I can't do it! I can't live with hunger

joowelz
joowelz Posts: 172 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello

I'm trying to lose 15 lbs to be the weight i was a few years ago and it's so frustrating. :(((

It's hard to believe that standing in my way of being the weight i want to be is 250-500 calories per day of cereal, yogurt or an english muffin.

I can't stop eating.

Please let me explain.

My breakfasts and lunches are measured and healthy. For breakfast i have 85g of oatmeal with unsweetened almond milk, a handful of frozen blueberries and coffee with stevia and 2% milk.

For lunch i either have a whole wheat pita with 65g of light marble cheese OR a can of water-packed tuna and 1tbl of light mayo, plus some cucumber/radish/tomato pieces. Lunch is usually followed up with a piece of fruit like a Gala apple.

For dinner i usually have salmon or trout fillet or approx 70g of chicken with a veggie side and/or basmati brown rice side. Veggie sides might include roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic, a kale salad with oil/vinegar, red cabbage with sesame oil or romano beans or chick peas. I don't typically weigh my dinners.

I only drink water and coffee.

After dinner i still want to eat. Most days its because i am still hungry. Other days its because i'm bored and frustrated about work. So i usually have 2 cups of cheerios before bedtime or coconut greek yogurt with bran buds. Or an english muffin with cheese and honey. This is what kills me and blows the calorie budget.

I cant eat stay under 1700 calories. My intake is closer to 2100 calories.

It has been a looooong time that i've been seesawing like this. Like almost a year. I cant do it. I want to eat.

What can i do to turn my appetite off? At this point, I'll take pills if i need to.

PS i dont eat beef, pork or other meat from mammals.

PPS i jog fir 30 minutes, 3 times a week at a pace of 2.5 miles per half hour.
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Replies

  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
    edited August 2019
    There's a few things I can see where you might be getting more calories than you intend. The salad dressing/added oils, for example. I'm guessing that in part the unweighed dinner is in the way.

    How are you doing on 'macros'? Are you getting enough protein? It seems to me like you have a lot of whole grains and fruits but not much protein.

    My personal experience is that my body doesn't seem to register 'full' by counting carbs or sugars. But it's very effective at feeling full when I eat fats. Maybe your body has the same quirk.

    I am older, fatter, and less mobile than you due to orthopedic injuries that limit my ability to exercise, but have a similar calorie target because of my high starting weight; I've returned to mfp this week after a long absence, and my target is 1750 cals. I'm not having difficulty meeting that target and not feeling hungry, and I think it may be because I have skewed my macros to allow fats and reduce carbs, without going to the formal extremes of a 'low carb' diet.

    Here's the framework a typical day for me; since you don't eat mammals you might substitute lox for the bacon.

    breakfast--
    2 large eggs (140cal)
    2 trader joes apple-smoked uncured bacon (248 cals) (substitute same-calories of lox to avoid eating mammals?)
    green tea (0 calories)
    fresh fruit--50 to 100 cals depending on type and weight
    (~490 cals)

    lunch--
    10 oz homemade miso soup--(you could substitute another soup here eg trader joe's ancient grains)
    Hikari - Organic Dashi Miso (Bonito and Kelp Stock), 1 tbsp (33 cals)
    water to dissolve miso (0 cals)
    100g tofu (70 cal) (it is worth finding an Asian market that sells local-made tofu, if available)
    3 g dried wakame seaweed (1 cal)
    1 green onion, chopped (2 cal)
    10g fresh shiitake mushroom (4 cal)
    fresh fruit--50 to 100 cals
    (~210 cals)

    dinner--
    mahi mahi filet (frozen from costco, ~180g) (140 cals) (you could use a different protein here)
    trader joe's mango ginger chutney, 2 tbs (50 cals) (small amount of whatever enhances your protein)
    microwaved veggies (~100-150 cals)
    fresh fruit 50-100 cals
    (~490)

    snacks--1750-490-490-210 = 560 calories "discretional" to use for snacks or add to the basic skeleton of my meals. I tend to drink a cup of warm whole milk at bedtime, so thats 150 cals, leaving 410 calories discretional for all other meals, condiments and snacks. You could, for example, have a (45g when measured dry) portion of rice at dinner (about 170 cals), though this would bump up your carbs. You could also add a selected type and quantity of dressing to your vegetables, and/or choose a higher calorie lunch (btw I think your tuna lunch would work).

    I didn't list the macros here but depending on the discretional choices this comes out about 10% high on sugars, 10-20% high on fats, 20%-30% low on carb targets, and between 20-24 on fiber.

    You could try my typical day (modified to be no-mammals) for a day and see if this low-carb 'high' fat approach works to keep you full but on-target. The big difference from what you are doing is that the above diet has a low grain content. For my metabolism, grains are too many calories for any benefit they give; if I need to up my fiber I reach for beans (more protein less carb).

    PS: I have read but not personally tested that for some people yogurt can cause them to have a plateau and not lose weight. You'd have to experiment to find out if that applies to you or not. For me, if I want yogurt I eat yogurt and if it causes a temporary plateau I don't worry about it.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    edited August 2019
    Your meals don’t have a lot of food. Except the 85g of oatmeal. 70g of chicken is a really small amount. A pita with 1 oz cheese or a can of tuna wouldn’t work for me. Both together would be closer (but maybe not). And there’s not a whole lot of protein happening overall.

    I would be ravenous eating what you’re eating. But I’m also satisfied with volume and fiber. Others find protein/fats/etc to be more satiating.

    Experiment with other foods. Try things out. I don’t typically eat much in the way of breads/cereals because they have more calories than I’m willing to spend on something that doesn’t fill me up.

    Also consider swapping so your larger meals are at the end of the day (unless you’re hungry early too). That might help some.

    Basically- try different foods, try different combinations of foods, try different timings of foods.

    I eat about 1600 a day on average and run 5 days a week (and lift too). I don’t do hungry.

    And do weigh everything. Calories count the same at all times of day. Which is great because then it doesn’t matter when you eat-but it makes all those dinners with all those oils and things count just as much as the oatmeal and the pita.
  • Anabirgite
    Anabirgite Posts: 537 Member
    Before starting MFP I really thought was eating a lot of protein, as I started to track I discovered I was eating roughly 45 grams and as a fairly active female age 54 I was seriously undereating protein. I increased my protein, was more full...I often now have a protein or chocolate collagen smoothy(I am 54 am very concerned about wrinkles and my skin) at night now for dessert - very satisfying and filling. I also make dinners that are low cal and high volume- I made ratatouille this week, I roast a variety of vegatables most nights and then have for breakfast or lunch with and egg or 2 if I am not having a rainbow smoothie with 1 fruit or vegetable of each color. I add 1 cup of egg whites to my smoothies. Just a few suggestions...hope they help,
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
    Lots of people seem to have the same problem as I do with carbs making them hungry.

    Wow there's so much good advice in this thread I hope everyone reads all the posts.

    Thanks to the OP for starting the thread.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,464 Member
    @joowelz are you weighing your oatmeal dry or cooked?
  • chloehamilton1401
    chloehamilton1401 Posts: 6 Member
    do you have any idea of your calorie intake pre diet? Fitness pal tells me to eat 1500 calories but I decide to track a few days eating how i normally would and I was eating anything between 2300-3000 calories . So now I try and aim for around 1800 calories and I am still losing weight .

    Another thing that has helped is upping my protein throughout the day ( i try and hit at least 70 ideally 100 grams ) .

    I love eating in the evening . And it is often when i have snapped and eaten treats in the past. So I have found that skipping breakfast/having a small breakie and adding a treat after dinner instead helps alot. I dont really enjoy breakfast and I am not overly hungry in the morning . the sooner i start eating the more i think about food for the rest of the day haha . So I have a banana and coffee for breakfast if I feel like it then have a big lunch at 12 or 1 . i always make room for a sweet treat at the end of the day !

    If you are already quite small you dont need a big deficit . Just a small negative will make a difference for a few pounds . I find that in the past when I have cut calories too low I end up ruining it because I am tired and hungry during the day . It makes me lazy so I move around less and dont get anywhere ( I dont mean workouts I mean regular cleaning , fidgeting , walking type movement ) . Your body finds ways to compensate and hold on the your current weight .

    Another thing you could try , depending on how fit you already are ... is eating at maintenance for a couple months and adding in some resistance training . If you put on muscle you will be able to eat more food and look "toned" . Dont trust the scale if you do this though , stick to measuring tape . You can do a simple bodyweight workout at home , like fitness blender or a simple routine of pushups , pull ups (or negative pull ups ) , squats , triceps dips and planks 3x a week. Beginners put on muscle really fast !!

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,603 Member
    joowelz wrote: »
    PPS i jog fir 30 minutes, 3 times a week at a pace of 2.5 miles per half hour.

    What do you do the other 4 days a week? If "nothing", maybe try walking, cycling, swimming, strength training, etc. A 1 hour walk can burn 200 calories.

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