I have been wondering this for a while ...

Very often when there is a post about hunger, and it is suggested it may be head hunger they are experiencing, the reaction is defensive. They are insistent this is "real" hunger. Even in the OP they will sometimes lead with they know the difference between "real" hunger and head hunger, and they definitely have "real" hunger.

Is head hunger not "real"?

So, for me, head hunger and physical hunger are very difficult to distinguish between. They physically feel identical. I have to really analyze why I am hungry. Did I have a trigger, an email from Postmates, smelling a neighbors BBQ, hearing the ice cream truck? I have to think about what will satisfy my hunger, do I need a burger, or does lentil soup sound just as good? Only when I think about those, can I determine which type of hunger I am experiencing.

Head hunger has lead me to; fill countless carts on Grubhub, Postmates, Ubereats, and (almost always) exit before checking out; get into my car and drive to a fast food restaurant, only to (almost always) turn around and go home; endlessly flip through a room service menu; take a half eaten taco out of my hotel room trash (wrapped and in a bag!) and finish it.

Is head hunger less difficult to manage than physical hunger? Is having head hunger a sign of some sort of weakness?

Don’t know if this will help, I have been seeing a eating disorder specialist for a couple of months. I have to still go to a physiologist for my mental evaluation soon, but I have learned a lot. 1 of the things that have helped me a lot is the sign she had me make for my fridge.
H Am I hungry ?
A Am I angry ?
L Am I lonely ?
T am I tired ?
Think First.
The idea is to answer every question honestly and go from there.
Hope this helps .

WOW! Great idea!! Definitely gonna do this!

Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal App

Even though the concept of "normal eating" seems to be not really popular on here: if you want to learn about "hunger": books about normal eating deal a lot with this issue.

14 hours ago, sillykitty said:

Honestly, days like that are easy. I only had physical hunger, and limited amounts. So that was easily sated by smart choices.

Days like the below are the hardest, this was a bad head hunger day. I was constantly thinking about food, and had to work hard to make good choices. That Grubhub cart got filled up over and over again, and I had to will myself to close the app and eat some damn Jerky.

Well, that's still amazing dedication. All your choices were healthy and lo-cal. I think the overwhelming % of folks on this site would consider this a very successful day. I understand that you have your own goals and timeline, but that will definitely make your path more difficult than the one the rest of us travel. And the working from home part is really tough. At least at work I only have a few options to choose from.

6 hours ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

Well, that's still amazing dedication. All your choices were healthy and lo-cal. I think the overwhelming % of folks on this site would consider this a very successful day. I understand that you have your own goals and timeline, but that will definitely make your path more difficult than the one the rest of us travel. And the working from home part is really tough. At least at work I only have a few options to choose from.

Thanks, I needed to hear that. That day was in the middle of a stall, so I felt incredibly guilty.

2 hours ago, sillykitty said:

Thanks, I needed to hear that. That day was in the middle of a stall, so I felt incredibly guilty.

Don't feel guilty. When it happens, take a long walk for penance and move on. Some days you just need more food for whatever reason. Just add some exercise to balance it out.

No, I'm not saying we exercise enough to work off a banana split, but you're only trying to walk off an "excess" of healthy foods. (I use the term "excess" loosely!)

I wish I could figure out the "why" of head hunger.

So I've had about two weeks of little to no head hunger. This morning I was looking through restaurant menus trying to find some new places to take clients next week. This would normally be head hunger city for me. But nope, today I'm fine, totally fine with my 1 oz of cheese lunch! If only it could always be this way!

Does this site have a glossary? The words / phrases HEAD HUNGER and SLIDER FOOD were new to me before I arrived here.

On July 6, 2018 at 9:13 PM, kimberlymi said:

Don’t know if this will help, I have been seeing a eating disorder specialist for a couple of months. I have to still go to a physiologist for my mental evaluation soon, but I have learned a lot. 1 of the things that have helped me a lot is the sign she had me make for my fridge.
H Am I hungry ?
A Am I angry ?
L Am I lonely ?
T am I tired ?
Think First.
The idea is to answer every question honestly and go from there.
Hope this helps .

Assuming one's hunger is only satisfied by what's in the fridge. One really needs a sign on every cabinet!

For me, it doesn't matter if it's head hunger, toe hunger, eyeball hunger or any other type of hunger. If I'm getting the hunger signal I have to manage it somehow. My method of managing it is portion control of low carb nutrient rich foods. By analyzing it and choosing not to eat, I make it worse and then my choices later are not as good.

15 hours ago, sillykitty said:

I wish I could figure out the "why" of head hunger.

So I've had about two weeks of little to no head hunger. This morning I was looking through restaurant menus trying to find some new places to take clients next week. This would normally be head hunger city for me. But nope, today I'm fine, totally fine with my 1 oz of cheese lunch! If only it could always be this way!

Well, if you figure it out, do a facebook video and let it go viral!