Figuring out hunger

I think it's such an important thing. I haven't mastered it yet 8 years out. It changes. I remember early out crying at 2oz of yogurt and knowing I could not eat such a large amount. I remember that moment so clearly. How could I an almost 400 pound woman not eat 2 oz of yogurt?

One of my favorite posters when I was new was Jupiter6. She made interesting meals and took pictures. She lost a ****load of weight and she was good at telling her truth. I yearned for the truth. She said "hunger is not an emergency". It gets passed down in OH because it's so important I think. How to differentiate all the different kinds of hunger is vital and hard to do.

Sometimes hunger is an emergency I discovered that about 18 months when I got slammed with reactive hypoglycemia. When you read it about it they say it's a rare complication. In my hanging around here and with friends who have had this surgery I don't think it's that rare. That hunger is an emergency and I had to change my diet to try and stop it.

What worked was eating every 3-4 hours. Figuring out what foods would trigger it.  It's not so bad anymore unless I eat some specific food or forget to eat. I learned I could eat this way and not regain weight. I could stay within a 10 pound range. That was about 3 great years.

I've learned about hunger from eating a mostly carb and toast diet. I can be "hungry" every hour and eat about 300-400 calories in one piece of toast. And a hour later I'm hungry. That's the easy way to gain weight too. I was back up to 335 when I came back to OH. 

And then the devil itself..emotional hunger. The hunger that cannot be filled by food. I have no wisdom but lots of experience. What I do know is that I just can't give up. For me I think this will be a thing I get to work on for the rest of my life. This does not please me at times. I appreciate the voices here. Things someone has said that just stuck. Something I really heard well was don't wait..next meal try again. I have "reset" food. The easiest these days is a Quest protein bar. 

I'm a couple weeks off toast and bread again. I bought a bread box or bread garage as I call it. Walking in the kitchen and not seeing that loaf of bread is a good thing for me. I need my kitchen to be a visually free of easy carbs. Just seeing things in hands reach can make me "hungry".

Deb

Great, great post Deb. Thanks.

Ah thanks Grim.

Great post.  I'm not even to goal yet, but I already know that emotional hunger is the demon I will have to fight for the rest of my life.  

This is great, thanks. I'm struggling to stop and understand the mindless eating, the strong drive to eat something when I'm not even hungry....I may in fact be. very full! I went to therapy for a while many years ago. And my therapist would say,"behavior fills a need. We do what we do because we get something from it that we need." So what am I getting from eating? I need to stew on it. 

Thank you for a great reminder. 

Thank you for sharing a part of your journey with us. I wish you the best of luck going forward!

I'm a lucky woman. 

It is a journey that never ends. I think it took me a while to figure that permanent change part.

I think wls makes you look at your triggers. For me it's not emotional but complete bordem. I'm a social bubbly person by nature. So being bored means it's time to eat. 

Oh yeah boredom can be dangerous.