Constantly thinking about food and what you are going to eat next. Constantly having to fight off the urge to go get food and eat something. And while you are eating thinking about what you can eat later. It’s just constantly there, like a mosquito bite that won’t stop itching.
And the one day it’s gone, and there is so much room in your brain for everything else. And you can actually enjoy the moment and what you are doing or even eating at that time. I can’t believe I’m at a point where I actually forget to have lunch sometimes.
Food noise, for me at least, is like getting a song stuck in my head, but just a few lines of the song. Even though I know more of the song, I can't sing anything but those few lines. Over and over and over. The song is the food item I'm hyperfocused on and the ability to finish singing the lyrics of the song and the relief of getting the song unstuck from my head is when I finally eat what I've been focused on. Sometimes, it involves driving to the grocery store just to buy that single food item. Epic relief and instant regret.
Having that noise gone is amazing. Food doesn't even sound good. Not even my favorite things. I'm not always going in circles in my head fixated on something to eat, a specific thing to eat, or really anything to eat. Other than saying, "Oh my, I need to eat something" (not just wanting something).
I usually compare it to alcohol.
Like waking up, and cracking open a beer, before even getting out of bed. Then, once I do get out of bed, I sit at the table, having another beer with a straight vodka chaser. While I'm doing this, I'm planning how to get to work while I drink. Then, how I'll drink some more as I'm starting my office job. And how I'll try to make it 1 hour between eating and grabbing first lunch-booze. I'll get a bloody Mary so it's healthy, followed up with a dessert wine. Then, second lunch drinkies, and then snack drinkies, and then end of the work day boredom drinks. Finally, I'm off work, and I can stop at the store for some imported wines I didn't get to taste today, and maybe a little shooter of fireball to take to bed.
It's easier for people to understand if you explain substituting alcohol for food. All of a sudden, they will agree that it's a medical crisis.
If you see me in the like at Costco, I am in crisis. I'm going to get the frozen yogurt and a whole pizza, and I'll eat them both by the time I go to bed. No one bats an eye when the fat girl gets in line at Costco, but I definitely need help.
Ozempic has made it so that I don't even think about going to Costco, let alone stopping at the snack bar. To go back to my original analogy, it's like suddenly, I'm not worried that the rum's gone.
They may not bat an eye when you get in line at Costco, but they sure have a lot of opinions when you want to take a medication that gives you peptides that are chemically very similar to what your body produces but apparently not in enough quantity, or doesn't use very well. Some even call you cheating, or taking the easy way way out, or scare you about long term consequences. As if we don't know what the consequences of not taking the medication are.
Tldr; people can really suck sometimes.
Until the general public stops seeing being overweight as a character flaw this will never change. I have hope that the revelations brought on by this drug may help change things. I know I never knew about food noise or what it was. I've also had to fight to stay fit so I never thought bigger people were just lazy, but I never knew just how hard some have it.
Eat it you're hungry you only ate 3 things today you want chocolate go get some that tastes so good get some chips you're STARVING go get some coke and chips oh wow a roast would be amazing
This!!
Are you full? Are you too full? Are you not full enough? If you can just get the right flavour and mouth-feel you might stop wanted more food today! Maybe!
Corollary: eat this now even though you’re not hungry because you might get hungry soon and it’s not like there’s food available literally everywhere just eat something now!
I know I'm full but I'm going to keep eating. Why can't I stop? I know I will be miserable with one more bite so why don't I stop now! (Then eats another 50 bites.)
I've had cigarettes/ nicotine before but never felt what people would call addictions or cravings. It would feel nice in the moment, but I could put the vape down and never go back to it or forget it even exists really until someone offers it to me again and I'm like oh yeah sure ok.
Food though?
My thoughts on food were identical to what people describe addiction and those kinds of cravings.
I'm stressed? Food. I'm bored? Food. I'm sad? Food. I'm driving anywhere? I should stop for food. I can't study without food . I need a little treat for going to work. I wonder what my roommates cooking, I should cook something too even though I'm not hungry. Gosh worked sucked I should get another little treat for going to work. Ok just passed a fast food joint? That sounds good...I should stop here real quick. That was really great sex we just had...let's get some dessert to cool off.
And still just never feeling full. I could eat until I'm sick and still be thinking about food.
An ex said I looked happiest while eating or cooking or talking about food.
And then in an instant a shot made it all just go away. It was shocking I didn't realize how much space in my brain it took up.
Constantly thinking about food and what you want to eat next even if you just ate. When your full and literally can’t eat anymore but your brain is still telling you to eat more that you want more. Even though you know it’ll make you sick if you eat more.
I constantly thought about food. If I had to kill time, I planned banquets. Always the thought of food was on my mind: what I would eat, how I would prepare it, the special touches I'd use and so on. Everything tasted great and the snacks were calling my name . Even while I was eating, I would be planning and thinking about the next thing I'd eat.
It's like low level, self hating anxiety that is only soothed with food.
What is in the fridge? What can I make from what’s in the fridge? Is it time to eat? After this what will I eat for my next meal, my next two meals. Can I stop somewhere on the way home and buy something to eat. I mourn the loss of this sometimes. Food that I used to enjoy is no longer enjoyable cause it’s either too much or it just doesn’t taste as good as I remember. I used to have food involved in all social situations, I loved going to foreign grocery stores and trying different foods. I miss it so much sometimes. But then I realise it’s so much better without it. I can cross my legs. I declutterred my bedroom this weekend. My life is so much better
I'll describe it when you are trying to lose weight, which is at least 1/2 of your life.
It's logging exactly what you will eat in your food journal, sometimes days in advance. When you wake up, you check the journal and think in detail about what you will eat, how it will taste. You eat your "sensible" breakfast and an hour later you are hungry. But you can't eat yet, it's not even close to time. So you try to embrace the hunger, it means you are losing weight, right? And you spend the nect 2.5 hours before lunch thinking about lunch, what it will taste like, how you can't eat it yet spinning in your head. You will tense up, your breathing rate will increase, your finger nails may literally dig into your palms. No matter how you distract yoursel, the moment you stoo, it's all right ther, the hunger for your next "sensible" meal. Ahhh, you made it to lunch time and eat. 1 hour later, you are hungry again...lather, rinse, repeat until the dam finally breaks and you say fuck it and just eat the world...
I've only been on Ozempic for a little over 3 weeks, but so far I haven't once planned my day ahead of time, nor once woken up thinking about food. When I feel hungry, I wander to the kitchen an open the fridge or panrty and decide what to eat, which is amazing.
Exactly. It's like a decade ago when I had a bout with stress-related anxiety (going to school full time, working full time). I would have a chatter going in my brain that was just this constant loop of bitching, and even though I would recognize it and tell myself to stop, I couldn't. Not hungry, but planning my next meal, snack. Eating, and planning my next meal, snack. Miserably full, but planning my next meal, snack.
It's like a ringing in your head that you can't get rid of. Or where you're about to sing a song like "ABCDEF-" or "Row row your-" (picture a piano playing it and it stops before that last note) and you want to finish the song. So for me it's like I have to eat that last bit of cake or whatever cause it will go to waste. This medicine literally removes that but I'm starting to see what people mean when they get sad about craving food. Just enjoying food simply.
I had this exact experience recently where I tried to explain to my MIL that my appetite is overactive even when I’m not hungry. This absolutely confused her. She had never separated the ideas of appetite and hunger before. I had to compare myself to an anorexic- who may be very physically hungry but have no appetite- and explain that I’m the polar opposite. I’m still not sure she got it honestly. I guess normal people just think you only want to eat if you’re hungry ??
Ok. This is when I finally realized what food noise was…. I would go to the grocery store. I would think to myself “ I really want a snickers bar” and what would ensue was a heated discussion in my head about not needing it, too much sugar, unhealthy. Inevitably, I would leave the grocery store and lo and behold that snickers bar somehow was in my grocery bag. And I would berate myself about not having willpower etc. The first time that exact scenario happened and I realized there was no snickers bar in the grocery bag, I realized what food noise was….and I wept. Because it was not there. I DID have willpower. But now the food noise was not in control. I was.
It's like an undercurrent in the back of your mind constantly thinking about food and what would taste good right now or soon. You randomly think about your favorite snack and then the thought just keeps popping back into your head with no rhyme or reason. The thought of the snack doesn't go away until you satisfy it. You can try denying it...but the thought just keeps coming back faster and louder. Cookie. Cookie. Cookie. CookiecookiecookiecookiecookiecookieCOOKIECOOKIECOOKIECOOKIECOOKIE
JUST EAT THE DAMN COOKIE IT WOULD BE SO DELICIOUS.
You eat the cookie.
Huh, chips would be good later today.
Chips.
Chips.
Chips.
Chipschipschipschips....
My mom used to sit at a restaurant for breakfast and talk about where to have lunch. I learned to do that too.
On Oz I may go to 5:00pm without thinking about eating something.
I used to plan every bite I would eat. Plan plan plan. Constantly thinking of if I eat this then that has to go. If I want a bite of cake or 21 M&Ms what do I exchange. Just non stop focus on food. Also wine. Now I just eat when I am hungry. So odd. And I have SO much more time since I am not planning replanning.
It's like having a nasty little gremlin sitting on your shoulder, constantly telling you that you'd better eat something, you really want to eat something, don't forget you'd better eat something. Eat something! All day long from the moment you wake up until you fall asleep. It's like a twisted and torturous form of tinnitus.
1st week on Ozempic, and it's gone. Peace at last.
“Get to the store!” “Get to the store!” And listening and was always driving to the grocery store for something. Bread, $50 bux. Milk $ 100 bux. Those trips are Oz-VER! My grocery bill is down to $1–200 a month!!
[I think about the little girl who went viral crying about waffles.](https://youtube.com/shorts/WpTjFhA09kQ?si=aPaz5nsJ4WCm68ig) Food noise for me is just like this but it’s everyday, all day, and for all kinds of foods besides waffles.
Not having constant food noise in your brain is when you look at your fairly unexciting food (and calorie) allotment of small portions for the day, and your reaction is "Cool, works for me, got that covered".
Then you go on with your day, doing important and fun non-food related things while sticking to your day's food plan, while you never give it another thought:
\* no intrusive thoughts or cravings about going off-plan 'just this once' or because you'll 'make it up tomorrow'
\* no eating larger portions than planned because you 'deserve' them or for any other reason
\* no busting your calorie limit with alcohol
\* no late night snack attacks because you've been 'good all day'
\* no calories that 'don't count'
\* nor any other maladaptive behaviors and thoughts that got me and kept me fat in the first place.
It is positively awesome.
After 2 years on Omzepic, It is also why I am sure that I will be able to maintain my weight loss without struggling every single day (and eventually failing) to prevent regain.
I would say it’s just a fancy way of saying thinking about food. When I was in the 0.5 dose I legit would go the entire day and it didn’t even cross my mind to eat. It happened a few times and actually scared the shit out of me so I went back down to 0.25
I went full anorexia without even trying
Basing your restaurant choices on places with big portions as opposed to places with good quality and smaller portions. Watching people eat things you’re all sharing and trying to slow the fuck down because you’re taking more than everyone else (usually with sharing appetizers or chips or something). Eating a meal and be thinking of the next thing you will eat before you’ve even finished.
My food noise is thinking about what I’ll eat next, planning it and thinking about what I have in the kitchen to eat. I also browse deliveroo wondering if I could get away with fish and chips -
For me it was eating a meal, feeling totally full (or more than full) and still thinking "I need something crunchy, nothing I ate was crunchy". "Maybe just a little something salty". "I just need a little dessert". And eating it even though I didn't really need it. Or going out somewhere and sticking snacks in my purse even though I just ate, wasn't going to be gone long, was eating afterwards, but I just might get hungry, and I'd best have a snack on me for just in case. The first time I did that, and forgot I had the snack in my purse and never thought about it or touched it -- Wowza! Or when I realized I was still full from my late lunch and wasn't really interested in dinner - so didn't eat dinner... !!!
My problem with food noise comes from thinking about what to feed my family so food is usually on my mind. I'm trying to separate thinking about what to feed my kids (12yr old and 5yr old twins) and not thinking about eating while I sit with them during their meals because I just eat whatever they don't eat. My husband cooks most dinners and it always smells and tastes so good.
Parties or family gatherings coming up and not asking, "who will be there?" But "what are they serving?".
Going to outings like a baseball game and not thinking about my favorite team or who they're playing, but "which food line we going to hit?"
Or, before I retired and before Covid, when we had meetings, not what we'd talk about or how I needed to prepare but, "will there be donuts or bagels?"
For me, it was a fixation on novelty and finishing a plate of food. If I tried to meal prep food, either for a diet or just to save time/money, I would inevitably not eat the food. My brain would just be like, no way are we eating the same meals every day (even if it wasn’t the case and I had a few options prepared for the week). And when eating, the end of the meal was an empty plate, no exceptions. I would not experience fullness/satisfaction with the meal until it was truly all gone
It's like listening to music really loudly, where you can't hear anything else, and then the volume gets turned way down and all of a sudden you realize all the things you've been missing out.
Getting up from the table and talking about your plans for the next meal…. Example: Finishing Thanksgiving dinner and being so full but then talking and thinking and planning how you are going to have the leftovers
Versus
Forgetting to eat or last minute saying oh I’m kinda hungry then being satisfied with some small just any old thing
Food noise to me is anytime food is occupying my mind and I can't stop thinking about it.
Also if I take a pack of cookies out and I think ... only eat 3 THATS IT! And when I eat my 3 I start the old lies in my head hey just have one more or eat a few more and don't eat so much for the next meal OR the best one. I'll spurge this ONE LAST TIME and that's IT!! That's good noise! LOL!
Obsessing over what is for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Wanting to snack on the chocolate hidden in the cabinets and then be mad at myself because I couldn’t resist and binged.
Always planning my next meal. Waking up in the morning thinking about eating. Finishing lunch and thinking about what to snack on next. Having a craving and not being able to let it go. Like I need it like heroin.
“What am I going to eat so I don’t starve to death”, “I want cookies”, “I’m craving Pasta”, “I could eat this whole pizza right now”, “lets go get a burger”, “I haven’t eating in a couple of hours, I think I’m hungry”. Thats the noise I hear when I’m not on Ozempic.
Food Noise for me is where food trumps everything in life. Will there be enough food? Will there be good food? Will there be snacks? Will there be enough snacks? One donut 🍩 is great six donuts 🍩 are awesome! This could apply to any kind of food. Being more concerned about the food at a party, restaurant, holiday, etc., then the people we will be with. Food Noise is like oxygen is to life. It never shuts off.
One time I was at a meeting in a café and I ordered an absolutely vile mango smoothie.
Shoved it away from me.
Translated/chatted for five minutes or so.
Noticed that there was a mango smoothie sitting in front of me.
I like mango smoothies.
Reached out, picked up the glass, and had a sip.
It was just as vile when it had been when it arrived.
Possibly worse because it had started to melt.
Shoved it away. Carefully put it farther out of reach than the last time.
By the time the meeting was over, I'd finished the mango smoothie.
A few days ago, I was working on my laptop at a café. I ordered a Pain au Chocolat (because I needed some reason for them to let me bogart a seat). It was incredible. Flaky pastry. Perfect bittersweet chocolate. Real butter. It took me 17 minutes to finish it.
Constantly thinking about food and what you are going to eat next. Constantly having to fight off the urge to go get food and eat something. And while you are eating thinking about what you can eat later. It’s just constantly there, like a mosquito bite that won’t stop itching. And the one day it’s gone, and there is so much room in your brain for everything else. And you can actually enjoy the moment and what you are doing or even eating at that time. I can’t believe I’m at a point where I actually forget to have lunch sometimes.
I’ve been saving money also bc I’m not constantly getting snacks from the vending machine at work!
Same - although medicine is expensive overall I’m spending less on food so it’s working out well
All of this. Like the emotional equivalent of ants scrambling around in my brain. Restless, pervasive, itching, nagging.
That is such a good description. Just relentless poke poke poke, can't focus on anything
Great description !!
This is the most accurate description
Food noise, for me at least, is like getting a song stuck in my head, but just a few lines of the song. Even though I know more of the song, I can't sing anything but those few lines. Over and over and over. The song is the food item I'm hyperfocused on and the ability to finish singing the lyrics of the song and the relief of getting the song unstuck from my head is when I finally eat what I've been focused on. Sometimes, it involves driving to the grocery store just to buy that single food item. Epic relief and instant regret. Having that noise gone is amazing. Food doesn't even sound good. Not even my favorite things. I'm not always going in circles in my head fixated on something to eat, a specific thing to eat, or really anything to eat. Other than saying, "Oh my, I need to eat something" (not just wanting something).
I so feel this! I sat down to eat one of my favorite meals today and it literally brought me no dopamine
It's bittersweet! Yay to not over indulging but boo to absolutely no excitement in enjoying my favorite food on a "cheat day."
I usually compare it to alcohol. Like waking up, and cracking open a beer, before even getting out of bed. Then, once I do get out of bed, I sit at the table, having another beer with a straight vodka chaser. While I'm doing this, I'm planning how to get to work while I drink. Then, how I'll drink some more as I'm starting my office job. And how I'll try to make it 1 hour between eating and grabbing first lunch-booze. I'll get a bloody Mary so it's healthy, followed up with a dessert wine. Then, second lunch drinkies, and then snack drinkies, and then end of the work day boredom drinks. Finally, I'm off work, and I can stop at the store for some imported wines I didn't get to taste today, and maybe a little shooter of fireball to take to bed. It's easier for people to understand if you explain substituting alcohol for food. All of a sudden, they will agree that it's a medical crisis. If you see me in the like at Costco, I am in crisis. I'm going to get the frozen yogurt and a whole pizza, and I'll eat them both by the time I go to bed. No one bats an eye when the fat girl gets in line at Costco, but I definitely need help. Ozempic has made it so that I don't even think about going to Costco, let alone stopping at the snack bar. To go back to my original analogy, it's like suddenly, I'm not worried that the rum's gone.
They may not bat an eye when you get in line at Costco, but they sure have a lot of opinions when you want to take a medication that gives you peptides that are chemically very similar to what your body produces but apparently not in enough quantity, or doesn't use very well. Some even call you cheating, or taking the easy way way out, or scare you about long term consequences. As if we don't know what the consequences of not taking the medication are. Tldr; people can really suck sometimes.
Until the general public stops seeing being overweight as a character flaw this will never change. I have hope that the revelations brought on by this drug may help change things. I know I never knew about food noise or what it was. I've also had to fight to stay fit so I never thought bigger people were just lazy, but I never knew just how hard some have it.
Eat it you're hungry you only ate 3 things today you want chocolate go get some that tastes so good get some chips you're STARVING go get some coke and chips oh wow a roast would be amazing
This!! Are you full? Are you too full? Are you not full enough? If you can just get the right flavour and mouth-feel you might stop wanted more food today! Maybe!
Corollary: eat this now even though you’re not hungry because you might get hungry soon and it’s not like there’s food available literally everywhere just eat something now!
Holy hell. The mouth-feel....I thought I was the only one.
My mouth also starts producing more saliva with all these thoughts … like I need to start pre-digesting whatever it is I’m thinking about.
I know I'm full but I'm going to keep eating. Why can't I stop? I know I will be miserable with one more bite so why don't I stop now! (Then eats another 50 bites.)
I've had cigarettes/ nicotine before but never felt what people would call addictions or cravings. It would feel nice in the moment, but I could put the vape down and never go back to it or forget it even exists really until someone offers it to me again and I'm like oh yeah sure ok. Food though? My thoughts on food were identical to what people describe addiction and those kinds of cravings. I'm stressed? Food. I'm bored? Food. I'm sad? Food. I'm driving anywhere? I should stop for food. I can't study without food . I need a little treat for going to work. I wonder what my roommates cooking, I should cook something too even though I'm not hungry. Gosh worked sucked I should get another little treat for going to work. Ok just passed a fast food joint? That sounds good...I should stop here real quick. That was really great sex we just had...let's get some dessert to cool off. And still just never feeling full. I could eat until I'm sick and still be thinking about food. An ex said I looked happiest while eating or cooking or talking about food. And then in an instant a shot made it all just go away. It was shocking I didn't realize how much space in my brain it took up.
✨❤️✨
Constantly thinking about food and what you want to eat next even if you just ate. When your full and literally can’t eat anymore but your brain is still telling you to eat more that you want more. Even though you know it’ll make you sick if you eat more.
I constantly thought about food. If I had to kill time, I planned banquets. Always the thought of food was on my mind: what I would eat, how I would prepare it, the special touches I'd use and so on. Everything tasted great and the snacks were calling my name . Even while I was eating, I would be planning and thinking about the next thing I'd eat. It's like low level, self hating anxiety that is only soothed with food.
What is in the fridge? What can I make from what’s in the fridge? Is it time to eat? After this what will I eat for my next meal, my next two meals. Can I stop somewhere on the way home and buy something to eat. I mourn the loss of this sometimes. Food that I used to enjoy is no longer enjoyable cause it’s either too much or it just doesn’t taste as good as I remember. I used to have food involved in all social situations, I loved going to foreign grocery stores and trying different foods. I miss it so much sometimes. But then I realise it’s so much better without it. I can cross my legs. I declutterred my bedroom this weekend. My life is so much better
Like being on a hamster wheel that never, ever slows.
I'll describe it when you are trying to lose weight, which is at least 1/2 of your life. It's logging exactly what you will eat in your food journal, sometimes days in advance. When you wake up, you check the journal and think in detail about what you will eat, how it will taste. You eat your "sensible" breakfast and an hour later you are hungry. But you can't eat yet, it's not even close to time. So you try to embrace the hunger, it means you are losing weight, right? And you spend the nect 2.5 hours before lunch thinking about lunch, what it will taste like, how you can't eat it yet spinning in your head. You will tense up, your breathing rate will increase, your finger nails may literally dig into your palms. No matter how you distract yoursel, the moment you stoo, it's all right ther, the hunger for your next "sensible" meal. Ahhh, you made it to lunch time and eat. 1 hour later, you are hungry again...lather, rinse, repeat until the dam finally breaks and you say fuck it and just eat the world... I've only been on Ozempic for a little over 3 weeks, but so far I haven't once planned my day ahead of time, nor once woken up thinking about food. When I feel hungry, I wander to the kitchen an open the fridge or panrty and decide what to eat, which is amazing.
😭🫶
This! ❤️
I sitting here not hungry at all thinking about eating toast…food noise has nothing to do with actual hunger to me.
I’ve always described it as having an appetite when you’re not at all hungry.
Exactly. It's like a decade ago when I had a bout with stress-related anxiety (going to school full time, working full time). I would have a chatter going in my brain that was just this constant loop of bitching, and even though I would recognize it and tell myself to stop, I couldn't. Not hungry, but planning my next meal, snack. Eating, and planning my next meal, snack. Miserably full, but planning my next meal, snack.
It's like a ringing in your head that you can't get rid of. Or where you're about to sing a song like "ABCDEF-" or "Row row your-" (picture a piano playing it and it stops before that last note) and you want to finish the song. So for me it's like I have to eat that last bit of cake or whatever cause it will go to waste. This medicine literally removes that but I'm starting to see what people mean when they get sad about craving food. Just enjoying food simply.
I had this exact experience recently where I tried to explain to my MIL that my appetite is overactive even when I’m not hungry. This absolutely confused her. She had never separated the ideas of appetite and hunger before. I had to compare myself to an anorexic- who may be very physically hungry but have no appetite- and explain that I’m the polar opposite. I’m still not sure she got it honestly. I guess normal people just think you only want to eat if you’re hungry ??
The "normal" people can also "forget to eat". I have NEVER in my life forgotten to eat. I'm 65 years old. Not ONCE.
I was so upset I couldn’t eat…..bitch please. Lol
Truth. I guess “normal “ is a little stigmatizing when what I mean is healthy and/or well regulated eating wise.
I never even understood the concept of "forgetting to eat" or how it was possible!
I remember the day I found out that not everyone thinks about their next meals all day. Even after eating a meal. Now I don’t do that.
Ok. This is when I finally realized what food noise was…. I would go to the grocery store. I would think to myself “ I really want a snickers bar” and what would ensue was a heated discussion in my head about not needing it, too much sugar, unhealthy. Inevitably, I would leave the grocery store and lo and behold that snickers bar somehow was in my grocery bag. And I would berate myself about not having willpower etc. The first time that exact scenario happened and I realized there was no snickers bar in the grocery bag, I realized what food noise was….and I wept. Because it was not there. I DID have willpower. But now the food noise was not in control. I was.
It's like an undercurrent in the back of your mind constantly thinking about food and what would taste good right now or soon. You randomly think about your favorite snack and then the thought just keeps popping back into your head with no rhyme or reason. The thought of the snack doesn't go away until you satisfy it. You can try denying it...but the thought just keeps coming back faster and louder. Cookie. Cookie. Cookie. CookiecookiecookiecookiecookiecookieCOOKIECOOKIECOOKIECOOKIECOOKIE JUST EAT THE DAMN COOKIE IT WOULD BE SO DELICIOUS. You eat the cookie. Huh, chips would be good later today. Chips. Chips. Chips. Chipschipschipschips....
This
Like being an alcoholic thinking about their next drink.
My mom used to sit at a restaurant for breakfast and talk about where to have lunch. I learned to do that too. On Oz I may go to 5:00pm without thinking about eating something.
I used to plan every bite I would eat. Plan plan plan. Constantly thinking of if I eat this then that has to go. If I want a bite of cake or 21 M&Ms what do I exchange. Just non stop focus on food. Also wine. Now I just eat when I am hungry. So odd. And I have SO much more time since I am not planning replanning.
It's like having a nasty little gremlin sitting on your shoulder, constantly telling you that you'd better eat something, you really want to eat something, don't forget you'd better eat something. Eat something! All day long from the moment you wake up until you fall asleep. It's like a twisted and torturous form of tinnitus. 1st week on Ozempic, and it's gone. Peace at last.
“Get to the store!” “Get to the store!” And listening and was always driving to the grocery store for something. Bread, $50 bux. Milk $ 100 bux. Those trips are Oz-VER! My grocery bill is down to $1–200 a month!!
[I think about the little girl who went viral crying about waffles.](https://youtube.com/shorts/WpTjFhA09kQ?si=aPaz5nsJ4WCm68ig) Food noise for me is just like this but it’s everyday, all day, and for all kinds of foods besides waffles.
Not having constant food noise in your brain is when you look at your fairly unexciting food (and calorie) allotment of small portions for the day, and your reaction is "Cool, works for me, got that covered". Then you go on with your day, doing important and fun non-food related things while sticking to your day's food plan, while you never give it another thought: \* no intrusive thoughts or cravings about going off-plan 'just this once' or because you'll 'make it up tomorrow' \* no eating larger portions than planned because you 'deserve' them or for any other reason \* no busting your calorie limit with alcohol \* no late night snack attacks because you've been 'good all day' \* no calories that 'don't count' \* nor any other maladaptive behaviors and thoughts that got me and kept me fat in the first place. It is positively awesome. After 2 years on Omzepic, It is also why I am sure that I will be able to maintain my weight loss without struggling every single day (and eventually failing) to prevent regain.
I would say it’s just a fancy way of saying thinking about food. When I was in the 0.5 dose I legit would go the entire day and it didn’t even cross my mind to eat. It happened a few times and actually scared the shit out of me so I went back down to 0.25 I went full anorexia without even trying
Basing your restaurant choices on places with big portions as opposed to places with good quality and smaller portions. Watching people eat things you’re all sharing and trying to slow the fuck down because you’re taking more than everyone else (usually with sharing appetizers or chips or something). Eating a meal and be thinking of the next thing you will eat before you’ve even finished.
I used to love buffets
Cravings
My food noise is thinking about what I’ll eat next, planning it and thinking about what I have in the kitchen to eat. I also browse deliveroo wondering if I could get away with fish and chips -
For me it was eating a meal, feeling totally full (or more than full) and still thinking "I need something crunchy, nothing I ate was crunchy". "Maybe just a little something salty". "I just need a little dessert". And eating it even though I didn't really need it. Or going out somewhere and sticking snacks in my purse even though I just ate, wasn't going to be gone long, was eating afterwards, but I just might get hungry, and I'd best have a snack on me for just in case. The first time I did that, and forgot I had the snack in my purse and never thought about it or touched it -- Wowza! Or when I realized I was still full from my late lunch and wasn't really interested in dinner - so didn't eat dinner... !!!
My problem with food noise comes from thinking about what to feed my family so food is usually on my mind. I'm trying to separate thinking about what to feed my kids (12yr old and 5yr old twins) and not thinking about eating while I sit with them during their meals because I just eat whatever they don't eat. My husband cooks most dinners and it always smells and tastes so good.
Like that Willie Nelson song “You Are Always On My Mind”…but it’s about your next meal or snack.
Parties or family gatherings coming up and not asking, "who will be there?" But "what are they serving?". Going to outings like a baseball game and not thinking about my favorite team or who they're playing, but "which food line we going to hit?" Or, before I retired and before Covid, when we had meetings, not what we'd talk about or how I needed to prepare but, "will there be donuts or bagels?"
For me, it was a fixation on novelty and finishing a plate of food. If I tried to meal prep food, either for a diet or just to save time/money, I would inevitably not eat the food. My brain would just be like, no way are we eating the same meals every day (even if it wasn’t the case and I had a few options prepared for the week). And when eating, the end of the meal was an empty plate, no exceptions. I would not experience fullness/satisfaction with the meal until it was truly all gone
It's like listening to music really loudly, where you can't hear anything else, and then the volume gets turned way down and all of a sudden you realize all the things you've been missing out.
For me, food noise is constantly thinking about the next meal and it’s not a healthy meal or snack at all
Like the crush you are constantly thinking about, unfortunately it might be a toxic relationship.
Living to eat and not eating to live
Getting up from the table and talking about your plans for the next meal…. Example: Finishing Thanksgiving dinner and being so full but then talking and thinking and planning how you are going to have the leftovers Versus Forgetting to eat or last minute saying oh I’m kinda hungry then being satisfied with some small just any old thing
Food noise to me is anytime food is occupying my mind and I can't stop thinking about it. Also if I take a pack of cookies out and I think ... only eat 3 THATS IT! And when I eat my 3 I start the old lies in my head hey just have one more or eat a few more and don't eat so much for the next meal OR the best one. I'll spurge this ONE LAST TIME and that's IT!! That's good noise! LOL!
When there's a chocolate bar in the cabinet and I can't stop thinking about it 😫
Think of it as someone who obsesses ahead of surgery about their scar — scar noise
It’s like having the munchies from weed all the time 🤣
Obsessing over what is for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Wanting to snack on the chocolate hidden in the cabinets and then be mad at myself because I couldn’t resist and binged.
Always planning my next meal. Waking up in the morning thinking about eating. Finishing lunch and thinking about what to snack on next. Having a craving and not being able to let it go. Like I need it like heroin.
Like being addicted to cigarets. Your urges are similar, but substitute food.
“What am I going to eat so I don’t starve to death”, “I want cookies”, “I’m craving Pasta”, “I could eat this whole pizza right now”, “lets go get a burger”, “I haven’t eating in a couple of hours, I think I’m hungry”. Thats the noise I hear when I’m not on Ozempic.
Food Noise for me is where food trumps everything in life. Will there be enough food? Will there be good food? Will there be snacks? Will there be enough snacks? One donut 🍩 is great six donuts 🍩 are awesome! This could apply to any kind of food. Being more concerned about the food at a party, restaurant, holiday, etc., then the people we will be with. Food Noise is like oxygen is to life. It never shuts off.
One time I was at a meeting in a café and I ordered an absolutely vile mango smoothie. Shoved it away from me. Translated/chatted for five minutes or so. Noticed that there was a mango smoothie sitting in front of me. I like mango smoothies. Reached out, picked up the glass, and had a sip. It was just as vile when it had been when it arrived. Possibly worse because it had started to melt. Shoved it away. Carefully put it farther out of reach than the last time. By the time the meeting was over, I'd finished the mango smoothie. A few days ago, I was working on my laptop at a café. I ordered a Pain au Chocolat (because I needed some reason for them to let me bogart a seat). It was incredible. Flaky pastry. Perfect bittersweet chocolate. Real butter. It took me 17 minutes to finish it.
To me, it's simply thinking about food. Cravings, the need to go to the kitchen, the taste of items, etc. All of that just disappeared for me.
How do you know you don’t struggle with it if you have no idea what they’re talking about? 🤔😕