Wait until you're hungry? NOPE.

Why the $%&@ I wasn't losing weight, since I was working so hard to be in touch with my hunger ALL DAY??

People put great store in "getting to know their hunger" and that is a fine thing to do, if you're so inclined. Otherwise I think you can just completely skip it. It's not necessary to get to know your hunger at all in order to eat well, eat better, or manage your weight.

I am aware that this is an extremely unpopular opinion. But what I've observed is that in a system where hunger = time to eat!, there is going to be a lot of hunger, a lot of something that is maybe "hunger", a lot of confusion and a lot of negotiation with parts of your brain that shouldn't get EVER get a vote regarding your body -- or anything else in your life. 

You may remember my partial list of things that I formerly understood as hunger:

• thirst

• sadness

• disapproval

• deadlines

• headlines

• anxiety

• loneliness

• pantyhose

• a too-tight belt, not necessarily at stomach-level

• any stage of the digestive process, including indigestion

• and even a simple neutral empty stomach

(This kind of confusion is by no means uncommon.)

I could have stayed locked in that knot of confusion for the rest of my life, wondering why the $%&@ I wasn't losing weight, since I was working so hard to be in touch with my hunger ALL DAY.

Instead, I took a hard left and decided to eat MEALS on a SCHEDULE, without regard to hunger at all. Also never gonna be a popular idea, because aren't you supposed to wait until you're really good and hungry to eat? Isn't that the only way to lose weight and also be In Touch With Your Body? Short answer: NOPE!

So that was the last time I was confused about hunger, The End. It's amazing how much clarity you can get when you're not eating all the time. Eating on a (more-or-less) set schedule may not be for everyone, but if you've "tried EVERYTHING" else, I recommend this.