Damn Head Hunger!

Hi All!

Need to get this off my chest. I had a very satisfying dinner, and yet I'm finding myself letting the head hunger get the best of me. So far, I've had a brownie, and one of those "Fiber One" pop tart thingys. What the "H?" Why did I give in when I'm not even hungry? It is T.O.M. , but I hate to use that as an excuse for cravings sweets. I should have eaten an apple or even a fruit smoothie with some added protein but no, I just had to eat the crap! Thanks for listening! Guess I had better work out extra hard tomorrow to make up the extra calories!

Jen-

Head hunger is a ***** !!!! especially around TOM.  Im going through that right now and Im trying my darnest not to eat because weigh in day is Monday at Doc's office and I dont want to gain any of the 8 pounds I have lost already lol.

It's really hard . Out of  all I have been through  this head hunger has to be the hardest thing yet for me and I still struggle every day with it.

That is alot of the reason why I havent gotten any fills yet because I know physically Im not hungry but my head is *sigh*.

I didnt think it would be as hard as it has been though , my NUT talked to me about it but I thought oh it wont be that bad damn was I wrong lmao.!!!!

If I do give in my favorite snack has been cheese and a glass of milk lol

You are so right. I wasn't being mindful at all. I had these stupid brownies out and I thought "I'll just have one- it will be OK- my little treat for the night." WRONG! That triggered me wanting something else sweet, so I grabbed something else.  Night time is always the worst for me as it is. I usaually make a protein shake or a bowl of oatmeal or something. Well, I need to get over it and move on. NO MORE FOOD FOR ME TONIGHT! Thanks for responding! Have a great night!

Jen-

My recent fight against head hunger has been to announce - to anyone in ear shot - "I want to eat everything" The worst time for me is always right after a satisfying dinner. I can have the self-control of a saint all day long and then BOOM it is 7:05PM and I am ravenous! I also think if you had to tell someone else what you were going to eat "A bite of butter bread, a piece of chocolate, a spoon of Fluff, some peanut butter, a few leftover noodles out of the pot...well I just couldnt tell them because it's gross, lol. That helps me a lot. I also highly recommend books by Geneen Roth like "When you eat at the fridge pull up a chair."

I do the same thing. Last night I stayed up later than my hubbie (bad move) and immediately his Little Debbie cupcakes called to me. You know what? I listened to them. Them as in 2, not one. This was inspite of a tremendous day, I felt full from dinner, I had s.f popsicles in the freezer, and the evening before I stayed up very late reading and did not have ANYTHING.

We need to guard against it and have a plan to thwart it. When I am smart I prepare for the chocolate attack by slicing ripe bananas and drizzling chocolate syrup over them, then freezing them. It is wonderful and I get my chocolate fix. I don't use a lot of syrup so the sugar isn't a huge factor. Besides, I tried Hersheys sugar free chocolate syrup and it is NASTY. If I plan ahead by having something around that I can use for a little treat I do better than leaving it to chance. And, no, an apple would not work for me, it has to be something sweet. Even sf/ff pudding helps more than plain fruit (which I love. That is just me.

Good luck, Sue

Head hunger is what got me over 200 lbs over the past few years.  Its a lifelong battle to overcome.   If it wasn't for the head hunger I believe we all would be thin. haha.

Hi Jen,
There's not one person on this site that doesn't struggle with head hunger!  In my opinion, it's the biggest obsticle in getting what we all want, a healthy attitude toward food that will allow us to get to and maintain a healthy weight.

I started therapy almost a year ago specifically to deal with head hunger, (emotional eating) and I've learned a lot of new skills through Cognitive Behavior Therapy.  Here's the problem, you have to want to do the work and sometimes I just don't want to!  I CHOOSE to eat the crap foods that the morbidly obese Lisa loved so much.  In fact, I often choose to eat things I don't even like that much!

But, when I utilize some of the new skills I've learned in therapy it does work.  If I can just stop myself for about 10 minutes, identify what is really bugging me, (what I'm feeling), then I can usually make the decision to walk away and not over eat.  That's a big IF, but I've found that distraction can work.  If I find something else to do, i.e., take a walk, clean a drawer, do a puzzle, etc. I get distracted enough to forget about raiding the fridge. 

I also find that sometimes my body is really just telling me to go to bed.  Someone once told me that night time noshing is often your body telling you that you're tired .  So, if we are really listening to our bodies, sleep might be what we're missing.  Don't let the clock determine your bedtime.  If you always go to bed at 11:00, try breaking the cycle and go to bed at 10 or 10:30, etc.  It may be exactly what you need.

However, the best practice my therapist recommends is to stop for 10-15 minutes to identify the emotion you're feeling at the time you are tempted to eat.  Write it down and put it aside to be dealt with later if it will get it off your mind or what works best for me is to write about it., the feeling.  Identify what you're really feeling, and write a short paragraph about where the feeling came from and it's usuallyl enough for me to realize, "Oh, I'm not really hungry, I'm upset about what that guy said to me at work today", etc., etc.  I can then set it aside or come up with a plan to deal with the root of my desire to binge.

I was raised to not have feelings or at least to never let them show.  It's really hard for me to identify how I feel but I use a list of possible feelings to help figure it out.  For example:  Am I happy? No. Am I sad? No.  Am I angry?  Why, yes I am!  Wow!  I didn't even realize that I'm still angry about that thing that happened yesterday, etc. etc.  It takes practice, but for me, it works and I'm getting better about truly "feeling" my life rather than just pushing through it.

After all, life truly is too good to be wasted.

I hope this makes sense and helps you when you're raiding the cupboards but we all do it, so know that you are not alone, you're not a bad girl and you don't have to punish yourself for that one decision.  Remember, "Progress, not perfection".

Best~
Lisa O.

 Awesome message, Lisa!  A psychologist who specializes in bariatric surgery patients once visited our support group meeting, and he said many of the same things that you did.  I remember an acronym he gave us to help us define our feelings before giving in to head hunger:
When you're standing in front of the pantry, or have your head buried in the fridge, think HALT:
Hungry?
Angry?
Lonely?
Tired?

Tami

Yes!  That's another great one!

Lisa O.

 I have the same problem sometimes, and I think it's because we've ingrained the idea of dessert in ourselves, and even though we're not hungry after a meal, we want a little treat.  So, maybe plan for that, and have something that won't break the calorie budget.  You could have a little SF jello with a couple tablespoons of Cool Whip.  I sometimes make little parfaits in wine glasses with SF pudding, fresh fruit, LF Cool Whip, and add a sprinkle of Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal right before serving. 

Tami