Last night I ate a feast - chicken, stuffing, rice, gravy, marshmallows, biscuits, cereal - the list goes on. And while I was feeling giddy and happy last night, I woke up this morning feeling tired and so gross.
So, I have decided to diet. I've never tried drinking two liters of water before, but that's one of my goals. So, far I've had about 400 mls, and been to the bathroom six times. I never knew water drinkers had it so hard - also wondering if this is normal?
I'm trying to eat more fruit and vegetables as snacks, but here's what's puzzling me - it's 3.44 p.m., I've had an apple and tomato, and I'm feeling hunger pangs. My stomach couldn't be empty after last night, how can it want more?
A lot of your meal last night appears to have been made of foods your body needs little to no effort to digest (simple carbs), so my guess would be that you digested and absorbed them quite quickly, leading you to be so hungry already.
ReplyHere is what I think is happening.
Eating carbohydrate increases your blood sugar. If you are insulin-sensitive, your body doesn't realize what is going on and doesn't make enough insulin to cover the sugar, so it has a more profound effect. What goes up must come down, so 1.5-2 hours later, your blood sugar comes crashing down. The sudden drop causes hunger as a hormonal response, regardless of how much food you ate in the previous XX hours.
It sounds like you need a good low carb diet to stop this response in your body.
You can check your own blood sugar after meals but I know for me a snack of an apple and a tomato would be a total nightmare because it's just carb with nothing else to mitigate it, so it's not that many calories, all sugar, and I would also be hungry again immediately. I am much, much, much better off with a glass of whole milk and a handful of nuts and berries.
ReplyMaybe not low-carb, but certainly low GI.
ReplyAnya,
Maybe low carb. True that low GI moderate carb would not necessarily have the big spike and drop, but if you eat low GI high carb whole wheat pasta, my blood sugar stays elevated for a very, very, very long time, and that is not a desirable situation either. I won't be hungry as fast as if I had eaten white pasta or a wonder bread and jelly sandwich, but it's still not so good for the metabolism to be in that high blood sugar state for so long.
ReplyMatt, you’re right about this person's hunger begin related to the hormonal consequences of the meal. Contrary to what many people think, hunger isn’t based on how full the stomach is. When the carb in a meal is enough to cause a fast and significant rise in blood sugar (aka a blood sugar spike), the average person’s body responds by producing more insulin than is needed to sweep the excess sugar out of the blood stream. This drops the blood sugar slightly to lower than it needs to go, low enough so that the feel s hungry even though they may have eaten a large meal only a couple hours prior. In the more sensitive individual they will experience even more pronounced hypoglycemic symptoms, in addition to the hunger. I have first-hand experience because this used to be me. I've been able keep it in check by eating the Zone Diet, which is based on eating to prevent blood sugar spikes , which keeps insulin levels lower and in turn provides an excellent hormonal response. With the Zone I‘ve eliminated the hypoglycemic symptoms altogether.
ReplyGlycemic load (GL), plus whether or not you eat protein and fat along with the carb, is what determines how much of a blood sugar rise will result. In determining GL both the GI and the amount of food eaten are taken into account (a simple example, eating 3 apples will increase your blood sugar more than eating one apple, even though the apples have the same GI).
If all you've eaten today is water, an apple, and a tomato, of course you're hungry.
It sounds to me like you have an all or nothing mindset about this. Either you're gorging yourself on carb heavy meals or you're depriving yourself by not eating anything.
In order to be able to lose weight healthily and sustain it, you HAVE to learn how to eat healthy food in healthy amounts. It's really that simple. You must eat more than just 2 pieces of fruit a day to be healthy. You need a good variety of complex carbs, lean protein, and healthy fats every day. Most women need around 2000 calories to maintain weight and around 1500 or so to lose. If you eat less than that, you run the risk of slowing your metabolism so much you stop losing weight and you make yourself ill.
And every once in a while, there's nothing wrong with eating chicken and potatoes and gravy and rice and biscuits and all those things - but eat them in healthy amounts, not "feasting" on them.
ReplyA satiating diet, that is one that keeps you full longer, is going to be moderate protein, moderate fat, lower carbohydrate.
Proteins and fats keep you full. Carbohydrates tend to stimulate hunger/appetite.
Oh yeah, and fiber is supposed to help too but I've always found protein to be the most satiating food type of all.
I can go on a PSMF diet with 1,000 kcal per day (I'm a six foot tall 180 lb. man) and not be hungry at all because the diet is comprised almost entirely of protein. Warning, don't do a PSMF unless you know exactly what you're doing.
ReplyThanks everyone youve all given me so much to think about. I can see I have to get a lot more informed about losing weight, all your inputs are greatly appreciated, thanks for the support! :)
ReplyAmina, good choice to turn things around! Sometimes it takes an experience like you had to get us to change and focus on healthier eating.
What you felt the next morning was a carb hangover (please refer to th info in my reply to Matt earlier in this thread). I used to be caught up in eating and feeling hungry, even sometimes feeling spacey and becoming faint feeling, though I'd been eating all day. Turns out was due to the kinds of carbohydrates I was eating. It was like a vicious circle; eat a lot, get hungry in a few hours, eat more, get hungry, and eat even more...you get the picture. I turned it all around with the Zone Diet. With the Zone, I got rid of the hunger, and I lost 100 pounds over 2 years. That was almost 15 years ago, and I've kept the weight off ever since, plus I don't have the hunger. The Zone taught me what to eat and how to eat to feel my best and stay lean strong and healthy. It's been a very freeing and satisfying experience. You can check it out at Zondiet.com
ReplyI heard that your body digests food in about 8 hours so I'm not surprised that your are having hunger pains at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And an apple and tomato are all carbs. Carbs get used up pretty fast when you aren't eating protein and fats to help aid that energy.
ReplyKara was right in saying: "Either you're gorging yourself on carb heavy meals or you're depriving yourself by not eating anything."
Your body has no way of knowing when you are going to feed it next or what you are going to eat when you do decide to eat. You're putting your body into starvation mode so it is going to hold on to fat and store it to use for energy later. Then how are you going to lose weight?!
When you learn to balance your protein, carbs, and fats for your body type, amazing things happen. My husband and I have done great on our Going FAT2Lean program. I've lost about 40 lbs and have kept it off. And I intend to keep it off.