Absolutely.  I over-analyze every time I feel hungry.  Part of it is being on so many weight loss programs over the years and they all tell you to “think about if you’re really hungry, or if you’re just bored.”  Even though I am well aware of my hunger signals, it’s like my brain tries to convince my stomach that I don’t need to eat.  A big part of it is also how my mother would make me feel guilty about food as a kid.  A couple hours after dinner, I would go into the kitchen for a snack- usually a piece of fruit.  She would see me and scream at me that I just ate.  This was also back in the day when nutritionists preached 3 square meals a day, mostly carbs, no snacking between meals.  Am I an emotional eater?  Without a doubt, but just not the way everyone else defines it!

totally! following the plan i am, i found myself skimping as much as i could during the morning/day but when late afternoon came around i usually would go totally off plan because i was so dang hungry i could eat my shoe! and even then i would still not want to eat for fear i would need all the points i could for some late night hunger i didn’t know if it would be there or not even!

Needed to read this today. Had the same problem about 4 p.m. Starving!

Yes!!!!! This makes total sense!! I used to do this when I was hungry when I thought I “shouldn’t” be! I started eating when I was hungry and I have no problems at the end of the day. When I don’t feed myself when that moment happens I usually can’t get satisfied later and overeat!

My personal aim, having struggled with my weight for most of my life, is to have a normal relationship with food. To have balance, to eat when I’m hungry and not to even think about food when I’m not. If I have a large lunch to – without really thinking about it – naturally decide to have a smaller dinner.

So, to me, having an ah-ha moment like this and to respond as you did, signals a measure of real progress towards understanding and respecting the needs of your body and learning how to accommodate them appropriately.

Oh, yes, I have. I remember once when I was attempting to start a very strict Dean Ornish-type diet and I was out running errands around lunchtime, absolutely famished. Circumstances being what they were, the most sensible thing for me to do was to pull through the next drive-through and get a grilled chicken sandwich and be done with it. But that wasn’t virtuous enough for me! I was trying to talk myself into waiting until I got back home to fix the “correct” food (more than an hour later) when the thought hit me: “Continue this train of thought, and you’re on your way to a bona fide eating disorder.”

I ate the damn grilled chicken sandwich and got over myself.

Totally with you on this one!
Over the last month I have been waiting until I get hungry before I eat. I was afraid to get hungry as I thought I would not be able to satisfy it. How crazy is that? To begin with and still now there are times when I think I shouldn’ be hungry and therefore shouldn’t eat – what if I get hungry later? 
Basically I’ve been trying to tune into my body after spending so long ignoring it. I’m trying to trust it but it is such hard work. The mind wants to take over. I find it sad that I don’t trust myself and this is something I am working on.
If we are hungry our body is telling us something. We just need to listen and make the decision that is right at the time

It makes complete and sense and yes, I have felt that way! I have also felt angry, frustrated, annoyed, and sad when I am hungry…

Anyway, what I love about this is your awareness of your hunger, your thought process, and then your response….which was to eat and then feel that you had eased your hunger and given yourself fuel your workout. That simple (or maybe not-so-simple) act is how you  build trust in your body. 
It’s spectacular for those of us who were mindless binge eaters at one time to get to this point. 

This was a MAJOR lesson for me to learn too…my therapist called it “honor thy hunger”. I spent so many years starving and binging/purging that I always felt guilty when I was truly hungry. It was one of the most difficult things for me to realize that I actually could allow myself to be hungry and then eat WHEN I was hungry…rather than wait to fulfill one of my ritual or rules.

My break times at work are 10AM (15 mins), 11:30AM (1hour), and 3PM (15 mins). For years, I only allowed myself to eat at these particular times (if at all), so the first time that I wasn’t hungry at 3PM and waited until 4:30PM (when I was hungry) was a milestone for me.

In my own situation, if I’m hungry fairly soon after eating lunch, I’ll have 1/2 the normal portion of my next planned snack, and as long as it satisfies me, I’ll save the other 1/2 for later.

This makes total sense.  I’ve been “overweight” almost my whole life, and its like all these dietary, lifestyle, fitness things have programmed us to count and calculate and “listen” to our bodies.  But at the same time, that counting and listening clashes pretty much all the time.  Like you said, you had a plan but then your own actual body was going against that plan.  Too many times I’ve sat for hours starving at my desk because it wasn’t “in my plan” for the day.  I guess I’ve had some of those ah-ha moments myself.  I don’t know about anyone else, but my body definitely doesn’t always follow my brain’s plan, so I make due with what it wants at that moment in time.  So basically, eat the larabar, it won’t make a difference in the end.

I suppose you know where I stand on this but just wanted to send you some mad props. <3

Eat, Repent, Repeat.

I have come to hate the very idea of diets.  They push us in to disordered eating every time.  I am currently working to better integrate the ideas of Dr. Michelle May.  Her website http://www.amihungry.com contains an overview of her book, Eat What You love, Love What You Eat.  The basic idea is to eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full, and eat mindfully when you do it.  The core ideas are simple, but not easy to implement.

You are falling into an unhealthy thought process.  All I can suggest is this: Keep in mind that it takes 3500 excess calories to create a pound of fat.  A larabar is 1/35th of that.  I know it isn’t rational when you feel that way, but if your body is telling you that you’re hungry, you should eat.  Otherwise you risk your health, and 100 calories is never worth risking your health over.

Yep… indeed! When I am in the throes of serious ‘dieting’ I often get quite hamstrung about what I can and can’t eat and overanalyse what I’m about to do to death. 

I also often get stuck with meals. I’ll have planned on a certain thing, but when the time comes I just don’t feel like whatever it may be. So then the internal debate starts… ‘But I’ve got the fish out!’ ‘Well, I’m just not hungry, I’d prefer scrambled eggs.’ ‘But fish will have less calories.’ Etc

I am, however, slowly getting better at identifying WHEN I am actually hungry (rather than being bored, upset, tired, happy etc) and try to eat then. At the moment I have the same snack foods all of the time (almonds) so I need to mix that up a bit!

Deb

I had a feeling like that a week ago. All the analyzing we do about food really makes food scary sometimes.

I go through this a lot.  I can’t have a meal or snack yet because it’s “too early” then I wait and then eat too much because I’m starving.  I’ve also eatten because it was “time to” when I WASN’T actually hungry. I need to learn to trust myself and my body and if I really am hungry then eat something regardless of what time it is and if I’m not hungry then not eat regardless of what time it is. 

I get it.  I used to spend so much time telling myself that I couldn’t eat this or that, and then binge later.  Since I started following a Paleo diet, those situation come up less frequently.  I eat when I’m hungry, eat whole foods and stop obsessing.  Good luck to you.

This is really big. I used to only eat every 3 hours, on the clock. It didn’t matter if I was starving before that… I’d use all sort of tactics to get myself to that next 3-hour mark and eat again. This is not the case anymore as I realized that it really should even out at the end if I actually stick to listening to hunger cues and eating then (if you automatically still eat at 5:30 even though you had a snack earlier and aren’t hungry, then of course those are extra calories but if you listen, it may not be the case… or perhaps a lighter dinner will be in order). I know exactly how exciting to make this switch must have been for you. Congrats!!