How do you beat the cravings and hunger during dieting and exercising??

LeaMarie8031

I have taken into account some advice and have started adding more to my daily intake. So far so good I must say. Just a couple extra 100 calories or so has made some diffenrence. I also pushed dinner back even later. I was eating around 9pm-ish when I came home from the gym, now 10-ish.

bekahlou75

One of my go to snacks for when I'm super hungry is a pack of flavored tuna. It's only about 80 calories and you can get several different flavors. Hot tea at night helps me too. It adds something to my stomach and makes me feel full.

Unknown

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kshama2001

LeaMarie8031 wrote: »

I know cravings sometimes gets us all and a lot of us have our own way of dealing with them. So I ask, How do you handle your cravings? Another question on my mind, Working out tends to increase appetite making you even more hungry during dieting. How do you manage that?

Several people have asked if you're eating back your exercise calories and I don't recall you answering that.

MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

LeaMarie8031

I don't usually eat my calories back and if I do I only eat a small portion back. And when I asked the questions to start the discussion I was really just wondering how everyone else deals with their own issues with diet and fitness (if any). I wasn't necessarily asking for advice for myself. However, I do pay attention and learn some tips from everyone's answer.

kshama2001

LeaMarie8031 wrote: »

I don't usually eat my calories back and if I do I only eat a small portion back. And when I asked the questions to start the discussion I was really just wondering how everyone else deals with their own issues with diet and fitness (if any). I wasn't necessarily asking for advice for myself. However, I do pay attention and learn some tips from everyone's answer.

Well there you go. You're having hunger and cravings because you're not eating enough.

LeaMarie8031

I'm actually not really eating any less than I do when I'm not dieting, just different foods.

bbell1985

LeaMarie8031 wrote: »

I'm actually not really eating any less than I do when I'm not dieting, just different foods.

If the calories aren't less, you won't lose weight. If you are losing weight, you are in fact eating "less". Less calories.

LeaMarie8031

bbell1985 wrote: »

LeaMarie8031 wrote: »

I'm actually not really eating any less than I do when I'm not dieting, just different foods.

If the calories aren't less, you won't lose weight. If you are losing weight, you are in fact eating "less". Less calories.

I mean that I'm not eating any less than I was. I'm in fact eating more often that i was but I'm eating lower calorie foods that are healthier for me. And my weight loss is actually very slow.

hroderick

chromium picolate prevents sweet craving. eat very very very skowly...at least 20 min and 30 is better, tiny tastes to let your fullness chemistry work. i ate a banana in 25 min this morning

tufftre

Drink plenty water! work with your macros and meal prep the day before ex 500 cal per meal and and three 200 cal snacks morning afternoon and evening. Have your evening one contain protien also so it burns calories while you sleep digesting. Ex plain greek yogart with a fruit and half scoop vanilla protien powder and little granola. Have that snack hour or two before bed. Did i say drink plenty water lol. Good luck

LeaMarie8031

I always try to drink plenty of water, sometimes I drink too much and it really doesn't sit well on my stomach

Linsyb101

My trainer has me eating 25% of caloric intake as protein. There is a way to find out how many calories this is in the app under “nutrition” and then “macros”. Protein will keep you satiated longer. I eat thins like non fat Greek yogurt, almond butter (sparingly though because it’s high in fat), chicken, beans, and edamame. I also use a plant based protein powder twice a day.

TriPaulCantRun

Not a hijack, hopefully helpful: I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on vitamin supplements. A friend of mine says that when he's taking them his cravings really reduce. I take one each morning (just a multi-vitamin), but don't think it makes any difference to me.

LeaMarie8031

I take vitamins usually, along with my daily meds. Every Now and then I throw in some appetite curbing pills such as the popular garcinia cambogia. They actually somewhat help throughout the day but I never remember to take them for the evening

MichelleSilverleaf

TriPaulCantRun wrote: »

Not a hijack, hopefully helpful: I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on vitamin supplements. A friend of mine says that when he's taking them his cravings really reduce. I take one each morning (just a multi-vitamin), but don't think it makes any difference to me.

Unless you have a medical need for a vitamin, you're just making expensive pee in most cases.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

Linsyb101 wrote: »

My trainer has me eating 25% of caloric intake as protein. There is a way to find out how many calories this is in the app under “nutrition” and then “macros”. Protein will keep you satiated longer. I eat thins like non fat Greek yogurt, almond butter (sparingly though because it’s high in fat), chicken, beans, and edamame. I also use a plant based protein powder twice a day.

protein will make some people satiated, for some its fat and for others its carbs. protein keeping you fuller is not going to be the case for everyone. it seems the more protein I eat the more I want to eat. same with higher amounts of carbs(over 200g)

LeaMarie8031

Making just a few small changes. I'm no longer feeling hungry when I shouldn't and I'm not really having cravings.

rheddmobile

TriPaulCantRun wrote: »

Not a hijack, hopefully helpful: I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on vitamin supplements. A friend of mine says that when he's taking them his cravings really reduce. I take one each morning (just a multi-vitamin), but don't think it makes any difference to me.

I find it almost impossible to get 100% of my daily iron from food while eating at a deficit - I made up some imaginary meals once to see if it was even possible, and if you eat nothing but liver, red meat, spinach, and raisins it's still not 100% on a 1200 calorie diet. And I tend to be anemic. So I take bifera, which is a heme plus non heme iron supplement, and now I am no longer anemic.

I've also been taking vitamin d this winter, since diabetes supposedly is associated with lower levels of vitamin d. And since I take metformin which prevents vitamin b12 absorption, I intend to have my levels checked and get a shot if necessary.

The problem with multi-vitamins is that several vitamins don't work together and some prevent the others from being absorbed. Iron and calcium, for example. Plus, some need fats to be absorbed, some work best with vitamin c... studies have found that most of a multi-vitamin ends up in your pee, plus people who take them have a higher mortality rate. Which is probably not caused by the vitamins per se, it's probably a side effect of all the doctors who say, "Take a multivitamin," when they don't have an answer for a patient with vague symptoms.

AnnPT77

LeaMarie8031 wrote: »

Making just a few small changes. I'm no longer feeling hungry when I shouldn't and I'm not really having cravings.

That's wonderful! Do you know which strategies are working for you? (It might help others who are reading).

Getting one's eating to a point where it's reasonably satiating, satisfying and sustainable is such a huge factor in weight loss success, but I think it's under-appreciated among beginners as an issue that can be improved even at a calorie deficit.

No one with a material amount of weight to lose (even as little as 10 pounds) is gonna healthfully drop it in a week. Sustainability is vital.

I'm glad to hear you're making progress!

SpanishFusion

2 nights ago I had very few calories left for dinner, but I was determined to stay under my deficit. I woke up at 12:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep for anything. All my tricks for going back to sleep did not work. I was hungry, but I refuse to eat in the middle of the night. Never have. Never will. But my sleep suffered as I didn't actually go back to sleep until 4:30 am AND the scale said I gained .8# the next morning. All that suffering for a gain. So last night I made sure that I had enough calories to eat a good dinner. Slept so much better and this morning the scale thanked me too. It doesn't pay to under eat. (I know that wasn't your original question. I just thought I'd chime in my personal experience of eating under.)

DebLaBounty

MFP set my weight loss calorie goal at 1200 per day because I wanted to lose 2 pounds a week. I certainly had cravings! I re-set my goal and was then set at 1340 calories per day. That allowed me to eat a protein bar, which was a sweet treat and helped cut back cravings after dinner. But after I started exercising and logging that, MFP would give me credit and additional calories. I always ate back about 50% to 75% of the allotted "extra" calories because otherwise I felt (1) overwhelmingly hungry at night, and (2) a little fatigued the next day. So on non-exercise days I hit my goal of 1340 calories, and on exercise days I ate about a total of 1700 calories a day. I still lost weight! I ate a wide variety of foods that I liked, and didn't restrict myself to just "healthy" foods. That would be too boring for me.

DebLaBounty

OP, you mentioned you take Garcinia Cambogia. In some 12-week studies of people taking it for weight loss and appetite suppression, they found that it could result in no more than a little less than two pounds of weight loss and no effect on appetite suppression. It is also highly recommended that you tell your doctor you are taking this supplement because it affects seratonin levels, which could cause interactions with any other medications you are taking. www.healthline.com/health/garcinia-cambogia-weigh-loss/#important-considerations.

As an aside, it is not approved by the FDA. And as another aside, perhaps much of what I'm reading on the internet is BS.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

DebLaBounty wrote: »

OP, you mentioned you take Garcinia Cambogia. In some 12-week studies of people taking it for weight loss and appetite suppression, they found that it could result in no more than a little less than two pounds of weight loss and no effect on appetite suppression. It is also highly recommended that you tell your doctor you are taking this supplement because it affects seratonin levels, which could cause interactions with any other medications you are taking. www.healthline.com/health/garcinia-cambogia-weigh-loss/#important-considerations.

As an aside, it is not approved by the FDA. And as another aside, perhaps much of what I'm reading on the internet is BS.

it has been proven that garcinia cambogia does nothing for weight loss. for some it may suppress appetite. but the fact is most garcinia cambogia that is bought,doesnt have enough of the main ingredient to do squat. most have whats called a propriety blend which means any amount of the ingredients can be included even as low as 1%. since weight is lost in a deficit that means it wont have any effects. sure if it suppresses your appetite maybe. But I tried it and found it gave me severe headaches. its been proven to work in rats but there arent enough studies to prove that it has any effect on humans as the studies are unreliable.

LeaMarie8031

AnnPT77 wrote: »

LeaMarie8031 wrote: »

Making just a few small changes. I'm no longer feeling hungry when I shouldn't and I'm not really having cravings.

That's wonderful! Do you know which strategies are working for you? (It might help others who are reading).

Getting one's eating to a point where it's reasonably satiating, satisfying and sustainable is such a huge factor in weight loss success, but I think it's under-appreciated among beginners as an issue that can be improved even at a calorie deficit.

No one with a material amount of weight to lose (even as little as 10 pounds) is gonna healthfully drop it in a week. Sustainability is vital.

I'm glad to hear you're making progress!

I've added a couple extra hundred calories to what I was currently eating throughout the day. Plus I've started small snacking all day in between meals. Best part is that I'm still staying under my Calorie and I don't need to eat back my exercise calories to feel satisfied.

kshama2001

rheddmobile wrote: »

TriPaulCantRun wrote: »

Not a hijack, hopefully helpful: I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on vitamin supplements. A friend of mine says that when he's taking them his cravings really reduce. I take one each morning (just a multi-vitamin), but don't think it makes any difference to me.

I find it almost impossible to get 100% of my daily iron from food while eating at a deficit - I made up some imaginary meals once to see if it was even possible, and if you eat nothing but liver, red meat, spinach, and raisins it's still not 100% on a 1200 calorie diet. And I tend to be anemic. So I take bifera, which is a heme plus non heme iron supplement, and now I am no longer anemic.

I've also been taking vitamin d this winter, since diabetes supposedly is associated with lower levels of vitamin d. And since I take metformin which prevents vitamin b12 absorption, I intend to have my levels checked and get a shot if necessary.

The problem with multi-vitamins is that several vitamins don't work together and some prevent the others from being absorbed. Iron and calcium, for example. Plus, some need fats to be absorbed, some work best with vitamin c... studies have found that most of a multi-vitamin ends up in your pee, plus people who take them have a higher mortality rate. Which is probably not caused by the vitamins per se, it's probably a side effect of all the doctors who say, "Take a multivitamin," when they don't have an answer for a patient with vague symptoms.

Ya, I'm another anemic who can only manage it through supplementation, and not with a multi. There are lots of forms of iron, and it took some experimentation to find one that raised both my iron and energy levels.

I also buy my fat soluble vitamins separately, and take them with food.