Now for as long as I can remeber I have eaten even when I'm not physically hungry. I have now what I refer to now as "phantom hunger". Example today I woke up around 1pm and ate 3 cups yellow rice and 2 cups of broccoli. I just now as I sit and type am having my stomach growl. But for the entire night I find myself feeling hungry but not physically. Now as I have said in previous posts I work at Pizza Hut and am tempted by "Mistake pizzas" that sit out. I think I have an enormous amount of will not to eat them. Anyways my question is "is this common" and "should I only eat when my stomach growls"?

What I have found that works for me is by eating smaller portions every 3-4 hours your body will just get use to eating at those times. Dont get me wrong it was tough in the beginning when my body was use to eating when ever I fed it. It took a few weeks of Training my body to eat on that schedule but after that its been good. Also try to get up earlier than 1pm and get some protein in some of those meals.

James, I work in a similar situation and I find it very tempting. To stay on track, I try to think of food as a number (think of the calories you will need to burn to expend the caloric intake of a pizza) I have found that once I start to think about food as a number and not some source of instant (yet short-term) gratification, it is easier to stay on plan.

yeah I know it has been easier if someone offers me something high in calories I usually flip out and go do you have any idea how much that will cost me in calories?

James, have you tried to find the reason why you are tempted to eat without feeling really hungry? There is quite a common fenomenon as "emotional eating". Are you feeling stressed? Anxious? I sometimes go for a piece of cake or a chocolate bar (or both) when I feel deprived or lonely. My way to beat this habit is to ask myself: Will that stuff make me happy? Is it worth that feeling of guilt which inevitably comes afterwards? And of the answwer is "no" - then I go and find another way to calm down. But sometimes I let myself indulge and believe me, that won't do you any harm. the most important thing is to stay in harmony with yourself - without any trace of deprivation. Food doesn't make us happy. We do

Yes there is a reason I am having a huge problem with my wife. But I have always felt that phantom hunger way before I even met her. It's most likelty an issue to be discussed on another forum. I find it extremely hard not to give in but for some reason I do. I am going to counseling for the wife issue though.

Hi James,

I feel I was totally disconnected from what it meant to be "hungry". I don't know if I know what the Phantom Hunger is, but I often ate when I was not hungry, when I was tired, and sometimes would eat barely anything for 2 days then eat 3 crappy meals in a a few hours on a long weekend. I don't feel I knew what hunger was, or being satisfied was.

What changed it for me was a timer. In the mornings I am up at 6 and I make a smoothie with protein. I have a kitchen timer and I set it for 2.5 hours. When the bell rings, I go start preparing something new so I am eating every 3 hours or less. I don't so much need to do this any more, but it sort of turned me into a machine and took choice out of it. That sounds dismal perhaps, but it wasn't really. I've lost over 75lbs, and those 5-6 meals a day on the clock are (I believe) among the big right moves I made.

I think it was also key to eat a lot of variety. In other words, if I made a salad I would put chraberries and seeds in it. Or I would eat a chicken breast with a little schoop of brown rice, broccoli and some almonds. I think when you have a little protein, a little carb, and even a little fat like nuts or oil you feel less hungry. I think some of the hunger you describe has an emotional component (I've been there) but it might also be lack of nutrients. Make your meals have a lot of little quantities of many different things. And take vitamins. Might help your body feel it is adequately nourished.

Hey James,

the only way I've found to keep the hunger at bay is to make sure to keep protein a part of every meal. Rice and Broc would make me feel hungry soon later. I work near food as well but I measure out a snack that fits in my pocket (15 almonds or 2 mozzarella sticks work well). When I get tempted by the food, I drink a large quantity of water, eat my snack and wait 30 minutes. If I still want the food, at least I won't want nearly as much of it.

I've been told the trick is to eat before you get hungry (like David said - so it every 3-4 hours). My life isn't structured like that right now but when I do exactly that, it certainly works.

Hey, James!

I'm a stress eater - this is how I gained those 50 lbs during less than a year of really, really hard work. Imagine how much _I_ must have wolfed down, being naturally skinny. Emotional eating is no uncommon problem, and the hard truth is - you'll never be able to battle it, until you take care of the emotional issues that cause the eating.

And seriously - Pizza Hut? I admire you enormously for having lost weight at all!

One thing that can really help you keep the hunger at bay is eating no less than SIX times a day. Just take your regular calorie intake and spread it out over the day. Nikki also mentioned water, and drinking a lot definitely helps, too.

It's NOT the food you want, after all, it's something to help you turn everything else off for a while. Food helps, as do alcohol, drugs, exercise, or whatever takes the edge off. Maybe you can find something to replace the emotional eating with? Or just modify it! Eating carrots isn't as bad for you as eating pizza, after all.