A hunger quandry--sort of...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
A hunger quandry--sort of...
5
Fri, 01-16-2004 - 5:32pm
I hope you all have some helpful thoughts on this!

I started Phase I on the 6th, so far I've lost 10 pounds and I'm planning on staying on it for another week or so. I'm actually pretty comfortable here, so as long as I'm losing I'll stay with it....

What I'm finding is that while my actual hunger is decreasing (like in the book) it's like I still have this "mouth hunger" for lack of a better term. It still seems like I'm hungry and ought to eat, but if I do, I feel stuffed and I realize I wasn't hungry at all.

I drink tons of water, always have, so it isn't the hunger-as-thirst thing. Maybe it's boredom, or conditioning (it's 3:00 so it must time for a snack). But how do you tell? What do you do?

Has this happened to anyone else?

gypsy

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-21-2003
Fri, 01-16-2004 - 5:59pm
Funny, I just read your message just after I posted mine ("Coincidence... I think not!" in Chit-Chat), which partially answers your question, I think, if you want to look.

I have been on SBD for almost 3 months. I was a food addict and LOVED eating more than anything in life. When I started SBD, I found that even though I wasn't hungry, I still ate often. Then I would feel stuffed and be annoyed at myself that I ate at all. Now the opposite is true. I'll feel the need to eat out of habit or boredom, and I easily talk myself out of it because I'm not hungry. I think this is a healthy habit to have, so I am excited about it. You will eventually get past the eating out of habit/boredom thing.

Good for you for losing so much weight so fast! I have been really slow but steady and patient even though I have been strict.

Good luck!

Becca

167/160/135

Becca

On the Beach Since September 8, 2008

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Fri, 01-16-2004 - 10:30pm

Neither of you are alone in this.

Susan :)

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-10-2003
Sat, 01-17-2004 - 12:09pm
Hi gypsy,

The same thing happened to me, too. When I first started SB, I sometimes didn't know what to do with myself. I also felt a lot, a really lot, of anxiety. Eating had been my addiction for years. At my heaviest I was up to 242 pounds! (Started SB at 228 lbs.) Anyway, the interesting thing about SB is that you get full, and it becomes very difficult to overeat when you eat according to plan. It's not like being able to put away cookie after cookie, plates of pasta, etc. I know for me that those foods I can just keep on eating them.

I got over this surprisingly quickly. After two weeks of phase I, my desire for starchy and sugary things was about 98% gone. It's amazing. And once those cravings were gone, my habit of always reaching for something to eat went away almost as quickly.

You should be really proud of yourself for recognizing so quickly the different types of hunger that you have. Just keep on being aware, and if the hungries come up and you're not sure if it's real hunger, just wait a few minutes or a half hour. Distract yourself. If you're really hungry you'll start to know it. And eventually, this will get to be so second-nature that you'll be able to tell the difference between real and emotional/bored/conditioned hunger.

Good luck. Keep on doing what you're doing. You're doing great!!

Jill K.

phase II

(228,190,145)

Avatar for bobbieann58
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2003
Sat, 01-17-2004 - 3:03pm
Just an idea -- have you thought about reaching for a piece of sugarless gum when you're not sure you're hungry?

cl for:

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2004
Sat, 01-17-2004 - 4:59pm
I agree with Bobbie Ann that sugar free gum is really good when you suffer from the munchies. I keep lots and lots of different flavors of sugar free gum in my purse, and I find it to be a life saver!!!!

Sara