Weight Loss Woes

[USAF-Larry]

Ever heard of the "Hunger/Fullness Technique" of weight loss or weight management? There is an interesting article on that very subject.

Losing weight is an admirable task. It means you want to get in better shape and to improve your health. But weight loss isn’t always easy and once you’ve lost weight, maintaining that loss can be even harder.

It is called the Hunger/Fullness Technique or simply mindful eating. Many of us eat due to “mindless” or “emotional” eating. Think of the times you’ve sat down to watch TV with food and before you know it, you’ve eaten much more than you intended. We often eat mindlessly or out of emotion due to boredom, feeling depressed, anger, stress and often times we soothe these emotions by eating – and it’s usually not with carrot and celery sticks! When we do mindless eating, we will often take in extra calories and over time, this can lead to weight gain.

You can read the full article here:  Weight Loss Woes

[GershonSurge]

Dr. Tilden wrote abot this in the early 1900's along with some other dietary guidelines I'm not familiar with.

He said to only eat three meals a day. The reason for this was bowel health. Only eat until your physical hunger pangs go away, and only eat when you are physically hungry. He said to thoroughly chew food as digestion starts in the mouth. (He wasn't extreme about this like Dr. Fletcher.)

The method works well. I've tried it and found it took a few weeks to start feeling physical hunger pangs again. During this time, I carried some peanuts and raisons with me in case I suddenly bonked.

I stopped counting calories about a month ago, and I'm using hunger pangs as a signal to eat. 

Tomorrow, I'll see if I can find the reference from an old book I have. If I do, I'll post it here.

[A_Lurker]

I don't disagree with a lot of this, but I don't eat because I'm bored, or emotional, or whatever.  Most of the time I eat when I'm hungry.  I've read articles about eating slowly to reach full feelings, etc.  Doesn't work - I just figure my hormone levels have been out of whack since I was a child (ghrelin and leptin specifically).

I don't make, or serve, family style dishes.  If I bulk cook items I portion is out.  This helps me control what I'm taking.  I definitely don't take a container and/or bowl of something to eat from.  That would just be asking for trouble.

[Annabel398]

Yeah, I'm not much of an emotional eater either, but I surely have been a mindless eater! Two things I found really helped:

1. Never eat anything out of the can/box/carton. Always put a serving into a bowl/ramekin/plate/whatever and eat from that. I can nosh down a can of olives or a bag of almonds without even thinking about it, so I serve out enough to fill one of those Pyrex ramekins (full to the top = about 3 oz) and eat that. At the very least, if you do go back to the kitchen for seconds, you'll get a little more exercise, heheh.
2. Eat only at the table (subtext: NOT on the couch watching TV!) 

[AndyDandyPandy]

Listening to your hunger is what works best and best for long term. No one can count calories forever. It's just silly. Knowing your own body is more reliable than numbers that people made up.

According to the article I am a number 2 when I eat and I eat until I'm a 7 or 8. Waiting until you are very hungry before eating makes anything taste much better and you can eat larger portions which greatly satisfies your hunger.

I don't know why I hate the 6 meal daily plan fad so much and that you must constantly have food in your stomach. And you must leave yourself half full all day. Probably because I'm not a fan of teasing myself with food just enough to get the system going but never full and satisfy.