Do the hungries go away?

knystress

Sooooooo...

I'm in a new town with no friends and no job yet and I've gained 20lb. I want to kick-start my weight loss now that the holidays are over and everything is back to boring old normal. I'm motivated and determined to get down to around 160 (I'm 5'8"), but I'm just so darn hungry all the time! Does it go away? Or am I going to be hungry and cranky for the rest of my life if I want to be at a healthy weight?

diannethegeek

These are my really general tips for hunger, since we don't know anything about your diet or exercise routine:

1. Make sure that your calorie goals are actually set appropriately. Don't skip this step. A lot of people set goals that are too aggressive and then wonder why they're having a hard time. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

2. Look for foods higher in protein, fat, and fiber. These help us stay full and more satisfied longer. If you're using MFP's default settings, try to consider protein, fat, and fiber as minimums to reach every day rather than maximums to stay below.

3. Drink plenty of fluids. Some people really do confuse thirst and hunger.

4. Get plenty of rest. This includes sleeping enough and taking rest days from the exercise. Sometimes our bodies look for food when they're exhausted.

5. Play around with your meal timings. Some people do really well on 5-6 small meals a day and others feel like they want to gnaw their own arm off eating like that. Skipping breakfast, eating breakfast, 16:8 fasting, 6 small meals, 3 larger meals, snacks, no snacks, meal timing won't make a big difference to your weight loss, but it may help your hunger levels, mood, concentration, gym performance, etc. throughout the day. Don't be afraid to try a different way and see if it helps.

6. Wait it out. If you know you're eating enough and the other steps above aren't helping, you may just have to wait it out. Our bodies send out hunger signals partially out of habit. If you eat at a certain time every day your body will start to get hungry at that time. The good news is that these signals can be retrained to stop telling you to be hungry all the time. The bad news is that you may just have to be hungry for a little bit while that happens.

7. I also think it's important to remember that there's a habitual component to hunger. This goes along with point #6, but if you eat because you're bored or you're used to eating in front of the TV or in the car or whatever it is, then you can replace those habits with others that are better for you. Things like keeping water on hand to sip instead of snacking or picking up hobbies that keep your hands busy or that get you out of the house more can help out a little while you're retraining your hunger cues. You might need to pay attention to why you're eating/hungry or what you're feeling when you eat and try to replace food with other things, but it can be really beneficial over time.

knystress

Thanks, it's good to hear concrete tips for reducing hunger. I'm trying my best to drink plenty and keep the foods healthy and high in protein, but I'm still struggling. It seems like it might be a wait it out sort of situation.

Fingers crossed that the motivation continues to override the hunger!

karen_fitzgibbon

I cheat and if I'm hungry, I'll drink a glass of water... That usually distracts my stomach and gets me hydrated at the same time.

Francl27

I agree with setting a reasonable goal and eating plenty of protein, fat and fiber... I love carbs but I know that if I eat too many of them, I'll just be hungry. If you opened your diary it would probably help us make suggestions.

I lost weight eating 1700 calories mostly and it was fine, it's just been harder as I got close to my goal weight, and some days I'm just really hungry at 1800-2000 calories... but typically as long as I make good choices, I'm fine.