Is it psychological?

[Starlight]

When we say 'were full' on a VLCD

It always amazes me when I see people on Minis saying they couldnt finish a pack or have the correct number of packs cos theyre full. I mean really? Lets face it none of us are on VLCDs cos we eat like sparrows

A typical S&S pack is what about 136kcals (similar to a packet of crisps) made up it totals maybe a couple of tablespoonfuls of food. Realistically how can that fill us up when its such a teeny amount, when prior to a VLCD I bet we could have merrily sat and scoffed a 3 course meal Do you think the combination of ketosis and being in the right mindset makes people think theyre full?

Much as I love the packs Ive never felt they fill me up, but then I look on them more as fuel or medicine as opposed to meals.

 

[Thisisit!]

I've wondered about posts like that myself. I've no understanding of how people can feel too full to finish a pack or whatever! I'm always wanting to have more and more, not through hunger though...but just because I want it. Want the taste of it. I think food is like some sort of...booster to me...that seems to be how I think of it...somehow.

So, I reckon, in the same way it is psychological for me always battling this feeling of missing out, thinking/saying they are full is probably a psychological coping strategy for some, yep.

I love that thinking of considering the packs medicine. Might try and take that on board. Think it could be helpful if I can actually get it to sink in my head!

 

[noodles1609]

Personally, I have felt like I can't get any more in and that's definitely not a psychological thing, it's a very physical thing. I guess in a way there is a relation to ketosis and not feeling hungry, but I also have to be honest and say (and this was an embarrassing revelation to me) that I have never felt hungry my whole life, so I don't know what hungry is. I also don't know what full is, cause I've always eaten beyond that. I can give you a pretty good description of what being entirely stuffed feels like though!
The brain is incredibly powerful though, so perhaps it is "fooling" me into believing I can't eat anything else. I wouldn't have thought how powerful it was until earlier this year when I felt so physically drained and unwell that I couldn't stay awake, worried something was very wrong - I had lots of tests, everything clear, and was diagnosed with post operative depression - something that is very much in the mind but has real physical manifestations.

I started my vlcd journey with LL, a programme that includes counselling as it recognises that the reasons we need to follow the programme are often not physical. Whilst I didn't last very long with that approach (down to the group and leader not the content) I have been quite fascinated to read further and explore my own reasons for overeating - again there is nothing physically that would cause me to munch all day long on chocolates and crisps so the psychological link has to be the key. I've done, like many millions of others, every single diet under the sun, and like most of us I find myself getting heavier and heavier despite knowing how to read a food label, how to plan a days nutritious meals, how to control portion size - all of that doesn't make a jot of difference when I "need" a mars bar. I've never done a vlcd before though, and I'm keen to explore more of the psychological aspects of overeating so I can stop it, or at least understand and control it.

So, in answer to your question, for me, it is very much physical, but I also recognise the links to the psychological are very much linked in.

 

[GeMzY]

I think the reason we could gorge before was most people eat with their eyes not their appetite, a feast on the dinner table looks a lot more mouth watering than a shake in a beaker lol and probably the reason most of us are here in the first place.

Ketosis must play its part too, most days its not that I'm too full I just don't feel the urge to "want" especially the last pack of the day, so I made that pack a chocolate shake (warmed in the microwave) its more of a bedtime drink now makes it easier...

 

[Thisisit!]

It just shows how differently ketosis can affect people. I can't ever remember a time when I couldn't eat or would be too full to eat. Do you know when people say, oh, no, I couldn't possibly eat that, I've eaten? I could always eat, always! Even in Ketosis. I still want it.

I'd also be really interested in figuring out why I overeat. Food is like a bit of a mood moderator for me I think, it's a feel good thing. I want the taste of it, and I think the kind of boost I get when I eat. No idea what that's about though.

I get the thought to eat and I'm always apt to say, sod it (or words close to that!). Even when I have intentionally decided to diet, or made a decision that night even not to eat. The 'notion' comes into my head and I just want to do it, knowing full well I shouldn't, but deliberately choosing to. Again, it's this thing about not wanting to miss out/deprive myself.

 

[weasey]

I definitely felt differently in ketosis. I would often forget to have lunch and would have to work out later whether I'd had it or not because I didn't get any hunger signals. However, I always ate my 4 packs every day whether I was hungry or not. For me this lack of hunger is one of the things I found most helpful in sticking to the diet. Now that I'm at the other end I also find that when I allow myself to get too hungry I'm asking for trouble... So I space out my food, little and often, and that keeps me on the right track.

 

[Kirstie007]

For me I find I don't enjoy the food packs, the thought of having to eat something I don't like makes me feel sick so if I'm not strong enough to force myself I can quite easily skip a meal or 3 (I don't but I could!) which proves i don't need to eat loads, I'm just greedy! If I enjoy what I'm eating I don't want to stop, its nothing to do with feeling full its to do with indulging the feeling of pleasure - *lightbulb pings!!!! - now to find a way to do something about that...

 

[Thisisit!]

Indulging the feeling of pleasure. Think you've hit the nail right on the head there for me too! That's exactly it for me.
If something's going on, and I'm on a diet, I wouldn't want to miss out. It's that thinking there of missing out on something good, the feeling of pleasure.

Now, if only I get get myself to grasp that it doesn't come without consequences and being fat as a result isn't pleasurable!

 

[iwillbethinagain]

I have skipped meals (unintentionally, time has just rolled on) for the first time whilst on this diet. I so rarely feel hungry and there is little pleasure in eating at the moment that I just can't be bothered to make anything and as I'm not really feeling hungry it doesn't bother me. I still want food, but it is usually stuff I can't have.

 

[MissAmyMarie]

Doesn't your stomach shrink when you don't eat as much? The slim and save packs are similar to what people have to eat after having a gastric band/bypass because their stomachs can't handle anything else. Maybe that is why? Just a guess anyway. I have genuinely felt I can't finish the packs before and had to force them down and rarely feel hungry anymore but I think that just because I've been on around 600 cals for the past month and a half. I couldn't imagine stuffing myself the way I used to, even when I'm bored which was mainly the reason I ate in the past.