Discouraged

susangrimshaw69

Well I’ve tried so many different diets and now I’m hoping this one helps but I’m always hungry I don’t know what I’m doing wrong I track everything but in between meals I get so hungry I feel like I need more to fill up please help give me advice

JNettie73

I eat several times a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner and I snack in between those. It's okay if you snack in between meals. Make your snacks healthy choices and work them into your calorie goals for the day. I also find a food scale helps a lot with accurate calorie tracking. Best of luck to you!

ohstarrynight

Hi Susan,

It's been my motto that if something is always yielding the same results every time, the problem is in the formula. If I were to put myself on a diet I know I would fall off the wagon so fast! Diets are not sustainable.

Start by setting a small realistic goal for yourself. Don't put pressure on yourself to suddenly go from eating 2K right down to 1.5k calories. Set your goals up through the mfp app and just tell yourself, this is something you can do! Making sure you include whole foods in your day (greens, grains, fruits etc) -- they will get you to a full feeling and you may even end up with calories left over at the end of the day.

If you feel compelled to eat even when you are not hungry, consider therapy as a therapist can help you get to the root of why your eating behaviors are the way they are (worked for me!).
I am on the slow and steady back to a healthy weight after almost a decade of being morbidly obese.

Because this time I am being very mindful, I don't have "cheat days" or anything like that.
*If* I feel like it once a week, I allow myself a "free" day where I may have a slice of cake or something--but some weeks will go by where I don't feel like indulging at all. I allow it to be available to me, but I ask myself "Do I really want this?" Give yourself alternatives like instead of cake I could have a small cookie and some fresh fruit etc (you may like other things). Don't box yourself into a corner thinking "I can't have this!"
The moment we tell ourselves we can't, suddenly that fleeting desire seems like a need!

Most importantly, do not starve yourself or feel like you have to count everything down to the last grain (I am very opposed to the idea of using a food scale)--as this could trigger an obsessive pattern for some people. Do not shame the current body you are in, remember that bodies change over time no matter how much control we try to have over them.

The best way to start is to ask yourself "What do I (realistically) hope to accomplish?

I hope this helps a little.

88olds

Take heart. Calorie counting works. It really does. But not the way a lot of people think. It takes 2 things to lose weight- a calorie deficit and living with it. There’s a tendency to try to go full speed on the deficit and beat ourselves into living with it. Generally doesn’t work out.

Calorie counting has a significant learning curve that doesn’t get much discussion. It takes a lot of tinkering and adjusting. You don’t say how long you’ve been at this. But the first thing to consider is are you losing weight? If you are you’ve got a place to start.
Then you can turn your attention to making your plan livable.

Losing weight usually requires some discomfort. But it shouldn’t involve suffering. There are a lot of ways to go about this. Everyone’s plan is different. I lost eating 3 meals and 3 snacks per day. If I found myself feeling hungry I knew what and when I was eating next. It wasn’t a matter of saying no to myself. It was just a matter of waiting.

Start by trying to plan a menu around things you really like. Look at what modifications can be made to your favorites to make them more plan friendly. What can you plan for snacks that would seem worth waiting for?

Being overly hungry a lot is a tough way to live. If you’re hungry, eat. Even if you have to add calories to do it. A plan we can’t follow is not a good plan. The good news is that plans can be adjusted and fixed. Keep trying and you’ll get it.

AnnPT77

In addition to good advice above (I especially endorse 88olds, who's lost *a lot* of weight, and kept it off very long term), I'd observe that what's filling/sating is very individual. It can be good to experiment. Your big variables are what you eat, and when you eat it.

Some people find protein sating. If you're not hitting or even exceeding your MFP protein goal, and instead are consistently well short of it, consider increasing your protein intake, to see if that helps you feel fuller.

Some people cut fats to the tiniest possible number, because fats are calorie dense, so cutting fats cuts calories. But some people require a certain level of fat intake to feel full (plus we need fat to absorb fat-soluble vitamins, have smooth digestive throughput, keep hormone levels healthy, and much more). So, if you're consistently well below your MFP default fat goal, maybe work on getting closer to or over it, to see if that helps.

Carb intake can go either way. Some people find they need a certain minimum of carbs to feel energetic or sated or both. Other people find that eating carbs tends to spike their appetite. (Note that I'm talking about actual carbs, the total number in your MFP diary in that category, not about foods that people often call "carbs", like cereal or cookies or pizza, that often have fats as well as carbs and maybe protein in them. Tempting, not-filling foods are not necessarily "carbs".) As long as you don't have a health condition that requires you to manage carbs in a special way, you can experiment there, too. There isn't some absolute minimum of carbs that we need for health, generally, like there is for fats and protein.

Other people find high volume foods filling, such as lots of relatively low calorie but high-fiber or high-fluid (juicy) veggies/fruits. There are other volume foods, too, that are lower calorie - there's a whole thread here about that, if that turns out to be your case. So, that's another thing to experiment with.

As far as timing, different people feel best, most sated, on widely varying schedules: People succeed with anything from one big meal daily (OMAD), to all-day small-portion grazing. Within calorie goal, any of those, and anything in between, can be fine. If you experiment, you can figure out what's most filling and practical for you, in terms of eating schedule. It can even matter which foods or nutrients you eat at which meals, which meals are largest, etc.

Finally, certain people find specific foods especially filling, but which foods those are varies by person, too. Common (but not universal) ones are potatoes (like a baked or boiled potato), oatmeal, soups.

You can learn a lot about yourself and your eating needs by paying attention to your food diary alongside your hunger levels. If there's a day when you're extra hungry, or a little less hungry, what's the difference? You may notice patterns in eating that correlate, and you can learn from that. (It can also be about things like inadequate sleep quality/quantity, certain kinds of exercise triggering hunger, stress levels, emotions, etc., so give it a good think about those patterns!)

I'd suggest that you think of an alternative schedule or other aspect of this to try, then do it for a couple or few days as a fair trial to see if it helps. If it does, keep it. If it doesn't, try something else.

It's kind of normal to feel hungry in the first couple of weeks of a new eating routine, as one's body gets used to new habits. Beyond that, many people find it feasible to identify an eating routine that keeps them feeling adequately satisfied, manageably so. It can take a little experimenting, and some patience.

Best wishes!

Ann262

Change is hard, that's for sure. You don't say what you are eating or how many calories per day. I agree that some amount of discomfort is expected as you adjust but you should't be starving between meals. You might add in some healthy snacks. Also, how much fat are you including in your diet. I ask because a small amount of healthy fat will aid in satiety and we do need some healthy fats in our diet. Years ago, I was all about "fat free" and I was hungry ALL...THE....TIME...

IamFitISH

Hello, so this is what I do whenever I am hungry (after I have drank water and found out that I was for sure hungry) I may have a healthy snack in between meals so that you can get your mind off the hunger or maybe exercise a bit

yirara

Why not chose the slowest rate of loss and see how full you feel with that? Think about it: You'd be losing slower but you might not give up due to hunger.