Re: What are YOUR fullness signals?

December 18, 2011

When I ws biking across the country the summer I was 21, I calculated that I was

consuming between 5,000 and 7,000 calories/day, and it was probably similar the

summer I was a white-water river raft guide. Stopping eating? Well, that's a

hard one. Right now what's really helping is knowing that I can eat that thing

again when I am hungry again. I love bread too, and am still overeating it,

meaning that when I have it, I keep eating way past when I am no longer hungry.

But other things, not so much. Today I had gingerbread and clementines and soy

milk for lunch, and I cut myself a second piece of gingerbread, but I guess

enough time passed between deciding that I was going to have a second piece and

actually getting it, that I realized I didn't really need to eat it. So it's

wrapped up on the stove, along with a few sections of clementines and the second

glass of soy milk I poured. But bread, forget it.....

But what I discovered a couple weeks ago was that when I started eating faster,

as if I was trying to get it all done before I HAD to stop eating, because we

are, after all, supposed to stop when we are full, aren't we, that I was really

done. Someone else wrote about a " sigh " , and I am sure that everyone else has

something else. The trick is to be aware of it, and I think in order to do

that, you have to slow down. The IE book recommends taking little time-outs to

gauge where you're at, which seems like a good idea to me. Though with bread, I

don't usually WANT to stop. For me and bread, though, it's the salt that's the

problem.

Tilley

>

> Hello everybody.

> As you know, I'm currently in the peace-with-food phase, so I'm eating a lot

of foods I had previously forbidden, and I - obviously - find myself eating huge

quantities of them. It's not bingeing, because I don't eat until painfully sick,

but I do eat quantities that would scare a " normal " person.

> In the last few days I've been eating tons of bread (always loved it, but I

hadn't been eating it for years - unless its calories were counted), and today,

trying to get an objective idea about how much I was actually eating, I roughly

counted the calories of the foods I ate, late in the evening. I keep a " mixed "

diary, in which I record feelings as well as meals and hunger/satiety cues.

> The total was (about) 5-6000.

> I know it's a huge number, but my most terrible binges got as high as 15.000

calories. And in about A HOUR! These calories were actually spread in a day

(actually two big meals - breakfast and lunch - with some little snacks), so it

is quite a progress for me.

>

> I'll get to the point: I am not stuffed, painful or sick, but I am quite full.

Many times, while eating, I thought, " Maybe I should stop here " , but then there

was always something I wanted to taste, and I tasted it, and kept eating.

>

> I've made peace with food, I'm honoring my hunger and I'm experimenting with

it, seeing how long meals keep me sated and things like that, but I seem to have

problems with fullness.

> So, my question is, how do you stop eating? What are your cues? How long did

it take for you to learn them?

>

> Also, any advice about anything I've said would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Love your being there,

> .

>

December 19, 2011

, that is definitely progress! And way to go for not guilt-tripping

yourself. That's the most loving thing you can do for yourself in this journey.

I find that a few things help me when feeling my fullness:

-Start eating when I'm hungry: This doesn't always happen, but it's much easier

to feel satiety if I'm hungry when I begin eating. Since food is what I need,

food can satisfy me. However, if I'm eating emotionally or for some reason other

than hunger, it's hard tell that I'm full until I'm FULL, until it's a very

obvious and often uncomfortable sensation.

-Choosing foods that satisfy me-If I were hungry, it would take a whole lot of

bread to satisfy me, especially white bread. I find that a combination of

high-quality protein, fat, and complex carbs with something fresh (think a

turkey and avocado sandwich on whole wheat with some lettuce and tomato) tend to

satisfy me the most. If I eat straight carbs, or just fat and protein like eggs,

I don't feel satisfied.

-Eating when I feel " balanced " emotionally-I don't like to eat while having a

stressful or uncomfortable conversation, because I tend to " cork it " with food,

or withdraw from the situation. If I'm worried or stressed about something, I

tend to ignore (or miss) my fullness.

-Pay attention to how my body feels-For me, prefect satiety doesn't carry much

stomach sensation, but I feel happy, content, and " grounded " . For me, hunger

feels like floating around and often comes with brain fog and headaches. When

I'm satisfied, my mind is clear and my body feels calm.

Hope this helps!

-McKella