A really common Formspring question  has lately been something along the lines of “Aren’t you always hungry? How do you deal with it?”. If you follow my food blog, you know that I’m trying to eat an average of 1200 calories per day, aiming for a weekly caloric deficit of 7000 calories/week.

In order to maintain that 1200 average, there are going to be some days where I eat more than 1200, and some days where I eat less.

On the 24th of February I estimated my calorie intake to be 955 calories (I’m using MyFitnessPal on my iphone to track what I eat, and I love it, you can add jnicholea as a friend if you’re using it too!), and although I acknowledge that this total isn’t exact because I”m not weighing and measuring, I make an effort to over-exaggerate my amounts when I’m logging to be on the safe side.

This was a bowl of vegetarian chili, glass of whole milk, balsamic cauliflower, and an orange.



After Christmas, I felt gross and bloated. I was around a lot of high-fat, processed food, and I wasn’t very good at keeping myself away from it. I came back from time in Utah with family and decided to rededicate myself to my food blog. I also worked hard to completely eliminate any mindlessly munching that would contribute to me feeling bloated/sluggish. At first, it was a little strange. My body was trying to figure out where all of the fat, sugar, and salt had gone. I focused on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and made a resolution to only eat dairy toppings (like sour cream on my chili) on T/Th/Sa/Su (a resolution which I haven’t kept, sadly).

Two months have passed, and I have a pretty good routine. I have a very strict rule for myself that I never eat unless I’m hungry. This usually means that I don’t eat for the first time until well after noon, often a percentage that takes up a large percentage of my calorie allotment for the day, because by that time I’m really, really hungry! I then eat dinner (or sometimes I don’t!) depending on whether I’m hungry or not. I’ve thrown out all the gobbledy-gook regarding revving my metabolism and the dangers of fasting in honor of the overriding principle that my input/output is absolutely the most important piece of the puzzle. To read more about Martin Berkan’s view of “starvation mode” and other theories regarding intermittent fasting, see the FAQs on my food blog.

I’ve written about previously about two books that helped change my approach to diets, Intuitive Eating and When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies, and this is my way of taking those principles and trying to what my body is telling me regarding how much fuel it needs each day. This is not a popular way to do things, as the idea that you should never, ever eat below a certain amount is very strongly ingrained in our culture, but I refuse to believe that my body is broken in regards to the ability to tell me what it needs. When I eat too little, I get shaky and I get a headache. I don’t need any scientific articles to tell me that is a bad thing, and so I work to eat more the next day to make sure the headache doesn’t happen again.

I haven’t really known how to answer the hungry question though, because I didn’t know how to explain why I’m able to get by on so little each day. That struggle ended when I hit page 78 of Food Matters (I plan on writing a nice big post about after I’m finished reading it) and Mark Bittman so clearly explained the American view of hunger, what it means to be hungry and how important it is that we prevent it. Those of the developing world will likely never experience true starvation. And in our society, we eat when we think we usually eat before we get hungry, not when we are already there. Maybe that way of doing things isn’t the best, and maybe it’s in part to blame for our obesity problems in the US. Stop worrying about being a king in the morning, prince in the afternoon, and pauper in the evening. Stop eating snacks throughout the day because you feel like you should. Learn to recognize what it means to feel hungry (and accept that feeling hungry is okay!), choose to fuel your body with good foods when you experience that hunger, and stop eating before you are uncomfortably full.

I spend a fair amount of time airing my grievances regarding my rate of weight loss (because if I want to win the Healthy Train I have to lose a certain percentage to even have a chance), but overall I’m losing weight at a really great rate, between 1.5/2.0 lbs/week. I’m eating more plants, the majority of my grains are whole, and I’m exercising 3-4 times per week. The pants I bought last month at the thrift store? They’re already too big and I’m going to have to go back and buy several new paris! I’m currently on track to reach my goals, and I’m okay with being a little bit hungry sometimes if that what it takes to get there. I keep myself busy, and other than an overwhelming urge to devour an entire chocolate cake every once in awhile, there isn’t anything about this lifestyle that has me thinking I couldn’t do this for the rest of my life, and that’s exactly the way I’d like to lose weight from now on.

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