 100 cal snack packs every three hours.

[Noctiluca]

For me I know I'm 'hungry' when I start getting frustrated, short tempered or whiney. I rarely actually feel hungry.

And by that I mean it's not so much that other people would even notice it but I notice that I get grumpy about not getting to do things exactly MY way and things that normally wouldn't bother me do. Once I notice, it's ok. But if I can find a meal at that point the day goes easier!

I rarely feel hungry myself. I know it though by my attitude getting short, angry, frustrated, I can't concentrate on anything... And then, suddenly, after I eat, I am a joy to be around once more.

Or so people tell me after a good meal.

These two sound like sugar burning metabolisms.

[/B]This sounds like someone who is well and truly fat adapted.

Well all I can say to that is that I am also completely ok with not eating when I get up, head out to the gym, work, a hike, a full day of physical labor, whatever and be totally fine not eating all day. So no idea where that leaves me in the 'fat adapted' or 'sugar adapted' but I think my stomach has learned that any growls will most likely be ignored anyway!

[Drumroll]

That's interesting. When I do a long fast I generally just start feeling kind of weak about day 3 or 4 even though the tummy gave up and stopped rumbling after the first 24 hours. Day two is always the best one for me.

I thought you were talking more about the kind of cranky that CW dieters get if they don't get their 100 cal snack packs every three hours.

It is EXACTLY that kind of cranky. I just take a LOOOOOOOOOONG time to get there (48-72 hours).

[JoanieL]

Interesting responses. I'm trying to teach my brain/body to know when it needs food. And I also wonder if, as a person who has had to lose weight three times in her life whether there isn't some dysfunction going on. I also wonder (lots of wondering going on) if/why overweight people need to eat much of anything (I have about 25-30 pounds left to ditch) since we have a nice "pantry" of fat already stored and ready for use.

Left to my own devices, I'm not hungry until about 6pm, and I've taught myself to begin cooking/preparing my main meal at that time so I eat by about 7pm. But smells from cooking (mine or the neighbors or the place that does outdoor barbeque on Saturdays, etc.) can trigger the grumbles even though I'm not really hungry. That might be adaptive to the species; i.e., the tribe has food, so let's eat!

I guess my goal is to eventually not only get my body healthy and slim, but to get my brain and body to recognize real needs for food. Then I wonder if I can actually do that right now because I still have this "pantry" of fat on me, but I eat anyway, and I'm not sure that's logical. Ack - it's a vicious circle.

[Damiana]

I don't know if I'm fat adapted or not, since my interpretation of primal tends to be on the lower side of fat, I eat mostly vegetables and seafood, and have taken to eating straight butter to keep my calories up. It's just that my hunger mechanism has always been nonexistent and I'm strange in that I have always felt better, clearer, more alert, when I am in a state of hunger. Satiety makes me sleepy and lethargic regardless of what I eat. I get the physical sensation if fullness after a few bites and have always forced myself to eat past my feeling of physical fullness. That and I love eating

[Kinnell]

I'm not bothered by hunger. I can tell true hunger when my stomach is growling for food. Anything else is just a craving.

I'm pretty sure stomach rumbling is just your body expecting to be fed. If I get stomach rumblings it's generally at normal meal times. A drink makes it go away and it doesn't really come back.

[ez2cy]

Have been doing just a meal a day for about a week. Trying to do a longer fast, at 36 hours now, no ill effects.

For those that get cranky when hungry, eat a Snickers! Don't you people watch t.v. ads? LOL

[ssn679doc]

In my past I tried to avoid hunger at all costs.... thats how I ended up at 280... Now I have figured out hunger won't kill you (in the short term.... long term hunger on the otherhand) but I don't fast all that often.

[Leida]

When I was doing sustained very low carb (<30 g total carbs a day), hunger was manifesting as deep fatigue slowly progressing towards lethargy and weepiness.

When I was doing high carb (>70% carb, <15% fat), the hunger was manifesting as a mental crazyiness when nothing matters but to get food, even if you have to dig in a trash can for an orange peel. I could not see discarded pieces of fruit in the trash can without an impulse to grab and devour them. For about couple hours each afternoon, I would sit at my desk holding the edge with white knuckled fingers and waiting for the pain in the stomach to subside.

In between hunger is a growing inability to focus and an empty feeling in the stomach that does not go away and turns into pangs + depression coming in.

Hunger is very emotional for me, I can't stay upbeat when I am hungry. I know people describe the feelings of being light and happy and enlightened, but that's how I feel after eating, not when hungry. I am short-tempered and exasperated and unhappy.

Of course, that means that I have not one of the Chosen Ones who had entered the sacred valley of Fat Burning but to be honest I just don't know how. I found out that ignoring my body's signals bites me in the ass in a few days or months or years.... Injuries, binges, depression, weight gain, lethargy, fobias - I saw this pop up whenever I was 'pushing' myself to ignore my body. Mind over body... just doesn't work for me. Apparently i need to pamper mine and don't take it over the limit or my mind breaks.

[healthy11]

What I have learned about listening to my body and trying to figure out when I'm truly hungry is that the first tummy rumbling or feeling of emptyness is just kind of an alert, but not really 'I need to eat now'. I don't usually eat at that first sign, but wait a little while to make sure it's really a true sign of hunger my body is giving me. If it is then about an hour later I will still be getting those feeling of rumbling and emptyness that makes me know it's hunger.

It has taken me a long time to learn how to listen to my body and even still I usually just eat on a schedule, so this is a good thread to help remind me to listen to my body. Good to hear from other's to what they feel. I think Mark did a post on hunger??

I used to get moody, light-headed, etc. if I didn't eat every few hours... no longer!! Love it!