How are you controlling appetite?
joowelz
Posts: 172 Member
Can we share tips that actually work? What do you do to help you feel satiated when you are trying to create a calorie deficit?
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Replies
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Lots of small snacks. Beef jerky, a handful of cherries, cottage cheese with frozen blueberries, lighter version of my morning smoothie.
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Sometimes, if you’re ravenous, you’re really dehydrated. I down a glass of water and eat a few ice cubes and it can help take the edge off.6
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I eat 5 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and bedtime snack.7
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First, it's important to make sure you aren't trying to hit a deficit that is too large. Many users automatically choose 2 lbs per week, but that is really only realistic if you have a lot of weight to lose, 70+ lbs. So if your deficit is really aggressive, the way to control your appetite is to eat more.
Second, you should look at exercise. The MFP calorie goal expects you to eat back at least some of your exercise calories. If you aren't, you probably need to eat a little more.
If you are aiming for an appropriate amount of calories, it can take a couple of weeks for your body to get used to being at a deficit.
In general, protein fat & fiber are filling in some combo for most people. So if you are consistently low on any of those three, bringing the stragglers up to goal can really help.
If volume is filling for you, adding lots of low cal veggies to your meals can fill them out for hardly any calories.
Some people find caffeine is a mild appetite suppressant. Others say drinking lots of water is, but I never found that myself.
Play around with meal timing so that you are eating less calories when you typically aren't hungry, and more when you typically are. It sounds simple, but lots of people get stuck in an idea of when they are supposed to eat, and don't even consider changing it up!
If the problem is actually cravings, try fitting moderated portion of the foods you love into your calorie goal, at least every once and awhile. Satisfying your appetite is more than just eating enough sometimes
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Get active. A lot of time when I think I'm hungry, I'm just bored. If I go for a walk or clean the kitchen, the feeling goes away. Eating more protein also fills me up when I'm trying to lose weight. So does fruit. Eating an apple mid-afternoon definitely takes away my hunger.4
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- Select a sustainable deficit appropriate for the weight you have to lose. Just because MFP allows you to select "lose 2 lbs per week" independent of age, height, and weight doesn't mean that you should.
- pre-log/plan as much of your day as possible to budget calories.
- time-restricted-eating (aka intermittent fasting) fits the lifestyle of many users. It's not that hard to skip breakfast and reallocate those calories for later in the day.
- change your mindset. For me, I know that if I eat until I'm "full" or "satisfied" I eat too much. Instead I view my calories as an allocation, how much do I get to "use" for a given day based on what the math and physics says my body needs, not what my mind wants.4 -
We can share tips but what works for one person may not work for the next.
Assuming you are not being too aggressive with your weight loss a good place to start is making sure you get adequate protein in each of your meals.
I find high protein and mildly high fiber to be the most satiating. I also find carb forward meals like pasta do not hold me for very long for others this is the opposite. Also some people will go higher fat.
Some people respond well to eating 2 meals a day instead of 3. Others will eat 6.
Redistributing calories like eating less breakfast and having a bigger dinner helps some.1 -
Making sure my deficit isn't too aggressive first. Then.. lots of coffee, protein, fibre, distractions, calorie cycling (I eat much less on days I'm not as hungry and more on days I am), regular breaks help too.. this all works for me. It can take some experimenting to see what helps you.2
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I control appetite by eating. If I am genuinely hungry, I think about what I am hungry for and eat enough of it to be satisfied...
Ignoring our hunger cues is half of what screws us up when it comes to a healthy relationship with food.1 -
Eat every 3 hours.....0
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First I made sure my deficit wasn't too big. Trying to lose weight at an unrealistic rate is counter productive.
Then I make sure my meals are big enough. Five or six small meals aren't going to satisfy me because I'll never feel full. Instead, I have two regular sized meals and a large dinner. I like the sensation of feeling full.
Then I make sure those meals have a good mix of fiber, fat, and protein. In particular, fiber together with fat is very filling and seams to last longer than any other combination.
If I start to feel hungry in between meals, I drink coffee or water and get up and move.0 -
First, it's important to make sure you aren't trying to hit a deficit that is too large. Many users automatically choose 2 lbs per week, but that is really only realistic if you have a lot of weight to lose, 70+ lbs. So if your deficit is really aggressive, the way to control your appetite is to eat more.
Second, you should look at exercise. The MFP calorie goal expects you to eat back at least some of your exercise calories. If you aren't, you probably need to eat a little more.
If you are aiming for an appropriate amount of calories, it can take a couple of weeks for your body to get used to being at a deficit.
In general, protein fat & fiber are filling in some combo for most people. So if you are consistently low on any of those three, bringing the stragglers up to goal can really help.
If volume is filling for you, adding lots of low cal veggies to your meals can fill them out for hardly any calories.
Some people find caffeine is a mild appetite suppressant. Others say drinking lots of water is, but I never found that myself.
Play around with meal timing so that you are eating less calories when you typically aren't hungry, and more when you typically are. It sounds simple, but lots of people get stuck in an idea of when they are supposed to eat, and don't even consider changing it up!
If the problem is actually cravings, try fitting moderated portion of the foods you love into your calorie goal, at least every once and awhile. Satisfying your appetite is more than just eating enough sometimes
100% endorsed.
One addition: Be thoughtful about whether you're actually hungry, versus bored, stressed, emotionally needy, under-slept/over-fatigued, responding to the pull of old habits (eating because you're watching TV is a common example), responding unthinkingly/unnecessarily to social cues (everyone else is having an appetizer, for example), or something else entirely.
If the root problem isn't actual hunger or appetite, the best and most effective solution isn't food. The feelz can be the same, if unexamined.4 -
Breakfast and lunch are usually around 300 each, Dinner around 500 so my snacks need to be 250 or so to reach my 1800 calorie target. I pre log everything but the snacks so I have a better idea what I should eat for them. I try to keep the bedtime snack mostly protein.0 -
I maintained a reasonable deficit from my maintenance calories which equates basically to a couple of snacks. I also started exercising regularly which allowed me to increase my calorie target and achieve the same desired result. I didn't ever really find myself all that hungry...the only difficulty initially was not eating out of boredom...which isn't actual hunger.1
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Honestly, sometimes I just don't feel satiated and I think that's okay. As someone with a history of binge eating, I could eat all the healthy snacks, go on walks, and paint my nails all that I want and I might still feel the need to raid the pantry. I tend to go from sweet to salty and back to sweet until I felt miserable and uncomfortable- that wasn't hunger but I never felt satisfied.
So I'll acknowledge that and that it sucks, have my tea, and try to go to bed. By morning I feel better usually.6 -
What helps me throughout the day (especially at work) is I spread out everything I brought for lunch. Instead of eating it all at once, i may only eat my sandwich first. Then once I feel hungry again, I will eat the half avocado. Then when I feel hungry again I will eat the grapes, and so on and so on.1
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Volume eating works for me. I add on a volume vegetable or fruit with my originally planned meals. Here’s a helpful chart of volume eating foods that are low in calories and allow more:
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kdillingham7718 wrote: »What helps me throughout the day (especially at work) is I spread out everything I brought for lunch. Instead of eating it all at once, i may only eat my sandwich first. Then once I feel hungry again, I will eat the half avocado. Then when I feel hungry again I will eat the grapes, and so on and so on.
I often do this with dinner (I live alone so it works). It may take me 3 hours to eat all I planned for dinner.1 -
I eat 3 meals and don't snack, snacks and smaller meals makes me feel less satisfied. I also like volume (and vegetables) so I eat lots of veg and generally meals that take some time to eat. Sufficient protein and fiber also work for me.0
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I eat a very small breakfast (coffee with creamer--130 cals) and small lunch (protein bar or drink--200 cals) and a very large dinner of whatever I want (800+ calories). This works for me. Dinner seems pre-diet normal and that helps me feel full and satisfied. If I'm way under on calories after dinner I have a beer or wine or a snack to take up the deficit.3
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I don't like having breakfast, so I skip that. I generally have a small lunch and then a decent dinner with lots of veggies to help with volume.
Getting enough protein helps me feel more full for the calories, carbs and fats, while important, I find to be very unfulfilling for the calories involved, so I try to minimize those.
Beyond that, I simply have to accept that I am going to be hungry. My hunger cues have never adjusted to my reduced activity levels (I used to have VERY active jobs plus active hobbies, and now sit on my butt all day at a desk and while I'm trying to get back to some of my old hobbies, they're expensive, so not easy to get into).
Tracking keeps me honest, when I stop tracking I almost immediately go right back to what my body *thinks* it should be (which is about 20-25 pounds heavier than it should be).4 -
I don't have food visible at home. I need to search for it in bags and cupboards, it's not on display.0
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Pure will power1
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For me, the #1 most important factor is size of calorie deficit. None of the other strategies overcome a deficit that’s too aggressive or sustained too long.
If I get a minimum 25g fiber + 50g fat + 100g protein, I will stay full even if I’m off plan on other things.
Meal timing doesn’t make a huge difference to me, but I incline towards an 8-hr eating window roughly 11am -7pm. I’m hungriest in the afternoon and have a big chunk of my daily calories then. For some reason I’m able to tolerate hunger after dinner without caving. Weirdly, when I go to bed a little hungry, im not hungry the next day until noon, but when I go to bed full, I wake hungry. It doesn’t throw me off to deviate much from the eating window, although I really dislike eating late (and will be more at risk of overeating) and a high carb breakfast early makes me ravenous all day. Love, love, love oatmeal but best for me to eat as an afternoon snak. I do cardio at 6am in summer and late afternoon in winter, and workout timing doesn’t impact my meal timing. Fasted workouts feel great to me.
Pure will power is great when you have it, but it’s a limited resource and unreliable. Habits and discipline are much more reliable.
ETA: totally agree with @HoneyBadger155 in accepting hunger as a fact of life. I always would like to have a little more to eat (and drink) even though the math says more would be over maintenance. Intuitive eating doesn’t work for me.2 -
I have two approaches depending on if my appetite is driven by hunger or cravings.
Appetite due to hunger: It helps me to eat most when I'm naturally hungriest. I'm usually peckish in the morning, really hungry at night and never really that hungry in between. so I have a light breakfast and then eat pretty much the rest of my calories at night.
Appetite due to cravings: I indulge those cravings in a responsible and controlled manner. If I feel like a burger, I'll make sure that burger fits into my calorie goal for that day. If I feel like icecream I'll make it fit somehow by perhaps putting it off for a day or two and save up the calories or I'll have it and make up the calories afterwards.0 -
I am an intermittent faster. I only eat during 8 hours a day. Split into two meals no snacks. Healthy fats are very satisfying. Eat olives or nuts and it will keep you feeling full longer I find.0
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My diet is very satisfying to me. Here's why:
1. I eat grains at every meal because they are very satiating for me. I also eat a lot of fiber throughout the day which helps keep me full.
2. I eat a lot of vegetables. I mean a lot. This adds volume to my meals without adding many calories.
3. I have a reasonable weight loss goal so my calorie deficit is never more than 500 calories per day.
4. I am a very active person so I lose weight eating 1800 calories per day.
5. I do purposeful exercise which gives me a lot more calories to eat.
It took me several years to figure out how to not feel hungry all the time. I tried a lot of different macros and eating schedules before I figured out what works for me. I think what works for each person is very individual.
I always hate hearing that people are struggling with hunger when attempting weight loss. It sucks.
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Drinking a large cup of water before and after a meal. That, and eating plenty of fiber and protein.1
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