The difference between hunger and “food noise”

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I’m curious for those of you who are on GLP1s and talk about the reduction of food noise, are you talking about the constant thoughts about food even when you aren’t hungry? Or are you talking about being hungry too often when you’re actually hungry?

I used to have a lot more food noise (in the thoughts about food even when not hungry and sometimes small binges in the evenings when I was tired) but since being medicated for my adhd; I don’t have the binges anymore, but my appetite for real food is still as strong as ever. I eat a lot of healthy foods and don’t drink alcohol, but I’m 25lbs overweight despite it all.

So when people talk about reducing food noise with GLp1s, I know I’m done with the constant thoughts, but I’m still legitimately hungry even after eating solid balanced meals with plenty of protein and healthy fats and fiber.

I’m not a great candidate for the medication because of digestion issues, but I’m curious what people mean about food noise and how you define it.

[Anonymous]

I think your perception about the difference between food noise and real hunger is correct. I’m on a glp-1 now for what it’s worth. I describe food noise, for people who don’t understand the concept, as being similar to intrusive thoughts. “Time to eat!” is always in the back of my mind, unless I’m completely absorbed by an interesting task.
Or, it’s a little like what I imagine drug addiction is like. If I get it in my head I want to eat something I have a hard time focusing on other things until I’ve satisfied that urge. Even if I’m not actually hungry.

[Anonymous]

This is a fascinating conversation.

I've never taken GLP-1s, but I have found that regular, strenuous exercise changes how I experience hunger. I find that on days I exercise, I feel hunger only as an acute need and not as background noise (or "food noise").

So if I'm very sedentary, I often spend the day thinking "I could eat." And I snack more and will eat out of bordedom.

But when I exercise, I don't think about food much at all between meals, but then when I get hungry it's like "ok I need to eat NOW." But then I eat and feel full and can go the next few hours not thinking about food at all.

It doesn't matter when in the day I exercise. It's just like my brain is more tuned into my body's needs when I'm exercising regularly, and knows when I need to be fed, instead of just kind of churning food thoughts all day in the background.

I also crave and am satisfied by healthier food when I'm exercising. Like after a workout, I never want potato chips or sweets -- I want a grain bowl or full fat yogurt with fruits and veggies or something. And water. When I'm being sedentary, I crave snack foods and processed foods and soda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a fascinating conversation.

I've never taken GLP-1s, but I have found that regular, strenuous exercise changes how I experience hunger. I find that on days I exercise, I feel hunger only as an acute need and not as background noise (or "food noise").

So if I'm very sedentary, I often spend the day thinking "I could eat." And I snack more and will eat out of bordedom.

But when I exercise, I don't think about food much at all between meals, but then when I get hungry it's like "ok I need to eat NOW." But then I eat and feel full and can go the next few hours not thinking about food at all.

It doesn't matter when in the day I exercise. It's just like my brain is more tuned into my body's needs when I'm exercising regularly, and knows when I need to be fed, instead of just kind of churning food thoughts all day in the background.

I also crave and am satisfied by healthier food when I'm exercising. Like after a workout, I never want potato chips or sweets -- I want a grain bowl or full fat yogurt with fruits and veggies or something. And water. When I'm being sedentary, I crave snack foods and processed foods and soda.

I think I'm the complete opposite of you. When I exercise, the food noise becomes extreme. I want to eat all day nonstop. My body basically doesn't want to lose any calories from working out and wants to replace them all.

OP I see the food noise as exactly what the ADHD meds do for you. I've wondered if ADHD meds would help me a lot, but never could get access to them. I used to be so hungry from 2-5pm at work and I struggled to concentrate on work. Now I have no issues with GLP. I just eat lunch and then don't think about food until dinner time.

[Anonymous]

This is splitting hairs a bit.

The current obesity science will tell you that the "food noise" is akin to your brain believing that you are hungry (based on signals from hormones, etc), even when you aren't experiencing that deep physical feeling of hunger in your stomach (a feeling that might also be accompanied at times by jitteriness, feeling hangry, etc, as comes along with low blood sugar). That physical experience of hunger isn't necessarily there with "food noise." But the attention your brain pays to seeking out food when that feeling of hunger is there? Scanning the environment for food (which is 2026 tends to take the form of wandering to the refrigerator and standing in front of it, or thinking about the candy machine on the second floor, or ordering on the Starbucks app without even thinking about it, or planning to pick up Ledo pizza on the way home)? That is food noise. You experience it because your body thinks you need to eat. This is the science of the "set point," which most people don't understand.

People think "set point" is just oh-my-body-just-wants-to-weigh-xamount-of-pounds. But that isn't really it. It's more that everyone's body has a healthy set point where there is homeostasis and things are running optimally. When your BMI is, oh, let's say 34 (where mine was when I went on Wegovy), your body is confused, and thinks your BMI is too low. So it's doing what it would do should it be too low ... sending signals to you to scan the environment for high-calorie food and eat all of it once you find it. We evolved this way ... 10,000 years ago you find a fig tree full of ripe fruit, you eat them all -- you do let that resource go to be eaten by another animal or to rot. The problem is, it is not 10k years ago, and we are not desperate to get in as many calories as we can. We have had too many calories and there isn't the problem of few-and-far-between fig trees, there is the opposite problem of a 711 on every corner full of candy and cookies and hot dogs, all there for the taking. But why if one's bmi is 34 does your body tell you to eat all of the things in 711? Because something is wrong. Your body thinks it is too thin, when it is the opposite. How can it do that? Why does it do that when it is actually harmful for the person to keep eating? Well, human bodies get things wrong all the time; look at autoimmune disorders where the body gets confused and attacks itself, or cancer, where the cells get confused and reproduce inappropriately. This is akin to that -- the body gets confused and thinks it is desperate for food, and not just food, high-calorie food stat. So hormones are at play telling you to think about nothing else but acquiring it, and eating it. Then you do that, and you aren't satisfied. You want more, more, more. Because your body is confused -- it isn't regulating appetite appropriately for homestasis. But it thinks it is.

This is why the GLP-1 and GIP meds work. They basically unconfuse your body by acting on the hormones that are wrongly telling you to eat. They act on what is causing the food noise. The food noise your body wrongly thought you needed to survive.

Obesity is a chronic condition like autoimmune. It is the condition of a body that is confusedly telling you to eat. This is why you are still "legitimately hungry" after eating a good balanced meal that should give you plenty of calories and nutrients. It did give you all of that. And you should be satisfied. But your body is confused and is still sending you hormone signals that you need to eat. More. Right now. And preferably something very calorie dense. This is the complicated workings of metabolism (another aspect of it in addition to your body telling you to seek food is that your body tells itself to hang on to every ounce of fat it has).

I've been on Wegovy two years now. I lost about 70lbs in the first 1.5 years and am now at maintenance dose. I will have to be on it for life to control the food noise that roars back if I don't take the shot. And my food noise isn't going disappear on it's own, I had a bmi of about 21 until I went on psych meds, which destroyed my metabolism and caused me to gain almost 100 pounds over a few years. I have to take those meds if I want to live, so here I am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is splitting hairs a bit.

The current obesity science will tell you that the "food noise" is akin to your brain believing that you are hungry (based on signals from hormones, etc), even when you aren't experiencing that deep physical feeling of hunger in your stomach (a feeling that might also be accompanied at times by jitteriness, feeling hangry, etc, as comes along with low blood sugar). That physical experience of hunger isn't necessarily there with "food noise." But the attention your brain pays to seeking out food when that feeling of hunger is there? Scanning the environment for food (which is 2026 tends to take the form of wandering to the refrigerator and standing in front of it, or thinking about the candy machine on the second floor, or ordering on the Starbucks app without even thinking about it, or planning to pick up Ledo pizza on the way home)? That is food noise. You experience it because your body thinks you need to eat. This is the science of the "set point," which most people don't understand.

People think "set point" is just oh-my-body-just-wants-to-weigh-xamount-of-pounds. But that isn't really it. It's more that everyone's body has a healthy set point where there is homeostasis and things are running optimally. When your BMI is, oh, let's say 34 (where mine was when I went on Wegovy), your body is confused, and thinks your BMI is too low. So it's doing what it would do should it be too low ... sending signals to you to scan the environment for high-calorie food and eat all of it once you find it. We evolved this way ... 10,000 years ago you find a fig tree full of ripe fruit, you eat them all -- you do let that resource go to be eaten by another animal or to rot. The problem is, it is not 10k years ago, and we are not desperate to get in as many calories as we can. We have had too many calories and there isn't the problem of few-and-far-between fig trees, there is the opposite problem of a 711 on every corner full of candy and cookies and hot dogs, all there for the taking. But why if one's bmi is 34 does your body tell you to eat all of the things in 711? Because something is wrong. Your body thinks it is too thin, when it is the opposite. How can it do that? Why does it do that when it is actually harmful for the person to keep eating? Well, human bodies get things wrong all the time; look at autoimmune disorders where the body gets confused and attacks itself, or cancer, where the cells get confused and reproduce inappropriately. This is akin to that -- the body gets confused and thinks it is desperate for food, and not just food, high-calorie food stat. So hormones are at play telling you to think about nothing else but acquiring it, and eating it. Then you do that, and you aren't satisfied. You want more, more, more. Because your body is confused -- it isn't regulating appetite appropriately for homestasis. But it thinks it is.

This is why the GLP-1 and GIP meds work. They basically unconfuse your body by acting on the hormones that are wrongly telling you to eat. They act on what is causing the food noise. The food noise your body wrongly thought you needed to survive.

Obesity is a chronic condition like autoimmune. It is the condition of a body that is confusedly telling you to eat. This is why you are still "legitimately hungry" after eating a good balanced meal that should give you plenty of calories and nutrients. It did give you all of that. And you should be satisfied. But your body is confused and is still sending you hormone signals that you need to eat. More. Right now. And preferably something very calorie dense. This is the complicated workings of metabolism (another aspect of it in addition to your body telling you to seek food is that your body tells itself to hang on to every ounce of fat it has).

I've been on Wegovy two years now. I lost about 70lbs in the first 1.5 years and am now at maintenance dose. I will have to be on it for life to control the food noise that roars back if I don't take the shot. And my food noise isn't going disappear on it's own, I had a bmi of about 21 until I went on psych meds, which destroyed my metabolism and caused me to gain almost 100 pounds over a few years. I have to take those meds if I want to live, so here I am.

There's a lot of pseudoscience in here. I believe this is the experience of you in your body, and that Wegovy has helped a lot with food cravings, but I would be cautious about buying into a bunch of bunk about "set point" and evolutionary biology. A lot of what you wrote here is speculation or worse and has zero basis in science.

But GLP-1s definitely seem to curb food cravings and help people feel fuller on smaller servings, which is how it drives weight loss. That parts definitely true.

[Anonymous]

So why, after being on glp for a few months, doesn’t your body retrain itself to stop the food noise. If addicts can stop craving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs after being off them a while, why can’t it be the same with food?
And do glps switch your metabolism or do they simply cause you to eat less. For example, will I lose the same amount of weight if I eat 1200 calories with and without taking meds.

[Anonymous]

All of it. I am physically not as hungry. I get satiated much faster, as as soon as I am satiated, I can stop eating. That can be mid-meal or mid-dessert. There is no desire to overeat, not even to the point of feeling full because feeling full does not feel great.

Psychologically, I also think about food completely differently. I used to be a stress eater. If I am stressed out, my first thought is no longer to eat a whole bunch of cookies and start eating them mindlessly. I still sometimes have thoughts of "I would like to eat a chocolate cookie" but then the thought usually passes without effort or overthinking it. If I do decide to eat it, I can stop at one cookie and it felt satisfying and great and guilt-free. In addition to now being a normal weight for the first time in a decade +, it's like a huge burden lifted in terms of my relationship with food, with no more weird feelings attached whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a fascinating conversation.

I've never taken GLP-1s, but I have found that regular, strenuous exercise changes how I experience hunger. I find that on days I exercise, I feel hunger only as an acute need and not as background noise (or "food noise").

So if I'm very sedentary, I often spend the day thinking "I could eat." And I snack more and will eat out of bordedom.

But when I exercise, I don't think about food much at all between meals, but then when I get hungry it's like "ok I need to eat NOW." But then I eat and feel full and can go the next few hours not thinking about food at all.

It doesn't matter when in the day I exercise. It's just like my brain is more tuned into my body's needs when I'm exercising regularly, and knows when I need to be fed, instead of just kind of churning food thoughts all day in the background.

I also crave and am satisfied by healthier food when I'm exercising. Like after a workout, I never want potato chips or sweets -- I want a grain bowl or full fat yogurt with fruits and veggies or something. And water. When I'm being sedentary, I crave snack foods and processed foods and soda.

I think I'm the complete opposite of you. When I exercise, the food noise becomes extreme. I want to eat all day nonstop. My body basically doesn't want to lose any calories from working out and wants to replace them all.

OP I see the food noise as exactly what the ADHD meds do for you. I've wondered if ADHD meds would help me a lot, but never could get access to them. I used to be so hungry from 2-5pm at work and I struggled to concentrate on work. Now I have no issues with GLP. I just eat lunch and then don't think about food until dinner time.

I found this to be true with me. I the days I ran I was constantly hungry. Wegovy stopped this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is splitting hairs a bit.

The current obesity science will tell you that the "food noise" is akin to your brain believing that you are hungry (based on signals from hormones, etc), even when you aren't experiencing that deep physical feeling of hunger in your stomach (a feeling that might also be accompanied at times by jitteriness, feeling hangry, etc, as comes along with low blood sugar). That physical experience of hunger isn't necessarily there with "food noise." But the attention your brain pays to seeking out food when that feeling of hunger is there? Scanning the environment for food (which is 2026 tends to take the form of wandering to the refrigerator and standing in front of it, or thinking about the candy machine on the second floor, or ordering on the Starbucks app without even thinking about it, or planning to pick up Ledo pizza on the way home)? That is food noise. You experience it because your body thinks you need to eat. This is the science of the "set point," which most people don't understand.

People think "set point" is just oh-my-body-just-wants-to-weigh-xamount-of-pounds. But that isn't really it. It's more that everyone's body has a healthy set point where there is homeostasis and things are running optimally. When your BMI is, oh, let's say 34 (where mine was when I went on Wegovy), your body is confused, and thinks your BMI is too low. So it's doing what it would do should it be too low ... sending signals to you to scan the environment for high-calorie food and eat all of it once you find it. We evolved this way ... 10,000 years ago you find a fig tree full of ripe fruit, you eat them all -- you do let that resource go to be eaten by another animal or to rot. The problem is, it is not 10k years ago, and we are not desperate to get in as many calories as we can. We have had too many calories and there isn't the problem of few-and-far-between fig trees, there is the opposite problem of a 711 on every corner full of candy and cookies and hot dogs, all there for the taking. But why if one's bmi is 34 does your body tell you to eat all of the things in 711? Because something is wrong. Your body thinks it is too thin, when it is the opposite. How can it do that? Why does it do that when it is actually harmful for the person to keep eating? Well, human bodies get things wrong all the time; look at autoimmune disorders where the body gets confused and attacks itself, or cancer, where the cells get confused and reproduce inappropriately. This is akin to that -- the body gets confused and thinks it is desperate for food, and not just food, high-calorie food stat. So hormones are at play telling you to think about nothing else but acquiring it, and eating it. Then you do that, and you aren't satisfied. You want more, more, more. Because your body is confused -- it isn't regulating appetite appropriately for homestasis. But it thinks it is.

This is why the GLP-1 and GIP meds work. They basically unconfuse your body by acting on the hormones that are wrongly telling you to eat. They act on what is causing the food noise. The food noise your body wrongly thought you needed to survive.

Obesity is a chronic condition like autoimmune. It is the condition of a body that is confusedly telling you to eat. This is why you are still "legitimately hungry" after eating a good balanced meal that should give you plenty of calories and nutrients. It did give you all of that. And you should be satisfied. But your body is confused and is still sending you hormone signals that you need to eat. More. Right now. And preferably something very calorie dense. This is the complicated workings of metabolism (another aspect of it in addition to your body telling you to seek food is that your body tells itself to hang on to every ounce of fat it has).

I've been on Wegovy two years now. I lost about 70lbs in the first 1.5 years and am now at maintenance dose. I will have to be on it for life to control the food noise that roars back if I don't take the shot. And my food noise isn't going disappear on it's own, I had a bmi of about 21 until I went on psych meds, which destroyed my metabolism and caused me to gain almost 100 pounds over a few years. I have to take those meds if I want to live, so here I am.

There's a lot of pseudoscience in here. I believe this is the experience of you in your body, and that Wegovy has helped a lot with food cravings, but I would be cautious about buying into a bunch of bunk about "set point" and evolutionary biology. A lot of what you wrote here is speculation or worse and has zero basis in science.

But GLP-1s definitely seem to curb food cravings and help people feel fuller on smaller servings, which is how it drives weight loss. That parts definitely true.

Your post is a prime example of people on DCUM wanting to run their mouth even though they don't know anything. This has zero to do with what I experience in my body and everything to do with the science driving the development of weight loss drugs, which are a billion-dollar industry. This isn't even remotely speculative at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why, after being on glp for a few months, doesn’t your body retrain itself to stop the food noise. If addicts can stop craving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs after being off them a while, why can’t it be the same with food?
And do glps switch your metabolism or do they simply cause you to eat less. For example, will I lose the same amount of weight if I eat 1200 calories with and without taking meds.

How would it "retrain itself" if the problem is metabolism? The problem is not addiction.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for the replies. I’m the type that gets ravenous when I do big workouts, so I do better walking and yoga and light weights.

I really need to figure this all out.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think I had food noises. But I would overeat. If something tasted good, I’d eat too much. Now I can’t. I get full fast. I also notice less craving. I had a bag of open potato chips in the house and I forgot about them. That’s unprecedented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why, after being on glp for a few months, doesn’t your body retrain itself to stop the food noise. If addicts can stop craving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs after being off them a while, why can’t it be the same with food?
And do glps switch your metabolism or do they simply cause you to eat less. For example, will I lose the same amount of weight if I eat 1200 calories with and without taking meds.

Do true addicts ever really stop craving? Some think about it for the rest of their lives even after recovery and it's a daily struggle.

I think OP described it correctly. People experience food noise in different ways, but for me it was like an addiction - thinking about it constantly and wondering when I could get it next, even when I wasn't hungry. Like a dopamine hit. The drug has mostly stopped that, especially in the first few days after taking it, and it's amazing. It also makes me less hungry - which is a separate thing but also helpful. But it doesn't stop hunger completely, which is obviously a good thing.

There has also been a lot of anecdotal evidence and studies showing that other addicts could be helped by this kind of medicine. Again it is anecdotal, but I barely drink at all anymore and I used to drink a good amount. I didn't even realize it until a few months in.

[Anonymous]

PP here - meant to add - the drug doesn't "retrain" anything - you have to do that yourself. It helps you along, but it is all temporary when it is in your system.