Lose Weight By Eating Only When Hungry

My husband loves his big green salads, apples, bean soups, oatmeal and other whole grains, potatoes, and salmon. Yes, he’s a good boy.

There’s only one problem. “I love them too much, ” he laughs. He has a hard time pushing away from the dining room table. When he finally gets up, he’s not just full, he’s stuffed.

Chances are, he’s making a basic weight loss mistake. He’s not in touch with when he should start eating, and when he should stop.

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“The fact is, we can get fat eating healthy food, ” warns Dr. Danine Fruge, Associate Medical Director at the Longevity Center + Spa. “If we’re overeating, if we’re, well, making pigs of ourselves, the pounds can pile up.”

The solution involves two key weight loss tips, teaches faculty like dietitian Kimberly Gomer in classes at on Mindful Eating.

Are you out of touch with your body’s hunger and satiety signs? Use The Hunger Scale to get back in touch, then watch excess pounds disappear.

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First, we must practice recognizing our own personal hunger and satiety (“I’m getting full”) signals. Second, we need to act on them.

Many people are out of touch with their body’s hunger and satiety signs, and it’s no wonder. Everywhere we go these days – every gas station, street corner, and office – we’re tempted with 40-ounce sodas, burgers at the drive-through, and cookies at our co-worker’s desk. We no longer ask ourselves, “Am I hungry?” “Am I full?” We just reach and nosh. And nosh and nosh.

Now, if you’re reading newsletters, chances are you’re no longer stuffing yourself with cookies, and that’s wonderful. But if you’re eating healthy food till you’re ready to burst, you could end up gaining rather than losing weight.

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That’s why it’s so important to re-learn our hunger and satiety alerts. We say “re-learn” because we were born with these cues. Most babies and toddlers just naturally eat only when they’re hungry, and stop when they’re full (not stuffed).

To help you become re-acquainted with your body’s natural cues, and give your weight loss efforts the best chance for success, an easy tool that dietitian Kimberly Gomer and other faculty at teach is The Hunger Scale…As the saying goes, timing is everything. And when it comes to eating, aligning your meals with your natural circadian rhythm — the highly elaborate physiological system that coordinates your sleep-wake cycle and all the hormones and metabolic processes tied to that — may just help you function optimally and lead to many health improvements.

The evidence suggests that our bodies may do best when we eat more in the morning than at night, a pattern that’s vastly different from how most Americans eat. Timing our meals this way may lead to better body weight, hormone regulation, blood sugar and cholesterol levels, sleep patterns and other metabolic improvements.

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The evidence indicates that our bodies do best when we eat more in the morning than at night, a pattern that’s vastly different from how most Americans eat.

In one study that allowed participants the same number of daily calories, but compared the impact of front-loading 50 percent of those calories at breakfast versus the same number at dinner, those in the breakfast group fared significantly better. Bigger breakfast eaters experienced more than twice the amount of weight loss compared to the bigger dinner eaters, and at the end of the 12-week study, also experienced improvements in triglyceride levels and cholesterol levels. The breakfast group also had better insulin levels throughout the day. Taken together (and assuming these factors hold up over time) it would result in a significantly lower risk of health problems, like diabetes, metabolic syndrome and heart disease. What’s more, the group assigned to the bigger breakfast had fewer dropouts, suggesting that eating your biggest meal in the morning may be a more sustainable habit.

Additional research may back up these findings. One small study looked at participants who were given an identical meal one week apart with the only difference being the timing of the meal (one in the morning and one in the evening). Again, the morning eaters came out ahead with improvements in blood glucose levels and a slight boost in metabolic rate.

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A more recent analysis adds more to the timing is everything case, showing that compared to eating a big dinner as Americans typically do, eating your largest meal in the morning can lead to better sleep patterns. In this small study, people in the morning meal camp fell asleep more easily and slept more routine hours. In other research, regular sleep times were linked to increased feelings of happiness, healthiness and calmness—in other words, better well-being.

The research on time-restricted feeding — a form of intermittent fasting — is also promising. In a recent 10-week study, people who were instructed to both delay breakfast for 90 minutes and eat dinner 90 minutes earlier (thereby changing the timeframe in which they could eat), lost an average of twice as much body fat as those who were allowed to eat normally, despite being allowed to eat whatever they wanted during the approved hours. Though in this case, despite the impressive results, 57 percent of the participants whose eating was restricted felt the time window was impractical for the long haul.

Can we draw conclusions on meal timing based on small, short-term studies? It’s hard to know whether results like this would hold up over the long haul or with more diverse populations (say, older, less healthy people, people of different backgrounds, etc.). And there are practical issues, too. Our work schedules and family obligations may make it difficult to get your biggest meal in the morning and cut off eating in the evening hours.

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It's interesting to consider how our typical eating patterns — light on breakfast (if eaten at all) with the biggest meal in the evening, coupled with our fast-paced lives (working and commuting long hours leading to late night meals and snacking) may lead to poorer health and weight outcomes. I’ve also seen a pattern of ultra-light morning and mid-day meals lead to insatiable hunger and cravings, and over-snacking on unhealthy fare, which causes trouble on its own.

Certainly, it doesn’t appear that our bodies are designed to function at their best for the around-the-clock food culture we’re living in. In my experience, it’s good practice to give your body a chance to digest before bedtime by finishing your last meal or snack a few hours before you turn in. If your system is busy digesting late at night, it can disrupt the body processes that happen as we sleep, which may cause hormone disturbances and other imbalances that promote overeating and weight gain. Since your body needs about 10-12 hours to recalibrate, allowing it the time it needs is a smart call.

Given what the evidence points to, and my experience with clients, I think it’s worth paying attention to meal timing. Here's what I suggest:

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Want more tips like these? NBC News BETTER is obsessed with finding easier, healthier and smarter ways to live. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.Struggling to shedweight and keep it off? We askeda registered dietitian, Nicole Hopsecger, RD, LD, for the top weight loss tips she shares with patients.

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Whatever diet you choose — and many different diets can help you lose weight — don’t give up because you get too hungry.

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“Hunger is a normal response to reducing calories. When you eat less, your fat cells release more hunger hormones, which increases your appetite, ” says Hopsecger. “Higher-protein, high-fiber meal plans are best for controlling your hunger and appetite.”

Replace processed carbs like white bread, bagels, muffins or donuts for breakfast with high-protein/high-fiber foods like eggs, or Greek yogurt mixed with chia seeds and berries. You’ll find that you stay fuller, longer.

“This reduces sugars and white flour (pastries, white bread, candy, juice, etc.) in your diet, and helps you to choose carbs that better support your appetite and nutrition needs” says Hopsecger. “The more fiber in your diet, the better!”

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Fiber helps improve blood sugar control, helps lower cholesterol and reduces your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, colorectal cancer and heart disease. When you have diabetes, a diet with fewer carbs (like bread, pasta, rice, desserts, sugary beverages, juice) is also important because you’ll need less insulin. And that can help prevent hunger, fat storage and weight gain.

Foods rich in fiber include legumes (dried beans, lentils), veggies (Brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach squash, sweet potatoes) and fruit (apples, berries, oranges, pears).

It’s easy to get discouraged when you look only at your weight. “Focus instead on making good food choices, watching portions and exercising regularly, ” Hopsecger says. “If you lead with these behaviors, the weight loss will follow.”

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Replace a goal like “lose two pounds a week” with specific mini-goals, like “eat 1 cup of veggies at dinner, ” “walk 20 minutes a