Are you struggling with being overweight even though you don’t feel very hungry?
As humans and living, breathing creatures, we are meant to feel hungry. Magazine articles and social media can make us confused about how much we are supposed to eat and when. So, we begin to live by misinformation and false expectations.
We live in a world obsessed with calories and how little we should eat because we’re afraid of gaining weight. We might push off our hunger, postponing it as if we were not meant to feel it. But when we feel hunger pangs, it is our bodies’ way of telling us we are running low on energy.
When you ignore your hunger, ghrelin is suppressed, which stresses your body out. Ignoring your hunger symptoms makes your body think you are intentionally starving it. It clings to everything it already has. This is why even if you eat a low number of calories all the time, your weight loss stalls. Too low of a calorie intake is enough to stress your body so much that your metabolism slows down, and you find yourself in a vicious cycle.
For those of us that have pushed aside our hunger cues for a long time, we may not “get hungry” anymore. You might have to rely on other cues like fatigue, lightheadedness, irritability, or sluggishness to tell you that what your body actually needs is food.
There’s no reason we should be shaming ourselves because we are hungry. We really need to work on shutting down the mentality that it’s unacceptable to be hungry. Eat to nourish your body! This is why hunger is healthy: it means your hormones are functioning how they are supposed to, and your metabolism is working!
Rather than putting all your focus on how often you’re eating, pay more attention to what you’re eating.
Of course you shouldn’t overeat, but if you are hungry, eat! Just make sure you choose healthy foods that will keep you full and energized. Contact our office today to help you create the right meal plan right for your body.
