Could satiety signals not be working?

(LeeAnn Brooks) #1

I know everyone keeps saying “don’t count calories.” But I’m not sure I’ve got this satiety thing down. I used to be a binge eater, and I think it’s thrown my ability to tell when I’m truly full off.
I am definately gaining weight back over the last week and a half. My first 4 weeks I followed a meal plan. Calories varied per day from 1200-2000+, but average was about 1600-1800.

So now that I’m on my own, I’ve been great about staying under 20g carbs and around 5%or less in my macros, but I’m over 2000 daily.

At 5’2” 136 pound female, this seems a bit high to me. I don’t think I’m overstuffing myself, but I didn’t feel deprived while doing the meal plan that was lower calories either.

Is it possible I’m still not able to read those signals yet and could be overeating?

(Allie) #2

This is a problem I know some do suffer with yes. Hopefully some of those dealing with it will have suggestions for you.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #3

I’m not sure either. I am not a huge eater. My pattern in the past was so eat small amounts throughout the day. But now I’m trying not to snack. So I actually made myself eat a huge breakfast. And so far so good. Hours later I am not even thinking about food. On the other hand, I am beginning to fear weight gain if I keep this up. But the threads say eat until you are full, and try not to snack. I usually skip dinner so maybe this will work long term. It is really nice to go hours without being hungry. We’ve changed everything so much I think it will take a while to really read the signals. Are you active? That will make a difference as well

(LeeAnn Brooks) #4

Yes, I run 3-4 times a week. And I notice the day after a run the scales go down slightly or stay the same. Days after an off day, they go up.

(Candy Lind) #5

It most definitely is possible. I struggle with it as a chronic overeater for years. I do better with TMAD or OMAD for just this reason. I have discovered that many of my “hunger” signals are actually THIRST signals. For that reason, I have started to always drink a good serving - at least 8 ounces, sometimes 12-16) of water (I always add salt, YMMV) and wait about 30 minutes before I give in to a “hunger pang”. Once I eat a good serving of whatever I fixed, I drink more if I still feel “hungry” and wait for 15 minutes or so before getting more. This is making a difference. I still log my food and watch the calorie count to make sure I don’t go off the deep end. My satiety signals ARE getting better, and I hope to one day not have to do any of this to keep from overeating.

(Justin Jordan) #6

Mine don’t.

The best I’ve got is eating until I feel like I’m going to burst.

So I just don’t rely on a non existent schedule. I mostly just decide how much I am going to eat and eat that.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #7

I don’t think I could go to OMAD yet, but TMAD would be fine.
Though others have said not to do that until you are fat adapted. I don’t believe I am yet, but getting close.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #8

Could it also be that the whole “don’t worry about calories” thing be okay for individuals who have a lot of excess weight, but maybe not be such a good idea if you are pretty close to a healthy weight already?

It doesn’t help that the food taste so darn good that who would want to leave anything behind?

(Candy Lind) #9

Early on, you should eat to satiety and whenever you get hungry again, eat a MEAL, not a snack. You can add the water regimen to help, and you might gain some weight at first, but the satiety signals must be relearned - it’s all part of being insulin resistant and needing to get to your fat stores, which you can’t do unless you eat enough. Be self-aware, give your body some time to catch up with signals during meals, and eventually you’ll become less hungry, go longer between meals, and eat less in general. That’s when you’ll know you are fat-adapted. KCKO!

(Allie) #10

I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules about what works for who. Myself I don’t worry about calories and am well below what was my goal weight - 5’ 3” and 118lbs.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #11

For the most part I’m not snacking, so that’s not a problem. I’ve only snacked once in the last 2 weeks and it was a square of 90% chocolate with a teaspoon of unsweetened peanut butter on it. I really only did it as a test to see my sugar cravings were well in check. They are btw.

I have had problems with the only eat when hungry part, but between my work schedule which has set break times and my son’s
ball schedule that keeps us so busy, I don’t always get to have meal times when Mom is hungry. So often times at least one meal of my day is done simply because that’s when I have time to sit down and eat and it may be hours before I’ll get another chance.

(Candy Lind) #12

Just be sure to have plenty of fatty snack foods with you in the bleachers, and when you get hungry, eat to satiety. If you carry an insulated food carrier, you could carry cheese sticks and fat bombs along with some nice fatty meat sticks, pepperoni, summer sausage, etc. OH, and some olives! On that kind of thing, you’ll get full pretty quickly. There’s no sin in eating “snack food” for a meal. I do it when I’m in to a good book and too lazy to get up and pull a “real meal” together.