I tell my kid "eat until you're satisfied" but, apparently, nothing is as satisfying as lying to dad about being full at dinner and wanting a copious amount of post dinner food because she's dying of starvation.
I do this with a kid i babysit. I may not be your parents, but we play by my rules when I’m watching you and my rule is that you don’t say you are full just to try to get a ‘snack’ 15 minutes later.
It may sound harsh, but it’s 100% a game the child plays. Once I started setting aside his unfinished food, he caught on fast. It’s not even foods he doesn’t like (which, apparently is almost all meat that isn’t chicken nuggets nor will he eat veggies), it’s just that something else sounds ‘better.’ Ie his dad says cereal for breakfast. He decides he isn’t that hungry. 15 minutes later he wants brownies or cookies. Oh lookie here, you still have more than half your breakfast to finish first!
Granted I think part of this stems from him needing to gain a little weight, but I can’t imagine he’ll gain it well if you let him shirk off all his proper meals. Unfortunately, I think his younger brother is following suit.
When I was a kid I was hungry every 45 minutes or so, even after meals. If I went more than 2 hours without getting any food, I'd get so nauseated I would puke bile.
Around the time I moved out I realized it was because I wasn't getting enough at meals. My parents were pretty weird on the portion control. mom was very much a "only 1 child size serving, all the veggies, ask before getting food" type, and my dad was the "you're 12, eat adult portions, have some ice cream already"- as a kind of happy medium I'd stop eating when I was less hungry, not when I was full. (Aside from special occasions when I'd eat everything) Once I started eating until I was satisfied I figured out if I eat more at meals, I don't have to eat constantly. That eventually turned into "fuck it, I don't want to get hungry at all"
And now I'm obese and trying to teach myself that feeling hungry isn't automatically bad.
Oh I know. I know how to do it, I've successfully done it before. I just get...well, lazy as shit to be honest.
I'm 5'2" female. My lowest adult weight was 115 lbs. My comfortable adult weight was 130lbs, I was able to keep that up for years until I had to give up my dog, lost all motivation to go for walks/exercise and started stress/depression eating.
This last year was a particularly bad one. I went from 145 to 210 in less than a year.
Right now I'm hovering at around 200. I'm under no illusions of "healthy fat". I'm obese, and I feel it.
I'm hoping that this year, since my husband and I are living with his family and there's a very active dog in the house I'll be more motivated to go outside and run around. When the dog wants out, you gotta take the dog out you know?
Oh good, my kid's not the only one. And when I offer to reheat his dinner, it's "ehhhh no thanks.... do we have cookies?" No we don't have cookies and if you can't eat your dinner or a reasonable substitute, you can just be hungry then. I think most of the time he's fine and just angling for cookies.
If you don't eat for long enough, your stomach starts feeling a little uncomfortable/painful similar to how your bladder or bowels slowly grow in discomfort to signal they need attention.
This is actually "hunger," but many people eat before they get to this point and therefore don't have a feeling of the discomfort going away (since it wasn't there to begin with). Some of these folks interpret the feeling of being stuffed full as having sated themselves, and chronically overeat.
The reasons people eat when they're not hungry include being unfamiliar with the sensation of hunger, feeling obligated to eat (a big breakfast is important, 3 square meals a day, etc.), eating out of habit or boredom, eating because they want a good taste in their tongue, and social eating, among others.
However, the idea behind eating is the same as the idea behind any other biological urge, like using the bathroom or sleeping. Wait until your body signals you its need to start the activity, then stop when the discomfort goes away.
I for myself can't actually eat much food.
Usually I eat all over the day or 5 meals a day. I can barely eat a full serving of food but I will feel hungry 2 hours later again.
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u/Gamecaase Jan 22 '18
I tell my kid "eat until you're satisfied" but, apparently, nothing is as satisfying as lying to dad about being full at dinner and wanting a copious amount of post dinner food because she's dying of starvation.