Helppp

donnarooney663

Need to loose a stone and cant seem to budge a pound:( im hungry all the time and have totally went off chicken and salads any ideas? Thanks x

diannethegeek

Opening your diary or sharing some more details about your diet and routine might help to get you more specific advice. You might also poke around and take a look at some of the posts included in the "must reads" posts at the top of each forum section for some ideas.

These are my really general tips for hunger:

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.



And these are my very generic tips for weight loss stalls:

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

donnarooney663

Thanks so much for your reply. I dont really have the hang off this app yet so trying to figure it out still. I have brown bread toast and meat.for breaky chicken salad.for lunch and small portion of.pasta and salad for dinner i drink as much water as i can bt find it makes me hungrier. Im not doing much exercise except feom walking. X

TeaBea

When you don't have lots to lose weight comes off more slowly. With less than 15 pounds a 1/2 pound a week weight loss is good progress. The problem "measuring" 1/2 pound is the scale can lie (sort of). Too much sodium the day before = extra water weight, TOM = extra water weight, sore muscles = extra water weight. You need to be patient and give it time.

Get yourself a measuring tape. There may be weeks you lose inches but not pounds....it's still good.

You shouldn't be hungry all the time. You are either too low in daily calories or you could make better choices. There's a learning curve.

Protein, fat and fiber are filling. Experiment with some of your meals. I find a combination of the 3 works for me. Others find protein works best.

Chicken & salads all the time? Sounds boring. Eat regular food, just watch your portions. You don't need radical changes to lose weight.

donnarooney663

Thank you for your advice i will start eating normal foods but eat less of them. Also have a sweet tooth which doesnt help.

AverageJoeFit

You could try a body reset. Eat maitence calories for a week. Still log everything and exercise just like normal, but just eat your normal calories for your current weight.

My professional body building brother recommended it to me and it worked amazing on those plateaus. Good luck

donnarooney663

Thank you i will try.it. ive heard freen tea is good for weight loss but tastes horrid