How do you experience hunger?

[AeroChica]

Sounds like a strange question, I know.

I had a conversation with my sister about hunger - she's thin and athletic and I'm, well, not. I noticed that she was going for long periods of time without eating, and I asked her if she wasn't hungry. She said that she did get hungry, but that she didn't feel a burning need to do anything about it. Like when you become aware that you have to pee - you can choose to answer the call, but you could also ignore it until later if you were busy.

I don't get that - when I get hungry, I get HUNGRY! It's a driving need to eat, otherwise I start feeling nauseous, I can't concentrate, and when my blood sugar drops eventually, I'll be shaky, weak and have stomach pains. Obviously, this is the biggest sabotage to my healthy eating plans - if hunger hits, I'll gnaw on anything within reach just to make it go away.

Yes, I know the solution is to eat small meals frequently, and to keep healthy snacks around. And I'm not looking for excuses, I'm just trying to understand this physical response, and perhaps find a way to lessen the effects so I'll have an easier time moderating my diet.

So, what does hunger feel like to you? Can you ignore it, or do you have to eat right away? How does this affect your diet? Any ideas to reduce the severity of hunger pangs?

[Emevas]

I don't let myself get hungry.

[Domite]

I'm always hungry.

[codo3500]

My metabolism is incredibly fast, if i don't eat constantly I feel like im going to die, and then find myself too sick to eat, so i never let myself get to that point, and stuff my face non-stop.

[1point2]

I get hungry every 2 hours and it makes me lethargic, surly, irritable, and cloudy-minded if I let it get to 3 or 4 hours without eating. It has been thus since I was a baby.

Water helps with hunger pangs, as do stupid-small snacks (nuts, bars of whatever).

I'm 24 and have been practicing at cubicle-dwelling for three years now. When I was 20, if you got between me and a meal then there would be blood. Depending on the amount of libertarian anarchist philosophy in your diet, either I succumbed to being crushed under the totalitarian blanket of mindless consumerist worker-bee drone life, or I mellowed out.

[thorthe power]

I get hungry after beer drinking...and can't do anything to fight the revenious hunger which consumes me and can only be sated by white Castle!!

[BaronVonDingDong]

When I get hungry I feel like there's a hollow barrel inside me and then I get sad as a montage of happy times spent gobbling fat turkey legs and gorging on spoon loads of trifle plays in my head.

I'm a wuss at self-denial, which is why I've indulged in every vice and debauchery under under the sun save for gambling and buggery (basically the same in my book). I am finally getting better now that I'm entering middle age, but I experience privation very emotionally. Sometimes I want to eat pizza so much I could literally cry.

[SuperGuido]

I'm like your sister. If I don't force myself to eat, I'd simply fast without noticing it. I'm 5'8", between 5 and 10% BF, and my weight fluctuates between 140 (cutting) and 160 (cruising).

Unless you have a medical condition like low blood sugar, hypoglycemia, etc...there really is nothing FORCING you to eat except yourself. You've simply become accustomed to eating at certain intervals, and you have a psychological urge directing your actions.

The easiest way, in my opinion, to wean yourself off of this urge?

Healthy, safe fasting.

Whether cutting weight for a competition or simply taking a few days off of solid food after a particularly eventful weekend, fasting can be a great way to break the "Hunger Addiction" a lot of people find themselves enslaved to.

Of course, I wouldn't fast longer than 3 days initially, and I'd definitely check with your doctor. Also, there are a number of great books out there that outline healthy ways to fast. Otherwise, you can harm your body if you approach it incorrectly.

Some quick rules about fasting:
-Drink your body weight in ounces of water each day
-Take a good, solid multi-vitamin
-Drink plenty of pure fruit and vegetable juice at "meal times"
-Refrain from excessive exercise
-Get lots of sleep

You CAN train your "Hunger Impulse", just like you can train anything else about yourself.

It just takes work, research, and willpower.

[FriendlyFire]

SuperGuido is absolutely right. While I, as of late especially, am trying to make myself eat more, I can easily go hours without food. Even when sharp pain kicks in, it is only a mental pain and has no effect on my physical state. The human body is made to be able to go days without food with little to no ill effects. The only exceptions are hypoglycemics. It is extremely annoying to me how many people abuse the whole 'I need to eat' simply because they are glutonous. Its an insult to people who actually have the disease to fake symptoms out of your lack of self-control.

I am not pointing out anyone in this thread, I have no way of knowing if you seriously have problems with blood sugar or are a pig, but I have friends who are hypoglycemic and I know a few people who have claimed it illegtimately and been called out on it, they are assholes.

PS. Does anyone find that when really fat people eat it seems incredibly repulsive. It sickens me when someones act of chewing causes their fat to shake. It's definitly a physcological thing between eating and obesity, because normally seeing them jiggle is not nearly so disgusting.

[Goju - Joe]

Aero

I am like you

Late night hunger is my particular downfall

My answer to hunger is Celery It burns more calories to digest than it delivers.

A couple sticks of it at night

Of course I have been dieting like **** lately...