The FastDay Forum

Well I have been contemplating this subject for awhile. I personally find that if I eat a 'decent' meal, I am not hungry for hours. If I eat a snack when I'm hungry e.g. piece of toast then I will keep picking and feel hungry. I am one of the proponents of breakfast, what I mean by that is a decent breakfast, omelette or big bowl of gourmet porridge, not tea and toast or a bowl of cornflakes. I prefer not to eat as soon as I get up (necessity on work days) but rather an hour or so after waking...and falling into a coffee or 2. I am then not hungry for 5 or 6 hours. I will often have a snack because of greediness rather than hunger. I like to eat when I'm hungry, rather than eat at specific times, but living alone, I can do as I please. Hunger is not the reason I might over eat, rather the taste or some mental affliction like bored, happy, stressed.

I am interested to read about people eating food and then being hungry for hours. Is this from snacking or eating a meal till you are full? I have just eaten a big bowl of porridge and I'm stuffed, couldn't fit another thing in. I'm not talking fast days here, rather feed days. Tho I have discovered eating early is better for me on fast days otherwise I'm all day thinking of my hunger, hanging on till I can eat. I think there will be interesting replies. There must be others like me who aren't hungry after eating?

Funny you should post this tonight - I have been doing the "Fat Fast" this week so have eaten very little in quantity this week, although it has been about 1000 cals/day. Today I have eaten though and am feeling stuffed this evening. I find myself thinking that I don't think I will want to eat too much tomorrow.

I never eat breakfast any more and usually stick to a 16:8 window but sometimes it is much shorter, so at a weekend I may have some lunch at 1pm and dinner at 8pm, during the week it is sometimes the same or I may only eat in the evening, depending on whether or not I am hungry.

I used to be a big comfort eater but I've found that I am nothing like as bad since converting to this WOE.

Not sure if that is at all helpful but basically, I feel far more in tune with my body now than I have for years and I think I now function more like a "naturally skinny" person, who tends to adjust from day to day, if you see what I mean.

It took me to the grand old age of 64 before i realised i'm not just too greedy when i want more toast or another bowl of cereal..its just that carbs,much as i love them,generally just make me more hungry.And yet if i said to anyone,if i have cornflakes for breakfast i' m starving all day,people looked at me like i was crazy. It was only reading up on this forum that i learned about the carb monster. I now find that eggs or veggie saus for brekky is far more filling,and i stay full,tho to be honest,i enjoy the toast and cereal much more! X
Ps i love porridge but don't find it filling enough as i only like it made with water,not milk.
Pps i am someone who wd happily snack and graze all day without ever really getting full up,basically coz most of my snacks wd be carb or sugar based!

It's a good question, @GMH, and one I've been pondering too. I'm not a natural grazer - I prefer to have a decent meal and then forget about food for a while. Even on fast days I've had no problems with eating a small meal during the day then coping easily til dinner - apparently I have no "hunger monster" to awaken like many seem to experience (the hormonal emotion monster was a very different beast, and one that took a bit of time to tame!). Yes, I've had binges, mostly around emotional/reactive situations rather than hunger. I know I put the weight on because of the size and types of meals I was eating (plus my drink choices ) rather than lots of snacking etc.

I think this is what attracted me to 5:2...the conventional wisdom of 6 small meals or 3 small meals and 3 snacks each day was never really ideal for me.

Oh @peonyblue! If you have no monsta of yr own,maybe you wd like to adopt mine? I'd love to find a good home for him! x and preferably in Oz so he cant return to visit me too often!

[Debs]

I am in the 'Start eating and keep eating' boat too! Some days I am fine, other days I can eat for England, I haven't worked out if there is a pattern or not though. I do know that if I do eat early then I tend to be more hungry during the day, although I also tend to find it hard to do 16:8 after a fast day too.
Like @Madcatlady, I too am doing the fat fast for a few days; it has reduced the hunger pangs, reduced my sugar cravings and also stopped me obsessing about what to eat, which fits in nicely with @Lovemyparrot post on stress and fasting which resonated with me. Plus I have pink wee so I am in fat burning mode!!
After all this time I am still figuring out what works for me, all I do know is that I can't eat what I want.

Interesting replies. @CandiceMarie I haven't eaten porridge since I was a kid, bit boring...then I found this flame raisin and Pink Lady Apple with coconut. Yum! I make it with water but chuck my favourite (sweet tasting tho low carb) Greek yoghurt in after its cooked. Bloody delicious. I actually will eat a bit more than the lid/measure so I don't get hungry. As for cornflakes or other processed cereals, I'd rather have nothing, I feel that way about commercial sliced bread, white rice, plain white pasta...all tastes like cardboard (no I haven't eaten cardboard LOL) to me. Over the years I have trained my mind and palate to dislike this food. Gourmet Goodness is my favourite food, I have just become lazy at cooking...need a chef, oh yeah had one of those...I did the cooking

[Debs]

Mmmm oats! I seem to be jumping between the low carb thread and this one! I find a huge bowl of soaked oats with yoghurt etc., will fill me up but having realised that I have to calorie count to have any chance of success, that is an occasional treat too now.
A small bowl doesn't cut it though.
I've just had a coffee with cream in but I am peckish now. Must get distracted by work!

I am a breakfast eater, except on Fast days. I like a big bowl of home made muesli. This sets me up for hours. I can happily skip lunch. I sometimes have eggs for breakfast but I find they don't stick to my ribs like muesli and I will need to eat something else during the day. I find the 5:2 way of life has been really good for teaching me to recognise hunger and to eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm no longer hungry . I wonder if years of dieting - not something I've done, but which I know others on the forum have, often leaves a legacy of not ever feeling satiated. Always the fear of deprivation is in your head?

[Tracieknits]

I have learned that snacking is simply me being greedy. When I eat a proper meal, I'm generally not actually hungry until the next mealtime - barring something unusual, like a lot of exercise.

Sometimes it's easy to eat properly, until satisfied but not stuffed. And then sometimes, I can't seem to stop when I should. I am trying to keep an eye on that right now.

My worst time for actually being hungry after a meal is dinner. I'm usually hungry again right before bed. So I try to make it something healthier, like a small pot of plain yogurt with a dab of jam in it.

Lol! Thanks @CandiceMarie, but I'll just stick with my emotional-hormonal monster...My chair and whip get enough of a workout as it is! I don't need a hunger monster to keep her company...and heaven help us if they decided to breed!

On the porridge topic - it is the only cereal-type food I'll tend to eat. Always proper rolled oats, not the quick cook type, then either cooked in half water/half milk or cold Bircher muesli style softened in home made yoghurt. I always add a goodly spoonful of LSA mix, or more recently I found a Linseed, Almond, Brazil & Walnut mix - yum!- great for flavour and also adds nutrition and makes it much more "lasting" (probably ups the protein/fat balance and lowers GI value, though I've never run a proper analysis beyond the rough cals).

@Debs the one I eat is brand Be Natural, 126 cals for a lidful, makes a large bowl (I use wTer) , I add Gippsland natural yummy yummy la la yoghurt I guesstimate about another 70 to 100 cals. Not a lot for a huge bowl of porridge, not for a 500 cal day tho. @Sallyo I made and ate my version of Bircher for years, loved it, just recently found this porridge. But I am full if I eat protein, large mushroom, spinach, cheese omelette. For summer I'm thinking of turning the Be Natural porridge into muesli, can eat on train then.

[carieoates]

As long as the "snack" is within my calorie allowance I can have it. But to be honest, my hunger monster will bite my butt and make me continue eating..... So very few snacks allowed I'm afraid. A babybel cheese, a little pot of almonds or a few gherkins usually hit the spot till dinner for me.

I think I agree with a lot of what you say @GMH I think if I snack then it sets me off and I can just sit munching, when I know I don't need to.

I have come to realise that TV is a big danger for me. When I look at old TV shows from my childhood/early years, I always associate them with a particular food: For example, burgers and chips and processed peas (this is years ago) whilst watching "Game for a Laugh". Currently, Thins and a packet of crisps (whilst watching "Pointless"...I know, sad!) Anyway, I haven't watched much TV lately...and I haven't snacked!! Basically, I can't wat TV unless I'm snacking on something. It used to be cereal but I'm really working on that and have cut back hugely. I tend to have a cup of coffee now...but my mind (if the programme is boring) starts wandering and thinks "What can I eat?"

By the way. Am I missing something? What is "Fat Fast"?

Good one @GMH But I suspect very complex, as I've eaten cereals for breakfast all my life!!!! Then found this WOL and decided to skip my brekie primarily to save calories then quickly found i was waking up feeling not hungry and quickly changed my feed days to 16:8 this has worked really well for me, and although I've a house full of rubbish (OH has gained a monster)
I did manage to curtail the snacking so for me I really believe its mind over matter and my weightloss each week did provide me with the motivation to carry on doing what had worked very well in the past however earlier this year I gave up sugar in all drinks and for some reason have craved and yes eaten biscuits against not by the packet and I need to get this monster
back in his cage!!!
My carb overloaded breakfasts did make me hungry coz by lunchtime I was starving or so I thought, well I now listen to my body something new for me, so no cereals at all but have found if I feel as if I'm craving or just fancy a particular item well I now go and have that item because avoiding leads me back in the kitchen looking for something else on a sort of mini binge.
Yesterday at lunchtime I really wanted toast so yes I had it that was fine on a feed day and the biscuit monster stayed locked up.
Had a chat with OH about all this crap told him its far to tempting for me as I'm feeling "fragile" regarding craving them, we go away tomorrow and on my return I'm not going to be buying quite so much in a hope that rationing him will
help both of us.
So in short my answer is with me its not hunger its more like the sugar craving monster at large and needing to be caged up because once I start to snack I want more.