Frequent Hunger

[ashleigh_l]

I need advice... I'm on day 14.  I'm trying hard to stick to the three meals a day rule and cut the snacking in between meals and at night (because everyone seems to stress this so much!), but with just those three meals, I am SO. HUNGRY. ALL. THE. TIME! I'm eating a TON of food- a full plate every meal- a complete serving of protein, usually some kind of potato, lots of fat incorporated both in the meal and as a separate serving, and the rest of the plate full of vegetables.  I still get hungry a few hours after eating.  All my life I have always had a ridiculously fast metabolism- I would eat a full, complete, healthy meal and be full, and then anywhere as early as one hour later to several hours later be hungry enough to eat that meal again.  I'm the joke of my family with how much I can eat and still stay 135 lbs. of skin, bone, and muscle.  I'm trying to eat lots of fats to make up for the fact that I don't have a lot of body fat to burn, which is frustrating in and of itself, but I'm still frequently hungry while limiting to only three meals a day.  So my question is: Is this still the "carb flu" thing of my body sending false hunger signals because it still wants the sugars as energy?  Is this a normal transition?  As in, will my body eventually be okay with eating just three meals a day if I force it like I'm doing now or do some people's metabolisms just demand more? (i.e. Should I be eating again when I'm hungry?)  I am also very athletic, but I've been too nervous to do cardio exercises at all during the whole 30, because I'm afraid it will make me more hungry than I already am.  When I do work out it's typically just strength building workouts, and I eat before and after them with the advised foods I found in another thread on here.  I'm not sure what to do. Can I eat more than the three meals per day?  Sorry, long post, but I wanted to explain the context too 

[MeadowLily]

After 30 days, you can go back to whatever works for you.  Try 30 days, 4-5 hours inbetween meals and stick with it.  See Tom D.'s posts below. One in the link, too.

http://forum.whole30.com/topic/15023-curious-how-much-time-between-meals/

Our bodies have a natural hormonal rhythm that is suited to eating about 3 times per day. There are chemical processes that take place when you eat that have a cycle to run through. The cycles run into each other when you eat more often than every 4 or 5 hours. That will not kill you, but it is not ideal. Read It Starts With Food will explain why grazing (eating frequently) is a problem.

 

[ShannonM816]

If you're hungry, it's okay to eat. Try to have a mix of protein, fat, and vegetables, or at least two of the three.