Panicked hunger and stopping when full

[Guest guest]

I've been noticing something lately about being able to stop when I am full, and

I thought I would share it in case anyone has a similar reaction. Every time I

start eating, I have a panicked feeling that I am not going to be able to stop

when I am full. I know it stems from decades of dieting and leaving a meal

still hungry and unsatisfied. Now, every time I sit down to eat, I feel that

rebellious voice tell me I won't be able to stop, or if I stop I won't feel

satisfied, or that I don't want to stop until I've made myself uncomfortably

full. It's a panicked feeling that I either can't control myself or that in

controlling myself I will feel deprived.

As I eat, I remind myself that I can eat however much I want and that I will eat

until I am satisfied. I think of that voice as a scared starving child who

needs reassurance, and I talk to myself as I would a child in that situation.

Usually, mid-meal the panic comes up again a few bites before I reach my

comfortable fullness level. Then, the panic goes away and I am happy to stop

eating before I make myself uncomfortable. I realize now that the panic voice

is just me skipping ahead too many steps. In the moments when I am hungry, I

can't imagine stopping eating. But when I am no longer hungry, it isn't that

hard to stop. So, when I start eating and feel that panic, I have been telling

myself that is only the voice of my hunger, and once the hunger is gone, the

voice will be, too.

In the past, I would listen to that voice and let the fear of that panic drive

me to overeating. I was afraid to stop eating because hunger was associated

with a feeling of panic. Now that I have put the panic in context, I find I

have been much more successful at eating to a comfortable fullness and then

happily pushing away my plate feeling full and nourished but not bloated or

weighed down.

Best, Liz