How do you reduce your appetite/stomach size? Should that be the goal?

beautifulsparkles

I am greedy and want to eat the time. I have thought about making low calorie vegetable soup and drinking it through the day or trying out volumetrics, but that doesn't deal with learning to eat less, and it could end up being expensive and time consuming... one person seemed to suggest eating up to 10 egg whites at a time, and it costs about $4 for 12 eggs here.

Basically, I'm scared if I start losing weight again and eventually get to my goal, I will still want to eat all the time, and be a big eater, and I don't want to be like that.

I tried drinking lots of water like a trainer suggested, but I needed to pee like every 20 minutes. Got a bit sick of that, especially when I was out walking the dog and there was no toliet around!

What would you suggest?

Densans

Protein fluff is the solution, at least for me when it comes to volume.

beautifulsparkles

Densans wrote: »

Protein fluff is the solution, at least for me when it comes to volume.

Is that expensive? do you need lots of ingrediants? How do you make it? I don't want to eat anything too processed and I don't know if I could get the ingrediants easily in New Zealand. I am on a low income.

I remember being less hungry when I had protein powder everyday. I have also considered getting appetite suppressants.

amusedmonkey

It's okay to be a little bit hungry come meal time. Hunger isn't scary. I suppose the goal is to learn how to accept a little bit of hunger every now and then as normal. I found that one of the best things I learned while losing weight is that I'm not supposed to be feeling uncomfortably full all the time, and having some days where I'm hungrier than others (pesky hormones) is not the end of the world.

Now if you are hungry all the time, that's different. It's okay to want to eat larger volumes of food and to carry that into a sustainable maintenance. Just figure out what items are cheap both money-wise and calorie-wise and build a list. It's hard to give you specifics because what is filling to one person may not be for another, and what is cheap in one place may not be in another. Personally, I drink a lot of tea throughout the day and eat a lot of vegetables, but most vegetables are generally cheap here.

Protein fluff is basically protein powder with milk beaten in a mixer until fluffy. Some like to add a tiny bit of xanthan gum for consistency (I do) and other stuff like berries, vanilla..etc for flavor. It's a nice large-sized snack that will hold you nicely until it's time for a real meal.

kommodevaran

You can't reduce your stomach size, but you can retrain your brain. Our (western/modern) society enourages greed and impatience. We need to find an alternative so that we can feel happy and content getting just what we need. Remember that we aren't supposed to stop eating - just stop overeating. I don't believe in volumetrics myself - in my opinion that is still overeating, just on less nutritious food. I find that a good balance of tasty foods from all the food groups works best for me. And eating real meals, no snacking/grazing. Looking forward to eating has become part of the pleasure of eating. Check out "the hunger scale" and Allen Carr's Easyweigh. I read about the iDiet today, it actually presents many ideas that I have used successfully alongside MFP.

beautifulsparkles

I think I do tend to graze, the only meal I definately sit down for is dinner.

Alarae21

I found that having a protein shake for breakfast helped me. I drink it throughout the morning so it satisfies me until lunch.

Protein helps me stay fuller for longer.

BettyEtte

Oatmeal. I eat old fashioned oatmeal for breakfast, 1 pack of oatmeal for mid-morning snack, small apple for 3:00 pm snack, 1 pack oatmeal at 5:30 pm as pre-workout snack. Lunch & dinner are usually a small salad, roasted vegies, & small portion of meat. Maybe too much oatmeal, but I haven't been hungry. Averaging about 1500 calories/day, & Misfit says I'm burning at least 2000 consistently. Losing 1 pound/week.

shadowfax_c11

Keep sliced/bit sized fruits and veggies around. Carrots are low cal, Celery Cucumbers, pickles (if you don't mind the sodium) all of these are really low in calories. You can essentially stuff yourself on them and not worry to much about the calories. Just skip the dips.

Francl27

Keep drinking water, the 'pee all the time' problem goes away eventually (mostly).

Otherwise, not much help here, I'm hungrier now than I was when I was losing, so yeah...

Adi4Fitness

Did you try looking into a low carb high fat diet? You'd still have to eat at a deficit to lose weight ... but it helps with satiety and reduces cravings due to the high amount of fat in your diet.

ClosetBayesian

beautifulsparkles wrote: »

I am greedy and want to eat the time. I have thought about making low calorie vegetable soup and drinking it through the day or trying out volumetrics, but that doesn't deal with learning to eat less, and it could end up being expensive and time consuming... one person seemed to suggest eating up to 10 egg whites at a time, and it costs about $4 for 12 eggs here.

Basically, I'm scared if I start losing weight again and eventually get to my goal, I will still want to eat all the time, and be a big eater, and I don't want to be like that.

I tried drinking lots of water like a trainer suggested, but I needed to pee like every 20 minutes. Got a bit sick of that, especially when I was out walking the dog and there was no toliet around!

What would you suggest?

Work on not being greedy. You have to want to lose weight more than you want to overeat. Decide which is a priority.

Being slightly hungry between meals isn't a bad thing. Pre-log your food for the day, and stick to that.

bendis2007

Being slightly hungry is ok. It's going to take a bit of time and work to reset your body so that eating smaller portions of food help you feel full longer.
I agree that some type of protein source helps to curb the hunger for longer. Also you DO need to start packing veggies and fruits as your snacking option. At my office I only have veggies, fruits, and measured trail mix. If I get hungry then I can munch on that and not go over on calories.

I'm also a big fan of beans! Cans of beans are super cheap (dried are even cheaper). You can make healthy bean salads, or I'll put some garlic powder and lime juice on mashed black beans and spread it on toast. Oatmeal is another option (sometimes I add a bit of protein powder to it as well which keeps me full for easily most of the morning)

If you find yourself desiring to snack you need to drink a little bit of water, and then get up and do something else. Go for a quick 5 minute walk, do some stretching, smelling peppermint oil or popping a breathmint can help to curb hunger pangs. I'd say if after 15-20 minutes you still feel hungry then maybe eat a small snack to tide you over.

It takes practice. Your body is used to doing whatever you did to put on the weight, and now you are actively trying to reset that. There may be some rough points, but as you keep it up you'll start to see improvements. I was the same way - I would snack and be hungry all day. For me it took about 5-6 months before I noticed that I was eating less and NOT getting hungry in between meals.
In regards to the bladder- you have to practice kegels and holding in the urine a bit longer each time ( not to a point of pain or severe discomfort). I had the same thing where I would drink a lot of water and get up to pee in the middle of the night 4-5 times - and I didn't have too much urine. So during the day when I felt the "urge" I would wait - first 5 minutes, then 10 minutes and so on. Now I don't have to urinate in the middle of the night The bladder can comfortably hold 500 mL of urine. However, if you use the restroom everytime you get the urge, then the bladder will start sending those signals that you need to urinate before you even get to the 500 mL. By practicing holding it for longer periods eventually you will be able to drink enough water and not need to void your bladder every 20 minutes. That or your drinking too much water in one go, and need to do smaller cups througout the day. Check your pee. If it's mostly clear - you're over-hydrating in one sitting and need to drink smaller cups. If you are only voiding small amounts every 20 minutes, then you need to start practicing holding it to allow the bladder to properly fill before voiding.

beautifulsparkles

Do you guys think maybe my food has too much flavour? I started adding lemon and soy sauce to things and I loved the taste so I keep eating and eating. Is it better to eat plain food if you are really hungry? Maybe I'm enjoying my food too much.

poteatkd

Francl27 wrote: »

Keep drinking water, the 'pee all the time' problem goes away eventually (mostly).

Otherwise, not much help here, I'm hungrier now than I was when I was losing, so yeah...

This^

When I started walking, I had 2 accidents in the first week. Out in public too.

Each week it got better and now I have no issues.

It does get better in time.

beautifulsparkles

shadowfax_c11 wrote: »

Keep sliced/bit sized fruits and veggies around. Carrots are low cal, Celery Cucumbers, pickles (if you don't mind the sodium) all of these are really low in calories. You can essentially stuff yourself on them and not worry to much about the calories. Just skip the dips.

I hate eating that stuff though. I don't like carrot or celery sticks, would rather eat them cooked. I love pickles but don't like the way they taste in New Zealand, like they are sweet rather than savoury. I like them in vinegar.

cwolfman13

beautifulsparkles wrote: »

I think I do tend to graze, the only meal I definately sit down for is dinner.

Establish a feeding schedule...sit down to eat your meals at a scheduled time. Have snacks at a scheduled time. That's pretty much how I fixed myself.

Also, take time to really appreciate what you're eating.

Grazing is basically a habit...habits can be difficult to break, but they can be broken...but in my experience, it takes doing something deliberate (like maintaining an eating schedule) to re-train and break the habit.

Larissa_NY

beautifulsparkles wrote: »

shadowfax_c11 wrote: »

Keep sliced/bit sized fruits and veggies around. Carrots are low cal, Celery Cucumbers, pickles (if you don't mind the sodium) all of these are really low in calories. You can essentially stuff yourself on them and not worry to much about the calories. Just skip the dips.

I hate eating that stuff though. I don't like carrot or celery sticks, would rather eat them cooked. I love pickles but don't like the way they taste in New Zealand, like they are sweet rather than savoury. I like them in vinegar.

You're going to have to choose, here. You can't keep eating food until you're ready to pop just because it tastes good, refuse low-calorie alternatives because you don't like them, graze all the time, and still expect to lose weight. Ultimately your success or failure will come down to whether you want to lose weight enough to make your health a bigger priority than instant food-related gratification.

If you want salty, fatty, high-calorie food you're going to have to learn to stop eating it while you still want more. If you want to eat enormous quantities of food, you're going to have to learn to love vegetables. In weight loss, as in everything else, there's no such thing as a free lunch. If eating the way you want to would make you thin, you'd be thin right now.

TxTiffani

On hungrier days I make sure I get more bites out of my food...I guess I'm trying to trick my brain that I'm eating more food. I slice my apples, carrots etc super thin so I get lots of bites out of them:)

ElvenToad

cwolfman13 wrote: »

beautifulsparkles wrote: »

I think I do tend to graze, the only meal I definately sit down for is dinner.

Establish a feeding schedule...sit down to eat your meals at a scheduled time. Have snacks at a scheduled time. That's pretty much how I fixed myself.

Also, take time to really appreciate what you're eating.

Grazing is basically a habit...habits can be difficult to break, but they can be broken...but in my experience, it takes doing something deliberate (like maintaining an eating schedule) to re-train and break the habit.

This is exactly what worked for me too.

rankinsect

I basically get around my large appetite by planning my days in advance. I know if I eat a meal early, I'll be hungrier later, so there's always the is-it-worth-it debate.

I like big meals, so I arrange my food such that I get a big dinner every day. I am not usually hungry in the mornings, so I take advantage of that - at work, I usually just eat two granola or protein bars (or my new favorite, baked oatmeal squares, god I love those), so then I can have a large meal when I get home. I also tend to make my dinner a meal that I personally find very filling - I keep track of which foods leave me feeling hungry soon after, and which give me a prolonged feeling of fullness.

endlessfall16

OP, the ultimate goal is to have full control over your eating. One way to have it is, you basically truly realize eating is just an action like brushing teeth, drinking water, going to bed, going to a movie, etc.

If you notice, the one problem that all struggling people have is they can't control their eating around foods, as if they're possessed by a food demon.

This is the state I'm reaching. Foods and eating no longer have the power to compel me to eat, if I do not want to. Eating doesn't have to be any more special than, say, building up your home.