What do you do to battle random hunger?

zupperman87

Ok so to start out, I really put my diet into effect as of 12/26; the day after Christmas. So within the last 25 days I have already lost 21.8lbs as of today. Now by no means do I starve myself. I follow my allotted calorie consumption along with multi vitamins everyday. I my macros around 90% of the time. But sometimes I get hungry. To explain a little bit I started at 260lbs with a goal weight of 180. Now I'm not looking to shed the weight in super fast mode, however it has she fed easily. I use an exercise bike for 45 minutes a day. (5 minute warmup, 10 minute medium pace(medium resistance), 2 minutes vigorous(increase with resistance), 10minute medium, 2 minute vigorous, 10 minute medium, 1 minute vigorous, 5 minute cool down). Also the calories the app says is 1680. With the exercise I put in, I only eat half of the calories back)

But my question, when you're hungry what do you do to control it? Sometimes I feel when I drink 2 cups of water that the hunger goes away. Is my body still confusing hunger and thirst? Any input would be great.

tracefan

Do you have a lot to lose? because you are losing almost a pound a day. To battle hunger drinking the water is the best thing to do. I usually try to grab a healthy snack. egg white, cheese stick, carrots/hummus, raw peppers that helps but basically I try to keep busy.

allenpriest

I'll eat a few dried apricots or a forty calorie mini box of raisins.

kshama2001

You're hungry because you're not eating enough. Losing almost a pound a day IS losing weight in super fast mode. How many calories are you netting per day after exercise?

CoffeeNCardio

People frequently find that they lose a lot of weight in the first month or so, very quickly, and then the loss calms down and slows to a more steady and healthy rate. If you are in the obese BMI or higher, expect to loose quickly initially, then slow down. If you were already fairly small, with less than about 50lbs to lose, it might be a different situation, but this is common if you have 50+ to lose.

I battle random hunger with distraction about 90% of the time, and about 10% of the time with pure white-knuckle effort. Those times are rare that I have to actually willfully power through it. I keep a list of stuff I enjoy doing that eats my brain. You know, the activities that really zonk you out and make you lose track of time. Play a video game, re-read my favorite chapters in books, re-watch my favorite scenes from movies I love (Avengers Assemble!!!). Especially fun is throwing on a couple of youtube Epic Fail videos. There's something cathartic about watching skateboarders wipe out to good music and canned laughter, what can I say?

That's all at home stuff that you couldn't get away with at work. For work, I sip, very very slowly, and repeatedly reheat the same cup of coffee all day. I make it a little too strong and a little not-sweet-enough so I don't chug it, but it's a welcome burst of flavor that distracts my taste-buds from whatever I'm craving at any given moment. That's the same method I used to quit smoking.

End of the day though, make sure what you're doing is avoiding CRAVINGS. You don't want to ignore your body's perfectly normal hunger ques. In fact, it's important you learn everything about those ques to help you keep the weight off later. Too often people gain weight because they eat when they AREN'T really hungry, and eventually you lose the ability to tell the difference between hunger and sadness, or hunger and boredom. Don't deny your body the fuel it requires WHEN it requires it. Make every effort to ask yourself "Am I really hungry? Or is this boredom? Or is this a specific flavor craving I'm having".

crb426

I try water or a cup of hot tea.

Then if I'm still wanting to munch and feel like I'm going to start making bad choices, I reach for a 100 calorie granola bar (thin mint flavored!) or something similar. I figured if I can find a snack for about 100 calories it won't hurt too much.

KANGOOJUMPS

I walk out the door and go for a walk, run, bike, whatever. get going.

zupperman87

My body fat % was high a over a month ago. I had it measured at my friends clinic but I never wrote down the number. I usually have red/green peppers on the daily to snack on. It's only random times-- not even everyday. Just sometimes I'll be watching TV and I'll just feel hungry. But sometimes it's hard to differ from hunger and thirst. But so far water has seemed to work.

callsitlikeiseeit

i would be worried about that rapid of weight loss.

really worried, actually.

are you WEIGHING your food on a scale? ALL OF IT?

anyways....

hot tea if i dont have calories to spare. or today i had a big spoonful of peanut butter still within my calories though lol

corinne1977

Good job on your weight loss so far. Sounds like you're going to do great. I don't have much to add here but I do drink tons of water during the day which tends to helps. The supplements I take curb a Iot of the hunger but if I do need a little something more I eat a piece of fruit or some nuts. Keeping myself busy with chores or exercise and my mind off food helps also. My worse time to snack use to be at night in front of the TV just out of boredom. This is the time I find to crochet or respond to messages.

zupperman87

Everything I eat is weighed on food scale. So all my foods are logged in grams and etc. For example each component of my dinner like tonight with chuck roast and the veggies that go along with it are all weighed on a dish before I eat. People need to note that I'm not that hungry all the time. It's only maybe 1 time in a week. I feel full majority of the day. My diet is well balanced with veggies, fruits and lean meats. Usually with 45 minutes of exercise bike it adds 500 calories during my workout in which I consume an extra 250 calories. So on most days my total calorie intake on average is about 1950 give or take. I'm rarely hungry. Just want to know about the random hunger strikes that do occur.

jenniferpiotrowski0

Sometimes I just put chia seeds into my snacks or try to eat something filling or I drink water and that usually helps tame my hunger

jrob2and2

For me it's hot green tea. It works majority of the time, the other small percentage of time it's just willpower or staying active until meal time.

AilishMulholland183

8/10 your body is actually thirsty rather than hungry everyone just relates to it as hunger pains. I usually keep drinking water regularly. Either that or have a banana It’s loaded with resistant starch (RS), a healthy carb that fills you up and helps to boost your metabolism and helps to fight the cravings!

zupperman87

Yeah, as of anytime I felt hungry I have filled that void with 1-2 glasses of water. That was an issue of mine before I started watching calories. I would just eat when bored because I thought I was.

RavenLibra

The company nutritionist I used to see prescribed the "hunger rating" philosophy to creating a balanced nutrition plan... spend some time evaluating your hunger patterns... and rate your hunger from 1-10... 1 being so hungry your thinking of tryin gto find a table somewhere to see if there's some gum there... to 10 being so full you run (waddle) away in fear if you see someone with a sharp object. the idea find the median... +/_ 2 points in either direction... eat when you dip as low as 2 or 3... and stop eating when you hit 8+...the guiding principle is that by keeping a balance.. you are less prone to binging when you are overly hungry... and less likely to overeat... or eat out of boredom... the focus being literally asking yourself... "am I hungry?; how hungry am I? Some key points...

balance... get your macros in order.. if you think or feel a craving for certain foods.. chances are your macros are out of whack... review your eating habits the previous couple of days and see where the craving is coming from... find a vitamin D supplement... ( you can research the benefits yourself); drink lots of water... eat a well balanced breakfast. start the day with protein... protein takes longer to digest and will keep you full for longer... eat 5 times/day... and be choosey... you want to make sure what you eat is nutrient dense... as an example... you can eat 20 grams of cashews... or 20 grams of almonds... once again I invite you to compare the nutrient and macro values of these two "nuts"

The great thing is YOU are looking for knowledge... stay on track... and remember... losing weight quickly WILL leave you with excess skin... which is cool if you are a sharpei ,or blood hound... not so cool if you are a human... thankfully us Emu's have feathers covering our skin... so lose saggy skin isn't an issue for me :P

guinevere96

I read a tip on this site once that every time you get hungry, drink 8 ounces of water and see if youre still hungry. It REALLY helps me, especially at my desk job where its so easy to mindlessly eat.

senecan

Wintergreen snuff, diet soda. Water. Watch motivational videos

Lovee_Dove7

zupperman87 wrote: »

Ok so to start out, I really put my diet into effect as of 12/26; the day after Christmas. So within the last 25 days I have already lost 21.8lbs as of today. Now by no means do I starve myself. I follow my allotted calorie consumption along with multi vitamins everyday. I my macros around 90% of the time. But sometimes I get hungry. To explain a little bit I started at 260lbs with a goal weight of 180. Now I'm not looking to shed the weight in super fast mode, however it has she fed easily. I use an exercise bike for 45 minutes a day. (5 minute warmup, 10 minute medium pace(medium resistance), 2 minutes vigorous(increase with resistance), 10minute medium, 2 minute vigorous, 10 minute medium, 1 minute vigorous, 5 minute cool down). Also the calories the app says is 1680. With the exercise I put in, I only eat half of the calories back)

But my question, when you're hungry what do you do to control it? Sometimes I feel when I drink 2 cups of water that the hunger goes away. Is my body still confusing hunger and thirst? Any input would be great.

Do you track sugar? You can try this: for three days, reduce your sugar intake to 15g or less. Exclude fruit and fructose from your diet for those days. Fructose stimulates your appetite.

motterotter

Seconded drinking water increases your exercise too you have to pee so you get up and find all the bathrooms on your floor are occupied and then you do the pee walk of desperation until u find one empty

motterotter

Pee walk of desperation is At least 100 steps for me

bspringer544

Great job on the weight loss! If I were you I would slow it down, though, especially if you're hungry. You might still be starving your body even though you're reaching your macros. I know it can be frustrating when you're losing so fast but it's really the better way to go.

I would save calories for apples. Every time you get a craving or feel hungry grab a couple slices of those, down a glass of water, and go for a couple spins on your stationary. Exercise is really great for curbing hunger.

texasf1ght

This seems to be my biggest battle... trying to stay under my calorie limit. I feel like I'm always hungry. I know how to portion control, I know how to count my calories and macros, my nutrients. I've been at this for a couple of years now and successfully lost weight, but I still want to lose more.

Lots of people have told me that I'm not eating enough, but I sort of quit counting everything for about 3 months and just tried eating however much I felt like I needed of good, whole foods. I stayed within the same 2-3 lbs during that time, and did not lose more weight. I wasn't as hungry, which was nice, but I also wasn't reaching my goal. I workout 5-6 days a week with a combination of strength training and cardio. I do a boot camp style workout and it is never the same. I'm SO lost as to what to do next.

Every time I eat, I'm only taking away the hunger, I never ever feel full (which I know is not necessarily a bad thing). I can eat something loaded with fiber and be hungry again within an hour. When I see people around me continuing to lose weight and being completely satisfied with 1,200-1,500 calories per day I start to wonder what the heck is wrong with me and my appetite.

AnnPT77

I'd first try water, or hot herb tea (regular tea or green tea is fine if the caffeine is OK at the time), distraction, or short activity (exercise). If I felt hungry out of habit (if there was some situational cue that was making me feel like eating), I'd try to find a new response to the trigger.

But if the hunger persists, I'd eat.

At times like that, I would usually pick something with protein and fat, in a reasonable portion size - like half an ounce of nuts, a snack size individual cheese, an ounce of crunchy chickpeas or dry-roasted soybeans, or some lowfat cottage cheese. Or, if more hungry, and apple with some peanut butter on it. Sometimes higher-volume, lower calorie additions to the fat/protein help (jicama, cucumber, broccoli, cabbage, etc., or even grapefruit or tangerine).

(P.S. I'm saying "would" rather than "do" here not because I'm being theoretical. It's because I'm now very near maintenance weight, and it isn't particularly an issue for me anymore - I'm describing what I did when it was a more common event for me.)

I don't think avoiding fruit is necessary or desirable. For me, eating fruit has helped derail cravings for empty-calorie sweets.