I’m almost never really hungry.
Have been doing intermittent fasting now for 4 years, and for every day, I do a 19 or 20 hour fast. That means that for at least 7 to 8 hours every day (every hour past 12 hours from your last meal), my body is producing ketones for energy. It means that I’ve become “fat adapted” or “metabolically flexible”, where my body uses BOTH glucose and body fat (ketones) as a fuel source for the cells, and the longer the fast, the more this shifts toward ketones, not glucose.
But it also means that because the body can feast on body fat (ketones) at any time, there is very little hunger, as the body has a nearly inexhaustible source of food from one’s body fat if you are fat adapted, which most Americans are not because they eat too frequently (never get past 12 hours), and so the body loses this mechanism to utilize body fat instead of glucose.
This versus the person who is not fat adapted and whose body is accustomed to use only glucose for all the cells. That person is at risk of feeling real hunger any time their glycogen stores are depleted, and the glycogen stores in the liver and muscles don’t contain that much glucose, so the person can actually feel real hunger many times in a single day.
People who criticize intermittent fasting with the idea that it will induce constant hunger and ultimately binge eating don’t understand the role the ketones play in moderating appetite for those practicing intermittent fasting.
Henry's Views 