How often do you find yourself feeling hungry?

[matt9210]

So the big thing Slimming World promote themselves with is that you can lose weight and never feel hungry.

I'm wondering how true this is for you guys?

I've been doing this for 4 and a half months now, and I couldn't turn around and say I regularly forget to eat a meal because I'm not hungry, or something. My portion sizes definitely aren't small. For example, I used to have a 3 egg omelette with mushrooms and onions. I found that I was hungry within about 2 hours, so have changed this to 3 egg omelette, beans and fruit as a mini starter/dessert. At around 9/10, I ate 2 chicken thighs, 1 chicken drumstick, home-made chips and an apple. 3/4 hours on, I'm hungry!

I don't feel demotivated, it's just a little annoying if anything that I'm eating the Slimming World approved food, not exactly small portions, and I get hungry so soon. Sometimes I admit, it's a case of me thinking I'm hungry then when I occupy my mind with something else I realise I'm not. This happens more often than I'd like!

I'm waiting for next weeks weigh in after a disappointing half a pound loss when I've been good all week and generally get at least 1lb, usually at least a pound and a half off. I don't really want to look at reducing portion sizes further if I'm getting hungry on the portions I have now!

 

[swansong1a]

As far as I can see, you appear to be feeding your body nourishing food when it needs feeding (or when it thinks it needs feeding), and you're still losing weight nice and steadily! Looking at your stats, you've lost three stone in four and a half months which equates to an average loss of over 2lbs per week - and I think that's really rather good. Would it be very difficult for you to track your average rather than your week by week losses? Or maybe even think something like "I lost x number of lbs in January, x number in February etc? That occasional half-pound week (still better than a gain) may not matter quite so much to you then.

I suspect that like many of us, you can't really identify what "hungry" feels like. Have you tried drinking at least half a pint of water or a can of diet pop and then waiting half an hour or so before each meal, or whenever you think you need food? Sometimes thirst can be mistaken for hunger, apparently. Speaking for myself, I only know I'm actually hungry when I start to feel sick! Certainly I want food far more often than I need it, that's for sure! You may be one of those people who needs to eat little and often rather than three larger meals per day, and there's nothing wrong with that. You'd have a far bigger problem if you were feeding your "hunger" with takeaways and cake and chocolate - you probably wouldn't feel any fuller for any longer than you are doing at the moment but the scales would then be going the wrong way altogether! I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it (but then I am a Yorkshire lass originally, lol).

My other thought was are you taking measurements? You may be losing inches rather than pounds on the weeks when the stoopid scales don't play ball.

Summary from me then is... Congrats on the great loss so far, keep up the good work - you'll get there in the end!!!

 

[tamkat]

I agree, without fat,grease,oil, sugar etc..in meals you get hungry quite quickly after eating a large portion of something,well I know I did in the past anyway! I would always have a really hungry day where I would binge because no matter how much sw food I ate nothing would satisfy the hunger.Other days though can get through & keep busy & not feel so hungry so I guess overall it does balance out.3 stone in 4 and half months is really good whatever you lose in the beginning big numbers etc.. generally levels off to 1 to 2lb a week for nearly everyone & if you divide your losses into weeks you are smashing it I know half a pound off has unsettled you but you aren't the heaviest guy to start with so give yourself some credit.Reducing portion sizes isn't the answer right now just keep going & see what next week brings

 

[Princess_Stevie]

One thing I thought of when I read this was, are you drinking enough? Quite often we can mistake hunger for thirst - it's funny how our bodies can "trick" us at times.

In fact, just this morning I woke up feeling absolutely starving, which is unusual for me as I can never usually eat anything until around 10am. Instead, I had a drink and waited a while. And now I feel fine! Turns out I wasn't starving, just dehydrated. It could be something worth considering x

 

[Trixicle]

Boredom and hunger seem to be linked for me - so not true hunger! Protein usually keeps my feeling full for longer - in fact eggs usually do the trick for me.

 

[flashharry]

I have to say I rarely feel hungry on SW, it's one of my favourite things about it. I do EE all the time. I do drink lots of water so probably don't get "dehydration confusion".

That said, I tried SP for the first time yesterday and am doing it again today, and I'm definitely feeling hunger more than I do on EE. Roll on lunchtime

 

[dreamrabbit]

I don't think the idea with SW is that you're never hungry at all though - I mean, when I was eating lots of rubbish before I started, I still got hungry before meals. I don't expect to be so stuffed with SW that I forget to eat meals. I do feel free to eat very large portions though That's the great thing about the plan! You absolutely can eat if you're hungry - though as the others say, do think about drinking water etc before you munch. I do find that on a diet, I think about food more often - which makes me mentally hungry, even if I'm not actually hungry!

I remember my time on Rosemary Conley's diet - basically low fat, low calorie. I constantly felt like I could eat my own arm! And perhaps follow it up with my own leg

 

[matt9210]

Thanks everyone, glad to see I'm not alone!

swansong, thanks for the new perspective! It's something I'll think about more in the future. I admit it's a little hard to think of it that way at the moment with this being my first time having a small loss and expecting much better. I'm just so focused on waiting for weigh in this time around!

I did body measurements once I'd lost around 1 stone 11. I was disappointed with the inches lost, but it could have been unrealistic of me to expect more. I've decided I'll do more measurements and photos once I've lost another half a stone/stone.

The water thing sounds like a good idea, so will try drinking a pint or so before a meal. I usually have several large glasses a day, but sometimes it can be quite spread out. So I'll make an effort to drink more! I've tried in the past but didn't notice anything, so I'll be more "strict" with it this time.