I spent months learning to just not eat when not hungry. When I waited until only slight hunger pangs I would eat. I am still amazed after 18 months of trying to wait until hungry at how little high fat food fills me up. I miss being hungry....and I lose weight fairly slowly. I now weigh slightly less than my original target and can honestly say that I would not be surprised if I lose a bit more weight.
I never eat breakfast and when I do I now eat 1 c mushrooms fried in 50 g butter and wilted spinach. I used to eat 2 - 3 eggs, bacon and avocado. I simply can't fit that much food in these days. I most often eat breakfast between 12:00 noon and 3:00 pm.
I eat about 1/3 of what I used to eat at dinner (eaten at 6:30 to 7:00 pm).
This way of eating is truly life changing.

Okay, everyone's thoughts last night really threw me for a loop, but I woke up this morning with these thoughts. We are all different and all on a different journey. I have spent most of my life either not eating, because I wasn't hungry or was busy, or overeating because I was bored or stressed. I have gone long periods eating very poorly and not lost weight. Everyone says I can eat like a bird and not lose, and lots of my friends can eat like whales and not gain. I have read alot about metabolism, and more than being concerned with reaching my goal weight, I am concerned with fostering a healthy metabolism. According to Atkins, that would mean eating 1500 to 1800 cals per day for a non sedentary non petite woman (I am neither).

When I started this WOE I was eating 800-1200 cals and I didn't lose after induction, for two whole weeks. At this point I was still eating under 20 nc and hadn't re-introduced any new foods. The moment I upped my cals, the weight loss kicked in. Thus, I am concerned about falling under 1500 cals as I work out daily and am 5'7. I am more concerned about having a metabolism that works with/for me, than possibly losing faster initially on lower cals and stricter carbs but ending up with a metabolism that is going to work against me down the road when I get closer to goal, to goal, or later in menopause.

I also am very happy with my rate of loss of 1.5 lb per week as allows my skin and muscles to "match" the loss. I was size 20 when I started 2 months ago and fit into a size 12 dress without holding my breath a few days ago. My cellulite is gone and my skin is beautiful. I had lost only 8 lbs by the scale but toned so much that everyone who saw me noticed and commented.

I feel SO much change is taking place and the least of it is on the scale if you will. The other thing is about my relationship to food. For me, I have always been a starch lover. Breads, pasta, cake, cookies, chips, etc. Fruit doesn't appeal to me. So to me, actually eating berries is a healthy thing. It is a good for me food. Will 5 cherries after a 16 hour fast cause me to produce insulin? Maybe... I don't know... but the point is, that my body producing a wee bit of insulin isn't my problem. I am not eating enough of anything to store fat, I AM burning fat and building muscle, and I am not really worried about 5 nc of berries in a day.

Last thing, I really, really want to observe and learn how my body reacts to the different food groups I can eat, and would like to eat. That is why I have introduced the things I have, almonds, berries, cottage cheese, yogurt, mixed nuts. These are things that I think are good for me and would be a nice part of a balanced diet, if my body permits them. So far so good. I want to work the carb ladder SOONER than later because I feel it will be easier to guage whether they are causing me to stall early on. Later on the weight will come off slower and I might exerience long stalls not because of what I introduce, but just because of the weight I am at, and the stage in the game.

So this is my journey. It was surprising but interesting to learn about other people's journeys. I had no clue that people had to stay on such strict carb amounts and keep so many things eliminated. I understand where they are coming from. If that is what it took for me to be satisfied and successful in this journey, I would do it too and be okay with it. But I personally haven't needed to do that yet, as my weight loss has been steady so far and I have been meeting my goal of 10% loss of my total weight loss per month.

Your whole post was fantastic; this journey is about finding what works for YOU, your BODY and your lifestyle for the rest of your life. It's not a crash diet. If you don't have to limit yourself severely to get the results you want, then you absolutely shouldn't!

Only one thing I would point out:



If you read posts from other newcomers you'll see that it is extremely common for most people to have a temporary lull in scale weight loss right after induction, no matter how much they do or don't eat. The loss kicks up again in a week or so when they stay the course.

I don't say that to make you change the way you are eating, only your level of stress about getting enough calories when you don't feel hungry. Maybe you really do need a higher calorie intake (it certainly isn't hurting!) but I would not say the post-induction pause is evidence of that.

Again, great post, and great job finding what's working for you!

Thanks so much, that is good to know! And thanks for encouraging me!

There was a great back and forth conversation about this topic in Cotonpal's Journal starting at post #355. There are some of us that believe that the feelings of hunger and satiety are different for us than they are for other people. We've landed on a solution where we track/calculate what we plan to eat for a meal in advance and then stop when the food is gone. I seem to get hungrier after I start eating than I was before I took my first bite. Satiety takes a long time to kick in and I would just keep eating way too much if I waited to "feel full" before I stopped eating. I don't know if it is just a weaker signal for me or if I'm just not sensitive to it. I was feeding blood sugar swing for most of my life and I have had to discover what true hunger and satiety are really all about since going low carb. Anyway, you might want to read Jean's journal in that section. At the very least you will find that you are not alone and that others have found a way to work around their issue of a poorly functioning "off" switch.

Thank you! I will check out that thread! I also plan and track everything prior to eating and make sure my macros are all within the right range, therefore if I just "stopped" eating because I didn't feel hungry.... well... I could spend alot of time in starvation mode. The opposite is true too, the off switch, but right now with the all the discipline I am exercising (I only eat what I have pre-planned and tracked and measured) I am not as worried about the offswitch as I a about the on switch and keeping the gears turning nicely in my favor...

A long time ago I read a post by a longtime member here about how they would get more hungry when they exercised as they approached their goal weight. At the time I weighed over 300 pounds and I had started exercising daily. Working out really didn't affect my hunger one way or another. I ate more by the clock than actually feeling hungry. I found it easier to eat fewer calories in those early days, even though being larger my body actually burned more calories per day than it does now. I'd read that eating too few calories can slow down your metabolism so I made a point of eating enough and trying to hit my marks with the macros.

Things have changed since I've gotten closer to my ideal weight. I do get really hungry now, especially after a good workout. It used to be easy for me to eat less than 2000 calories a day. Now I have trouble keeping calories under 2500 per day. So what that other member said did turn out to be true for me as well.

I think it has something to do with my fat reserves. Back when I had plenty of stored energy (aka body fat) and ate low carb consistently I became fat adapted. All that stored energy was available for use and my body was just as happy to use my body fat for fuel as it was the food that I was eating. So I didn't get all that hungry. But now that I have depleted the vast majority of my fat reserves, my body wants me to eat more. I do get much more hungry these days and it is real hunger. This is only my theory as to the reasons why, but the hunger is not a theory. That part is real.

I still have an issue with the 'off' switch. Satiety takes a long time to kick in. I still have to plan what I want to eat in advance and try to restrict myself to my predefined limits. But I do find it harder to do if that limit is too low. Lack of hunger and under eating is definitely not a problem for me anymore. I have to track my food to deal with the "stop" side of the equation.

So - I wonder if that isn't what is going on with you? If so, when you get closer to your ideal weight you won't need to worry about not feeling hungry. If your body works like mine, you will know and experience true hunger.

This makes a ton of sense and resonates with me. Thanks for taking the time to share it!!

My experience has been very similar to Ken's. I get more hungry now than I did when I had a lot of weight to lose. Since I track my food I know that my calories per day have gone up by a few hundred from where they once were. Planning what I am going to eat every day doesn't work for me if I keep the calories too low. I will get hungry and want to eat more. I used to eat around 1600 calories per day and now I am up around 1800 or a little more per day and I have lost the last few pounds at this caloric level. I walk about 4-6 miles per day and this exercise does make me hungry. For me I couldn't just figure this out once and stick with it. I have had to keep adjusting along the way. It's worked and I am happy with my results.

Jean

Thanks, Jean! I am sure that my "concern" (not enough cals/starvation mode) will switch on its head soon enough where I will become concerned about reining the cals in, and that is fine, I know the challenges will shift. I appreciate you and Ken sharing alot, it has helped me process. I know that if I only ate when I was hungry right now I could go days eating 800 cals or well under no problem... I mean I could go WITHOUT eating for a long time. But I don't think my sense of hunger is a good indicator of what I need. At least not right now.... I think the planned, calculated, tracked and measured approach makes perfect sense, why my body's "voice" does not....

All good advice. I, too, am at the stage where I'm never hungry (except in the middle of the night for some reason), and could go almost all day without eating. I have to remember to eat something periodically. I often don't want to finish what I'm eating. Sometimes the thought of food is gross.

I crave that morning coffee, then that's about it.

You know what's funny? When I started LC I decided to change how I was eating..or not eating.
The first thing I did was to start eating breakfast. Before I couldn't think of eating eggs that early but that soon changed because I never weighed so much as when I didn't eat breakfast. In fact I never weighed so much as when I ate so little so I knew I had to change everything.
I actually hardly weighed during the 6 months it took to loose 30lbs and I only counted carbs, nothing else. Following Adkins DANDR to the letter gave me all the fat and protein and veggies that I needed.