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Comment by hhjinks | Hacker News Reader

A bit of a tangent, but the fact that some people just never feel full is so strange to me. My feeling of fullness feels like being literally full; like my stomach would distend uncomfortably if I ate more. How can one not have this sensation? The stomach can only fit so much food. Would physically expanding my stomach cause me to have to eat more to feel full, or is what I feel just an "illusion?"

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I can only speak for myself, but I normally only feel full after eating a much larger amount of food than other people. There is a point where I feel like I can't (or shouldn't) fit more food in my stomach, but it only happens after I've eaten thousands of calories.

Like the GP, I am now on semaglutide, and the difference is remarkable. I now have a new sensation where I just don't want to eat more -- it takes mental effort to force down additional food even if my stomach is mostly empty. It's still easier to eat sweets than healthier food, but the overall reduction in appetite more than makes up for it.

Unless I am eating something like unseasoned celery, the feeling of being physically unpleasantly full only comes after I've eaten way too much food. If I ate to the point of feeling full on a regular basis I'd be getting something like 4000 calories per day.

The feeling of full is still there. That's not the issue. The issue is that you don't feel satisfied unless you're full.

Whereas people like my wife can feel satisfied before they are full. After Semaglutide, I now feel satisfied before I'm full, and then the full feeling comes after.

Effectively stopping me from overeating both the amount in a single meal, and then the meals in between.

Given that gastic stapling/restrictive surgeries exist, perhaps this is related?

I have a severely obese friend who got such a surgery. He is substantially healthier now, shedding over half his original body weight.

EDIT: But see other replies on satiation vs fullness.

Louis CK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be-NXGbepU0

I feel full, I sometimes even feel awful after binge eating, but I feel full after maybe 5000-6000 calories. That‘s just too much.

By having a bigger stomach would be a safe guess.

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