Hi all, here are some of my thoughts about hunger. Hopefully it won't be too long and rambling!

I never really used to get hungry. I'd always be eating something, and even going into dinner sometimes I would already be kind of full from snacks or `testing' whatever it was I happened to be cooking. Then after dinner I would keep eating. Maybe I'd finish off the food I had cooked, or get stuck into something sweet.

I wasn't eating to satisfy hunger, I was eating because it tasted good, and it was fun, and it satisfied some inner urge. I was kind of depressed about my weight and eating made me happier. How ironic!

Part of my experience recently is that I'm becoming okay with hunger. Not terrible ravenous pains as if I was starving, which is not a good thing, but a twinge in the stomach as meal time approaches.

After a while I'm associating this feeling with weight loss. I don't feel weighed down by a stomach full of food all the time. I start on my meal (a fixed size serving and no seconds) and I really, REALLY enjoy it. The flavours seem amplified, and I don't feel overfull afterwards. I take my time eating. Less food satisfies me now, I guess my stomach is shrinking!

I also like to be a little hungry before I go to bed. Most people probably think that's crazy, and can't sleep when they're hungry, but I really hate going to bed full, and I can sleep okay. I keep in mind that going to bed with a mostly empty stomach usually means I'll be lighter on the scales in the morning. Also, I tend to be quite hungry after a run, which is every second night or so. I tend to satisfy this with a glass of water, and maybe a couple of pieces of dried apple.

Keeping hunger at bay when you're starting out is pretty important, I think. My main way of dealing with it was to drink a couple of very large glasses of water, which would usually make me too full to want to eat.

I think that the majority of eating done which causes weight gain isn't related to hunger, I know it wasn't in my situation. I've heard of diets which say you should eat a moderate amount when, and only when, you feel actually hungry. Has anyone tried this? Did it work?

I'd love to see posts on people's thoughts about this. How do you cope with hunger? How do you stop it if you need to? Your experiences and feelings about the matter.

Yes, I only eat when I'm hungry and it works great for me. I have found these cookies online, called Breakfast cookies. They are healthy for you and they taste great! The best part is they keep you full for hours afterwards for like 5 hours. Anyway, ya I only eat when hungry plus I count calories. I loss about 2lbs a week.