One of the biggest concerns for people about to start a weight loss program and people trying to reach their goals is hunger. If we could eat healthy and correct size portions and not feel hungry, losing weight would be significantly easier. Many of us enjoy eating healthy foods, but when we are left feeling unsatisfied we go off plan. The physical hunger pangs affect us mentally – we think we need to eat as soon as we feel even a little bit hungry. Fighting these feelings can be some of the hardest moments on our weight loss journey. But often times, over eating and constant snacking are just bad habits we need to break.

When it comes to weight loss and eating healthy, feeling hungry a couple times a day is normal. This doesn’t mean feeling starving or constantly hungry – your meals and snacks should leave you feeling full for a reasonable amount of time. Meals should leave you feeling satisfied and energized for 3-5 hours and they should never be skipped. Drastically reducing your food intake and going to extremes is never good. Under eating can cause you to feel feeble and frail, can deprive your muscle of the nourishment they need and can also cause you to binge. You should never feel weak or lightheaded, but eating as soon as you feel mild hunger isn’t necessary. Feeling hungry lets you know when it’s time to refuel and it also lets you know that you are balanced.

It can be hard to understand, but mild hunger actually is a good thing because it also indicates that you aren’t over eating. Many of us have been over eaters, either eating huge meals or constantly snacking all day, or both. This is unhealthy for many reasons, and feeling hungry lets us know that we aren’t over eating anymore. Eating meals that leave us feeling stuffed will stretch out our stomachs and make it harder to eat the right portions. It makes it so every time we eat, it feels like we haven’t eaten enough because our stomachs are used to eating more. It takes some time, but soon your stomach will adjust. Your body should be able to digest and use up the food you eat, otherwise you are gaining. That’s why even eating too much of a healthy food isn’t good for weight loss. If you are constantly consuming you can’t lose.

A healthy and disciplined eating routine will keep you nourished and keep you from over or under eating. Feeding your body clean foods for fuel and staying hydrated is the best thing for your weight loss. You will feel lighter and fitter, and soon it will show on the scale. So next time hunger happens, don’t immediately feed into it. Try and control it and remember it’s one of the challenges of making a healthy change.

~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitzpatrick

Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness

8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797

469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018

Most people feel hunger many times throughout the day. Some people feel it as soon as they wake up, others rarely eat breakfast. Some people like to graze throughout the day, while other people prefer to sit down to a big meal. In France, snacking is frowned upon and lunch is the biggest meal of the day. In America, potions are typically much larger than the rest of the world. In Spain, dinner is typically eaten at around 10 P.M. All around the world, and even across the U.S., eating habits and culture shape the way we experience and deal with hunger. In general, there are two types of hunger: physical and mental. Physical hunger is considered more “real” while mental hunger is felt psychologically.

This is the time of year when warm, hearty foods can bring comfort and good feelings in the cold months. You may even associate this time of the year with certain foods, like casseroles during the holidays. You can’t imagine a November without turkey or a December without a special feast. The same can be said for more day-to-day wants and needs that food may fulfill. When you’re stressed do you reach for treats or snacks? When you’re bored do you open the pantry? When you’ve completed a difficult task do you crave your favorite food? Ask yourself – are you living to eat, or eating to live? When you live to eat, you indulge in foods that make you feel comfortable, relieve your stress or boredom, or reward an accomplishment. You eat something because of how you feel emotionally instead of the physical hunger you feel when your body needs fuel. On the other hand, when you eat to live you provide your body with nourishment that fuels and supports your health.

This weekend is the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, which means atoning for the sins of the past year by refraining from eating and drinking, among other things, for 25 hours. Though it is possible to safely fast for this amount of time physically, mentally it might prove difficult. After our body has finished digesting our last meal, our brain will send out signals of hunger. Dealing with that feeling can get you through the day, but it is the lack of water that can really affect your body. Water can’t be stored like glycogen, a resource that our body gets from food that we use for energy. We are constantly losing water every day, and that is why it is especially important to saturate yourself with water before you fast to help lighten the effects of dehydration such a headaches.