Why do people with any fat stores ever feel hungry, or eat anything at all, considering they may have 1-5 month's worth of energy stored as fat? (We term the hunger experienced by overweight people "False Hunger," because it is.) Except in the truly malnourished or extremely fit, low body-fat athletes, hunger is rarely a signal of an energy deficit or of any nutritional need.
Think about it. Even normal-weight (neither overweight nor underweight) people carry 8-10 weeks of energy stored in fat if they can only access it.
You can consider appetite in the pudgy or overweight, not to mention the obese, to be a design flaw based on the hunting and gathering, and, earlier, just plain gathering condition of human existence, same as the other great apes who only become overweight in captivity. Agriculture and food abundance, along with sedentary life, exposed the design flaw for people who overnourish themselves. Of course, physical inadequacy is another side effect.
Here are a few issues (below) -
1. As an individual begins to become heavy from eating in excess of their needs, they develop insulin resistance meaning their insulin levels rarely drop to normal fasting levels. Higher and longer-lasting post-eating insulin levels prevent fat-burning and enhance fat storage. That's why heavy people often feel weak or woozy and want a snack, a dose of sugar/carbs, or even an unnecessary meal: their elevated insulin prevents them from access to fat-burning. They feel "hypoglycemic" and feel they need food. Thus the fat cycle is perpetuated.
2. Fit, trim people do not have elevated insulin except for a brief time after eating. Thus their bodies quickly enter a "fasting" state, and have access to fat stores for energy. In normal "fed" situations, our energy sources are blood glucose (from carbs), and glycogen (stored sugar) in the liver and in muscle. These are limited, though.
3. Exercise: Exercise is a poor way to access fat-burning, but it can occur to some extent. It takes around 40 minutes of good-intensity calisthenics or cardio to exhaust your immediate sugar stores (glycogen) and to force some fat-burn. People often feel fatigue at that point, and especially high-insulin people because their body resists burning fat. The good news: intense exercise reduces appetite and ramps up your metabolism for an hour so more afterwards.
4. Another interesting factor is Leptin, the major satiety hormone. Heavy people develop Leptin-resistance and become less aware of when enough is enough, and "pleasure-eating" kicks in. Another Leptin-related issue is that many heavy people are voracious eaters, "speed-eaters" as it is termed. Speed-eaters defeat Leptin effects by stuffing themselves before Leptin kicks in. Generally speaking, eating "until full" or until "I'm stuffed" is a foolish idea. Good idea: "That's all I need."
5. Expanded stomach (not belly, stomach). Habitual excess eating results in a stretched stomach like Joey Chestnut's. This also delays the satiety response. Only small-volume meals can repair this.
6. Habit/life style. Many Americans were taught that they need 3 square meals daily. Try that, and see how pudgy you become. That's a hold-over from when people actually worked all day in the fields or factories. Unless you are in the growing phase, doing 8 hours of heavy labor each day, or pursuing serious fitness or athletic prowess, that is nonsense in my opinion. If overweight, it is double nonsense. A waste of food and money too.
7. To re-set your insulin response, a person has to lose fat by fasting longer. An alternative for those less temptation-resistant is to trick your body with low-carb, high-fat foods. Things like a steak salad. Fat does not stimulate insulin, but offers good satiety. Our attitude is that, if you have spare lard, feeling hunger is the happy sign that you are burning fat rather than a signal that nutrition is needed. To burn lard, embrace that feeling and tough it out.
Yes, I do understand that it's fun to eat food. It's called "recreational eating" or "pleasure eating." I love it too, occasionally, as a special treat. I would weigh 200 lbs. on a routine "See Food" or pleasure-eating plan. Good food is yummy.
