All of the efforts in calorie restriction, weight mgmt… has one key obstacle — hunger. The sensation of hunger, while simple on the surface, is actually quite complex. From decades of self-observation I have concluded that my hunger depends on ..
— AA) it depends on the homeostatic hunger + physical fullness of stomach for one hours after a meal (or 2-3 hours after a huge meal). This fullness is 90% calorie-based. Fiber (+ expanding chia) fullness is short-term (therefore less effective) in my psychophysiological system.
So this initial period is “protected” by the physical fullness, protected from the hunger sensation. After the initial period (which is 90% of the waking hours), my stomach is physically neither full nor extremely empty [1]. Under these conditions, my psychophysiological system often sends the hunger signal or the not-really-hungry signal. The deciding factor is often external to the digestive system.
In my diet period, my stomach is seldom 30% full before the warrior meal. Fullness is a missing protection.
Sudden change in daily workout level often has a noticeable effect on this hunger.
[1] when did I feel extremely empty? Basically never in my life. Perhaps a 48-hour fast would give me that experience.
— BB) my hunger depends 90% on availability … Daily battle.
- For example, if I’m jogging, or cycling long distance, then 80% of the time I feel I can easily last a few hours without eating any solid food.
- Another powerful example is my morning experience. Whether I have last eaten at 8pm or 1am, the morning stomach sensation is usually similar. The sensation depends mostly on availability.
Availability of unexpected enticing foods in a stash is particularly hard to manage.
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I would say AA and BB are fairly orthogonal, but the factors below are not.
c) My hunger increasingly depends on stress… eg: Mentally demanding work [such as work projects or coding] lead to stress that increases the effect of AA and BB, but even when I’m physically full, without lots of enticing foods visibly present, stress can creates the hunger signal almost out of thin air. This can happens when my stomach is physically half full or full, though seldom when it’s very full.
d) prolonged_separation from a particular food usually intensifies its attraction. This hunger-factor amplifies BB.
Again, no such effect when I’m very full.
i) a rare but revealing factor is sickness.
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These factors interact. For example, in the face of mild temptations, an empty stomach would intensity the temptation.
Because of the Availability factor, my top guidelines for diet are
- avoid the sight of food at the wrong time. Get away from family at dinner time
- don’t eat when not hungry — easier said than done
- delay meals as much possible. A form of intermittent diet
- Before going to a place of temptation, try to fill the stomach. It is proven effective.
- Before going home need to eat up to 90% and pray it is effective.
- Sometimes need to eat a regular hawker meal before going home.
Fiber, protein, chia seeds, … all target hunger, but they only target the “fullness”, and missed the elephant in the room i.e. Availability.
— my late-night big supper habit .. Is it a wrong-time temptation? No I do feel hungry, even in the absence of food temptations. If no temptation, I tend to feel confident to cope with this hunger.
If not hungry but I still eat a high-calorie, heavy dinner, the next morning I can still get Really hungry ! This confirms my observation that calorie-induced (“genuine”) hunger is largely driven by timing, instead of calorie balance. Basically, the gap between the early dinner and the morning meal is too long.
The best thing to do is to refuse to eat anything if not hungry. Remove any temptation and resist.