I don't know what a real hunger cue is anymore.

I’ve gone from what was essentially BED to easily fasting 5 days with no problem. I’ve come to realize my stomach growling is not a good indicator of actual hunger, because as we all know sometimes you’ll eat a decent meal and then your stomach is growling and you feel hungry an hour or two later. Your stomach is lying to you.

Now I’m able to regularly fast extended periods of time (72hrs + is no big deal) and I’ve come to realize my body just doesn’t even know what hunger is.

The only downsides I deal with around day 4+ is just general mild lethargy, occasional abdominal cramping, and the dreaded insomnia. In my normal day to day life I typically think about food all hours of the day as it is, so when I’m fasting and I start thinking about food, that’s normal to me also.

I’m trying to get a hang of the whole “If you’re not hungry, don’t eat” idea. I don’t want to eat a standard breakfast, lunch, dinner just because it’s what we’ve all become accustomed too. I don’t want to strictly count calories, or watch the clock “I can’t eat for 42 more minutes”. Just simply “If you’re not hungry, don’t eat”. But I don’t think that’s going to work for me.

I’m sure some of y’all have dealt with this. What did you do? Advice? What is actual hunger?

(FWIW I fast for weight loss and autophagy. I have approximately 20lbs~ left to lose to be at the middle of a normal BMI for my height.)