Eating when your only hungry, versus eating when you know you need to eat?

[meljel1]

Hello and good afternoon, I hope you all are having a nice Saturday. 

 

I have a question for you all, I have noticed since starting this that when I eat, sometimes for a long period of time I am not hungry (it can be many hours or all day) or that I think I ate enough when in reality I did not get enough of protein, but I am full and don't feel I need to eat. Now to make sure I am eating enough protein I have been eating more and more frequently even if I don't feel really hungry.  I went one day almost all day (8) hours or so but only had 2 eggs and a good-sized hamburger patty, sometimes even steak and eggs, but that still is not enough of protein that I need for the whole day.  So, what is your thoughts on eating just when hungry? or eating more because you know you didn't eat enough for the day. I have heard both. Do any of you count the grams of meat protein you eat? I started and then stopped and just eating now. 

Thank you, I appreciate you input on this.

[Orweller]

I've had the same. A pound of meat is good for 6 hrs not eating. I think we need to look at our progress and the reason why. If your goal is losing weight then good, eat what your body asks for and leave it be. Do you feel weak? Are you getting too thin? Feeling tired? Eat more. We have to listen to our bodies more than we need to cinsider calories. 

Myself am in a position that I don't want to lose any more weight. Weight loss was never my goal. But I lost quite a percentage of body fat. And I don't want to look like I am doing meth. Fortunately I have muscle mass, and I don't feel weak or tired. I can tell that the weight I have lost was fat and "water". 

It really shows how nutritious meat can be. 

Long story short, I do eat only when hungry, but I do add butter, or an extra egg to meals now. 

[Geezy]

What you are experiencing is normal. Early man never ate by the clock. He ate when he was hungry and when he did he gorged himself. When I first became carnivore I only ate when I was hungry and that would usually be just once a day. So I was going about 23 hours every day without food and I thrived.

Once I lost all I intended to lose I had to be careful to make sure I was eating enough to maintain my weight. Im still eating when I get hungry but now that I’ve listened most of my excess fat my body is requiring more food so if I know I’m going to have a hard day of work I’ll eat a small fatty meal a couple of hours after I wake up and then a good meal in the evening. Both times I’ll be a little hungry but not ravenous. 
I never weigh out my food or track it. I just make sure I’m getting plenty of fat with each meal.  I just go by how I feel. My body tells me what I need. 

[Scott F.]

Seldom am I actually hungry since going Carnivore. Most days I could easily go 24-30 hours without issue. 

I think what you are experiencing is fairly normal. 

I started in May at 306 and this week I weighed in at 229. I still have some weight to go but at the same time I'm lifting in an attempt to build muscle. I eat a beef and egg meal in the mornings after lifting and I try to eat in the evening with my wife. On the lifting days, after the morning meal it is all, I can do to eat again that evening. 

Getting off the original topic but there is another post on here about protein shakes/keto chow type supplementation. I read that a few months ago and I can see how that would work for me. Whole foods are better by far, but it is going to be a struggle to eat enough protein to build muscle. (totally off topic, my apologies)

One of the amazingly ironic things is just a few months ago I could eat my 16oz rib eye with a loaded baked potato, finish off my wife's steak, three to four glasses of sweet tea, and then eat dessert but now I am hard pressed to eat a whole rib-eye at dinner, especially if I had a couple eggs that morning. 

I never imagined the struggles of eating more.

Scott

 

[Carnivore Konner]

Part of it could be due to the fact that I am still going through puberty, but I am typically quite hungry after over three months on carnivore. I have read that hunger doesn't equal malnutrition and that is why I decided to give intermittent fasting a try in order to hopefully gain more control over my hunger signals. I know there is a subset of carnivores who also get pulled into the fasting community, especially for weight loss, however I believe carnivore alone to be more than effective at achieving adequate weight loss. I also understand the importance of incorporating a high level of fat in my diet and it comes naturally to me. For about half of my meals I include a medium helping of pan-fried beef suet and it is now one of my favorite things!

[Orweller]

6 hours ago, Carnivore Konner said:

Part of it could be due to the fact that I am still going through puberty, but I am typically quite hungry after over three months on carnivore. I have read that hunger doesn't equal malnutrition and that is why I decided to give intermittent fasting a try in order to hopefully gain more control over my hunger signals. I know there is a subset of carnivores who also get pulled into the fasting community, especially for weight loss, however I believe carnivore alone to be more than effective at achieving adequate weight loss. I also understand the importance of incorporating a high level of fat in my diet and it comes naturally to me. For about half of my meals I include a medium helping of pan-fried beef suet and it is now one of my favorite things!

Yes, it's totally normal to still get hungry signals, it's an increase of the ghrelin hormone. Then Leptin is released to signal satiation, regulating food intake and the energy expenditure. And since we expend energy differently, this may be experienced slightly different when being fat adapted. At least, that is my understanding. And yes, carnivore alone will get you into IF in some sort of fashion since we are full for longer. 

[Geezy]

7 hours ago, Carnivore Konner said:

Part of it could be due to the fact that I am still going through puberty, but I am typically quite hungry after over three months on carnivore. I have read that hunger doesn't equal malnutrition and that is why I decided to give intermittent fasting a try in order to hopefully gain more control over my hunger signals. I know there is a subset of carnivores who also get pulled into the fasting community, especially for weight loss, however I believe carnivore alone to be more than effective at achieving adequate weight loss. I also understand the importance of incorporating a high level of fat in my diet and it comes naturally to me. For about half of my meals I include a medium helping of pan-fried beef suet and it is now one of my favorite things!

Very wise for someone so young. 
Hunger never means malnutrition nor does it mean we need to eat, only that our belly’s are empty. What most people who eat SAD equate to hunger is actually just a carb craving or lack of Leptin’s. 
Most of us don’t get “pulled into into fasting” it just comes naturally because we just aren’t getting hungry like we used to because our bodies are satisfied with the nutrients we’ve provided for it. 
Being young and still growing your body is demanding more nutrients than us older folks need.

Personally I wouldn’t hold any nutrition back from my growing body as long as I was young and active if my body is telling me I need it. 

[Scott F.]

Ditto on the above. 

Carnivore, pardon the wording, can be 'apples and oranges' for the young and the older. 

For me, when I eat meat, especially red meat, I am totally full with what I see as a small portion. I don't feel like I get pulled into fasting but it just sort of happens. I'm not hungry all the time so I don't eat all the time. When I eat it is because I am trying to build some muscle at 55. Building muscle at 55 is difficult enough but not wanting to eat the protein/calories needed is another obstacle. 

For a young person who is still growing I would say eat what your body tells you and then maybe some more if you are active in your day-to-day life. I don't recommend fasting as I don't know all the affects as I am still experimenting with it myself. I would guess a younger person would need the nutrients more than the fasting. but again, no real experience/knowledge in this area. (I'm new to the carnivore and at 55, not exactly a young pup anymore)

Good luck.

Scott

 

[meljel1]

20 hours ago, Orweller said:

I've had the same. A pound of meat is good for 6 hrs not eating. I think we need to look at our progress and the reason why. If your goal is losing weight then good, eat what your body asks for and leave it be. Do you feel weak? Are you getting too thin? Feeling tired? Eat more. We have to listen to our bodies more than we need to cinsider calories. 

Myself am in a position that I don't want to lose any more weight. Weight loss was never my goal. But I lost quite a percentage of body fat. And I don't want to look like I am doing meth. Fortunately I have muscle mass, and I don't feel weak or tired. I can tell that the weight I have lost was fat and "water". 

It really shows how nutritious meat can be. 

Long story short, I do eat only when hungry, but I do add butter, or an extra egg to meals now. 

Thank you I appreciate what you have said, thank you.

[Orweller]

I've actually started to increase the volume of meals, and add 10 to 20 grams of carbs a day. My eating only when hungry led me to losing a bit too much weight. I know, that's a good problem to have. But that's going to be my approach, at least for a while. 

[Scott F.]

Keep us posted.

I'm not there yet but the weight continues to fall, and it feels like in time I will get there.

Interested in how people deal with this situation/scenario.

Scott