How do you deal with hunger?

Alluminati

nikolausi88 wrote: »

For me hunger comes and goes in waves. Sometimes it's easy to eat at my calorie goal and I'm just happily cruising along, and other times I just want to eat everything in sight.

I have a few go to foods that really fill me up, like hard boiled eggs, protein bars, brussel sprouts or pretzels. So my first focus is to eat more of those foods.
The second step is to give myself less time to think about food, so more chores or outside activities.
And finally, if all else fails I just reduce my deficit for a week or so. It probably evens out in the long run, gives me a little mental break and might keep me from binging or giving up.

All of this.

85Cardinals

Intermittent fasting has really helped me deal with hunger a lot. Made me feel more in control. Thankfully we're sentient beings and not mere animals, slaves to any urge or whim that might pass thru our brain by chance.

endlessfall16

daniip_la wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

daniip_la wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

Eat more. There's absolutely no reason to starve yourself with a 1000 calorie deficit when you could still lose weight with a 500 calorie deficit.

Also, lots of protein, fat, and fiber, and less bread and 'empty' carbs.

As I explained in the first post, I'm far from starving myself. At my weight, I could have a 1500kcal deficit to lose 1% of my body weight a week.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Oh sure. You're always hungry and eat at an unnecessary deficit but you're not starving yourself.. whatever you say...

From a scientific standpoint, it's not possible that I'm starving myself.

I'm with you. We have as much chance to starve in this environment (US) as the chance of someone who wants to kill themselves by holding their breath.

After I have this realization, I became much more confident and comfortable in addressing some "hunger" discomfort, as opposed to getting worried and running to foods immediately. That's one of the big keys in my success.

Onto your questions, I keep a box of cashew, brazil nuts around. A few of them with water will take care of my out of control hunger which I rarely have anymore. That's addressing the symptom. I pay attention to the pattern. Usually the last large carbs filled meal, or one exactly the same time the day before, would cause this hunger. It's conditional. Sodas, donuts and their brethren, eaten several hours before and not disposed properly, tend to cause this kind of hunger for me.

JustAnotherOneOfThoseGirls

the best trick to weight loss (for me anyway) is to never feel hungry, if you do, binges are more likely to happen, as well as cravings for sugary/fatty/etc foods, and willpower can only get you so far. I either buy or make up a big bag of peppers, carrots, cucumber etc and literally stuff myself with them until I feel full, you can eat large quantities of fruits and veggies without destroying your diet, and plus you don't have to deal with the hunger. For example, I have been known to munch through an entire brocolli for one mid-morning snack. If this sounds real boring, you can season with low fat butter or dip veggies in salsa/low fat sour cream etc. good luck

khhregister

subakwa wrote: »

Stock / bouillon as a drink. Convinced me I am eating and fills me up.

Savoury is always the key for me.

This is me as well. I get "over sweet" very easily and so many 100-200 calorie snack suggestions are sweet. I'm sick of sweet protein bars and sweet protein milkshakes. It's easy for me to eat an extra 200 calories that way and still not be satisfied because it feels like a "treat" and not like proper food.

I make an unsweetened protein fluff for when I work out - flavoured with PB2 and milk, and even the sugar in milk makes it taste sweetish to me.

Whenever I get a rotisserie chicken or roast a chicken myself (about once every 2-3 weeks) I set up a huge pot of broth made from the carcass and leftover bits of onion, celery, and carrots in my slow cooker. I let it go overnight and it gets a very deep colour and a complex flavour. Cheap and super-easy, and much tastier than the canned broth. From one chicken I can make ~ 10 cups of broth. Whatever I don't drink plain, I use in recipes like soups and stews. Freezes really well, too.

MsBuzzkillington

From a scientific standpoint, starving yourself is eating below your BMR, so a person could be eating 1000 calories and still technically starving themselves. Just because they are eating doesn't mean they aren't starving their body.

I would recommend just eating when you're hungry. Eating is good for you.

Eleonora91

I am always hungry even though I am not starving myself too! Most of the time it's still bearable, sometimes it gets too much but I just can't eat any more - that would basically erase my deficit! I try to keep myself busy as much as I can. I've noticed that I am barely hungry between my main meals if I've got a lot to study or if I'm running around the city. So I have come to the conclusion that, even though I am partially hungry due to be eating less than my manteinance calories, part of it is just boredom/stress/anger that I can't actually recognize. Once you've become used to turn to food as a comfort for so long, it becomes a pattern, so it's hard to break the habit! Whenever I find my hunger to cross the painful stomach mumbling point, I try to eat something that wont't at least make a big damage - carrots, celery, fruit, crackers, and lots of water. I've also tried to find the perfect combination of foods that will keep me satisfied all day long - which means I usually have salad for lunch, bread and veggies at dinner, and always have a piece of fruit at the end of each meal! Food volume seems to play a big role for me - you should try to find what works best for you!

leanjogreen18

These are what helps me...

7-8 hrs of sleep at night (I take Olly melatonin to help with sleep)
plenty of water
fiber
full fat (no low fat anything)
protein
eating on or 1/2 quest protein bar in-between meals helps when I'm really struggling

sunnybeaches105

I eat mostly dairy, meat and vegetables and do cardio