Some days, I'm ravenous. Usually from the day before my period starts until the day before it ends. Fortunately, I'm on approach with the menopause thing. My periods have stretched themselves out to six or seven week intervals over the last year.
Some days, I wake up ravenous, but with a good bit of protein at breakfast, I can manage the hunger levels throughout the day. And as long as I don't eat carbs just before going to bed, I won't wake up ravenous the next day.
On days when I've exercised, my body really wants the extra calories it used up. I'm not really hungry after Pilates, but by three o'clock, get out of my way!
And then today, I didn't feel like eating anything. Not until well after noon, when I went to my mother's for lunch. She manipulated me into eating at her house. She made all my carb-filled favorites. And she pouted till someone ate something. And all I ate was about 4 oz of leftover, dry turkey meatloaf. And now, 1038 calories later (I've been making healthy choices all afternoon, from my own kitchen), I'm still hungry! I just had a huge helping of braised kale and a 4 oz. lean piece of beef, and I'm dreaming of cheesy potatoes, a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with milk, even another hunk of meat and more kale. Anything!
I'm really scared to go into the kitchen. If I go back for some vegetables, I'll really, really want something else. And I'll keep visiting the kitchen until I've found the right thing.
Now I'm craving salted roasted peanuts. I shouldn't be hungry! I just ate 410 calories.
I don't know what I'm going to do. I'll keep you posted.
2 comments:
I also had an incredibly hard time with hunger early on (less so now that my weight is down to around 215 lbs. from the starting of around 380). I dealt with this by meal splitting, but also by doing what I called "hunger conditioning". That is, I essentially extended my emotional and physical capacity to endure hunger. This was not easy (not by a long shot), but eventually I have adapted to the point where I can tolerate hunger far better than before.
I found that there is a "tipping point" for the mind and body in regards to hunger. Once you extend your capacity to endure hunger mentally, your body will eventually become less insistent (fewer headaches, less anxiety, etc.). The body adapts through time and you can just set aside the sense that you have to eat more effectively through time.
I wrote about it here:
http://screamingfatgirl.blogspot.com/2010/06/hunger-conditioning.html
These days, I have far less trouble just putting up with feeling hungry when I'm in a situation where I can't eat for logistical reasons or "shouldn't" because I'd be consuming more calories than I'd prefer. It's a mental and physical muscle that I have to occasionally still "stretch" (actively resist), and that seems to keep me in a state of control.
I don't know if this will work for you as I know these things are highly personalized. I offer it merely as "food for thought." Good luck. :-)
Thank you so much for sharing your blog post on hunger conditioning. I have observed a lot of the same things in myself. I agree that getting hungry is not a bad thing. It's merely a mechanism our bodies use to let us know it's time to add fuel.
As I've gotten older, I've noticed that, for me, hunger is increasingly uncomfortable. I don't know why. I used to fast quite easily when I was younger. But a few years ago, when the type 2 diabetes showed up, fasting became out of the question. (I never fasted to lose weight, but rather, for spiritual reasons.)
So perhaps I'll concentrate more effort on smaller portions than what I usually eat and cut back even more on hidden calories that I don't really need.
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