Cannot believe how addicted i am to food

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gabbyo23
gabbyo23 Posts: 100 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm trying to stick to 1500 cals a day and I honestly feel like a drug addict going cold turkey.

I think about my next snack/meal constantly. I am ALWAYS starving hungry, biting my nails, fidgeting and talking about how hungry I am. It's ridiculous.

I feel like it shouldn't be this hard. Should it? Is everyone on here this hungry??

I guess I need to practice making my food more satiating and filling but low calorie....
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Replies

  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
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    Maybe you're not eating enough calories and have too much of a deficit. Losing weight shouldn't be that hard.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Losing weight should definitely not be that difficult. How large is your deficit? Perhaps you should try losing a little more slowly. It's better to consistently lose 1 pound per week over a long period of time than to try to lose 2 pounds per week but end up giving up after a few weeks because you're miserable.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    What are your weight and height, OP? And what kind of foods are you eating each day? As has been said, losing weight doesn't have to be that hard from a hunger perspective. If you give us more details we may be able to help you out a bit.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited October 2016
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    Making you food more satiating will def help.. Can you lower the rate of loss to give you more calories?

    Serious question.. Is this really hunger or are you and your brain having a fight with each other? You might be fighting or trying to rebel against the dieting right now, and you may also have some true hungers as you get used to eating less.

    I think you need to take a step back, breathe and work through it each time you start focusing on the hunger. Drink water, think about something else.. of course eat your meals and eat all your calories, but learn to control the mental aspects of this.

    Unless you have some medical issue, you should be able to calmly work through this. We have all been hungry it is a part of it. its how much you let it consume you and control behaviors is what is different?
  • gabbyo23
    gabbyo23 Posts: 100 Member
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    Thanks all. Roxiedawn I do think a rebellion aspect is a factor, I have a pretty big self destruct button, but also genuine hunger.

    I'm 5ft 4, and 13St 1. I have lost a stone so far...and I've lost 4 stone previously (pre twin pregnancy) on 1500 cals and I don't remember it being this hard. For background, I gained 2 stone during pregnancy, then 2 stone after through stress eating and too much junk.

    My diet is very simplistic as I find it hard to find time to eat...but I try to make it filling.

    Breakfast is either cereal with yogurt and banana or eggs and toast/omelette at weekend.
    Lunch is usually a ready meal to be honest, or baked potato and salad at weekend. Snacks and would be 10cal jelly, low fat yogurt, light cereal bar or small portion of chocolate/biscuit if I can work it in. I need a snack every couple of hours so I try to use stuff very low cal per portion so I can have a few of them.
    Dinner is pasta or stir-fry or something out of freezer with veg and rice.

    I am more than aware of all the downfalls of my diet, but I find it really hard to stay on top of calories when I have ten minutes to make and eat a meal so I try and keep it to things I can take out of a packet and just read the calories off the packaging- like salad bags and a ready meal.

    Is this why I'm so hungry? :neutral:

  • emjam99
    emjam99 Posts: 92 Member
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    I'm just like that too. I went from obese to a normal range but one thing that never changed was the addiction. I just found ways to get around it, no im not perfect but I've found distractions along the way to change my habits.
  • trailrunner81
    trailrunner81 Posts: 227 Member
    edited October 2016
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    You think youre addicted, Im in hyperphasia and need to eat up to 20k cals a day to get ready to hibernate.....

    All Jackassery aside it is a struggle, but I know it will get better, when I first started tracking and dieting consistently, it was such a struggle to keep my calories under and to not feel like I was starving. One thing that helped me was taking advantage of low calorie snacks more frequently throughout the day. And also giving myself little indulgences when I was really craving something crunchy or something sweet.
  • cross2bear
    cross2bear Posts: 1,106 Member
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    Unhealthy eating habits are tough to break, but they are just habits, and they CAN be modified. Sometimes you just have to tough it out, and decide whats more important to you - being successful on your journey, or giving in to a momentary temptation that probably is not as good as you imagine it to be, will be gone in a few minutes and will make you feel miserable for having given in to your urges!

    Sometimes it is hard. I have had nights when I literally paced the kitchen, listening alternatively to the devil and the angel on my shoulders - will I? Wont I? Could I? Should I? Sometimes the angel won, and sometimes the devil won. Meh - its one slip on a lifetime journey. I'll live, but everytime the angel wins, I am one step closer to beating that devil!
  • Elise4270
    Elise4270 Posts: 8,375 Member
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    Some great advice here, more protein and fat. When I have the runaway hunger I make soups. You can eat it til your stuffed and likey haven't wrecked your calorie goal. Make sure to get some exercise, it helps with hunger.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    I don't really like drinking water all that much, but I do find it helps just a little to close those gaps between meals and snacks. I've toyed with making meals bigger so I snack less (and eat more calories at once to get that feeling-full satisfaction). Fats tend to help me feel the most awesome and less unhappy. I'm only about 6 weeks in, and I'm still figuring out what works well for me. The first two weeks were definitely a shock to my system going from eating 3000+ calories a day to somewhere in the range of 1250-1400. Now, even after only a short time (and a lot of water I drink with protest because I would usually drink soda), sometimes I find it hard to get in all 1250 (not so hard that I don't have a great piece of toast and jam before bed which is totally primo).

    Also, I'm sorry that I'm the person to tell you to drink more water because seriously that's the most annoying thing ever. But do it. Drink it. Be it.
  • cqbkaju
    cqbkaju Posts: 1,011 Member
    edited October 2016
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    As several have said, drink more fluids. Water, no-calorie flavored water, diet soda.. whatever you can for now.
    Many people who are used to constantly snacking etc have borked the signals in the brain so they think they are hungry when they are really just dehydrated or thirsty. That can take a while to sort out.

    *this all presumes you are getting a decent nutritional profile with sufficient vitamins, minerals and protein. MFP lets you track this, so you should be... If you are exercising you should probably be in the neighborhood of 0.8+ gram of protein for each pound of body weight. Your diet should at LEAST be at 40% protein, IMO. 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% fat is a decent starting point.
  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
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    More protein. It was a revelation to me - before I wasn't even getting the minimum 45 grams a day required for a sedentary female, let alone the 100 grams a day I should be getting since I'm doing a lot of exercise & weight lifting! I'm the same height as you and about 11st 4.

    More veggies!! Veggies have almost no calories and far more filling than packaged snacks.

    Less packaged foods more real foods (try an apple instead of a biscuit, etc). Less high sugar or high carb foods- try rice, potato, quinoa or sweet potato instead of pasta. High carb and high sugar foods really increase your hunger level. Don't cut out carbs completely of course, just go for complex carbs, veggies, and low sugar fruits like berries. If you go to the bottom of your diary and click on "nutrition" you can see if you're eating the right proportions of protein, carbs, fat, and sugar. If you see that you're over your carbs and/or sugar allowance for the day that is probably why you're always hungry.

    You might actually have food addictions, I'm a refined sugar addict. I have it under control now but have to be constantly vigilant. You may be experiencing food addiction withdrawal if you recently cut out refined sugar or dairy- both have addictive qualities. High fat foods & salt can as well.

    You may want to slightly increase your calories until you are less overwhelmingly hungry, try 100 more calories a day, or maybe even 200 more and see how it goes.

  • courtneyfabulous
    courtneyfabulous Posts: 1,863 Member
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    markrgeary1 wrote: »
    My nephew is an addict he's doing 5 years in state prison for robbery. Do you really feel like robbery to feed your addiction? He's losing weight in there, food stinks, so maybe that works.

    Try eating more protein and fat less processed carbs.

    Drugs are expensive and hard to come by- hence the robbery to support the addiction... junk food is cheap and everywhere. No need to commit robbery, just buy a candy bar.

    Also addictions can have different levels... most people are addicted to coffee and don't even know it, but if you take it away they will get cranky & tired and have a headache. It's not like the withdrawals of coming off heroine, but it's still a withdrawal reaction from addiction. Cigarettes are more addictive than coffee but less than crack. Refined sugar has been found to have about the same addictivenes as cocaine.

    Very sorry to hear about your nephew.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I've found that eating more often can really help. Just eat fewer calories at a sitting. I usually eat 6 meals per day, three are 100 calorie or so snacks, the other three are 200-400 calorie "meals". I'm happier this way than eating three larger meals per day but everyone is different. Play around with meal timing and content and see if you can find a combination that works best for you.

    As others have said, incorporate more low calorie foods into your day, like raw veggies that are easy to snack on and will fill you up for far fewer calories. I need more protein since I lift weights so I'll often have a dip made from Greek yogurt (tastes like sour cream but is almost all protein, not fat) for my veggies.
  • Gena575
    Gena575 Posts: 224 Member
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    Are you breastfeeding? And chasing after two babies/toddlers *may mean your activity level is higher than you think. I would honestly reevaluate that and/or your deficit. With 30/40lbs to go you should be at a lb/week rate. The extra calories there would go a long way toward more fat and protein.

    Batch cook some chicken on the weekend and portion in 3-4 ounce packets. They make awesome toppers for salads, baked potatoes, even as a quick wrap. Dress with a bit of bbq sauce, Sriracha and mayo or salad dressing (20-70 calories) and it won't get nearly as boring.
  • cqbkaju
    cqbkaju Posts: 1,011 Member
    edited October 2016
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    Gena575 wrote: »
    Are you breastfeeding? And chasing after two babies/toddlers *may mean your activity level is higher than you think.
    Playing Devil's Advocate here... It statistically more likely for people to over estimate when it comes to calories burned than for them to under estimate. Just as it is more common to under estimate the calories consumed.

    My advice is to up the protein, water and exercise for a couple of months before trying to increase calories.

  • gabbyo23
    gabbyo23 Posts: 100 Member
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    Gena575 wrote: »
    Are you breastfeeding? And chasing after two babies/toddlers *may mean your activity level is higher than you think. I would honestly reevaluate that and/or your deficit. With 30/40lbs to go you should be at a lb/week rate. The extra calories there would go a long way toward more fat and protein.

    Batch cook some chicken on the weekend and portion in 3-4 ounce packets. They make awesome toppers for salads, baked potatoes, even as a quick wrap. Dress with a bit of bbq sauce, Sriracha and mayo or salad dressing (20-70 calories) and it won't get nearly as boring.

    Thank you, I'm not breastfeeding however. Also, only one of my little ones is crawling at the moment so I don't think I'm burning much more than the average person really. Not yet anyway
  • gabbyo23
    gabbyo23 Posts: 100 Member
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    Thanks everyone. I will defiantly improve my fluid intake a lot....I often forget to drink enough (apart from coffee).

    Also will look at protein, although mfp usually tells me I hit my goal, as I eat eggs and quorn quite often. I think I'm maybe just adjusting.

    Before starting this again my diet was literally the worst......so so bad........like...4 slices of toast and butter for bfast, just loads of crisps for lunch, and probably some cake. And a massive plate of pasta and fatty sauce for dinner, with desert, and a few glasses of wine. And snacks in between. Every day. No wonder I'm struggling now.

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