do you get hungry!?

lauranordersvu

My biggest problem is I have a HUGE appetite, I could eat three servings at dinner if I allowed myself to and have a snack an hour later. I get hungry a lot and eat a lot, I honestly eat similar portion sizes to my boyfriend, if not more. Considering the amount I eat I am not really that over weight at all.

How did you all combat this when you first started using the MFP system and having to obey calorie limits?

I have tried so hard to eat within my calorie limits in the past and just felt so hungry. Any advice would be appreciated!

fedup30

What are your stats? Height, weight? Have you calculated your TDEE? When I first started this, I thought I had to eat 1200 cals a day, and I started reading the forums. I calculated my TDEE, realized I was burning around 2500 cals a day. I could eat 1500 and lose 2lbs a week, 2000 and still lose a pound!

SunofaBeach14

Work on self control. It has to be learned and you can do it.

msbunnie68

I can easily eat more than my husband. And I knew cutting straight down was not going to work for me.

What I did was just ate normally for a week. i logged everything I ate without guilt. I needed to see how much I was eating.
After that first week, I averaged how much I consumed daily then set myself a point under it using the manual calorie setter. I ate like that for a week, then stepped it down again. I did this until I noticed weight loss, then I looked at all the TDEE etc etc.

Some people may need to step it down for a couple of weeks until they no longer feel like they need to chew their arms off.

LeahFerri

Sometimes I do. Sometimes I'm too good at being hungry in that I'll be hungry and will hesitate to eat. This usually happens around this time of day. For me, problems start not from physical hunger but from the effects of hunger on my emotional state. When I let that slip up, I tend to want ALL the sugar/pasta.

Regardless--to keep this mess in check, I preplan my day and make sure I hit my protein and fat macros. My diary is open, so you can see what those are. Some people swear by fiber, although I haven't really experimented with that yet.

A common problem is that people set their deficits too aggressively and are trying to stay within an unreasonable limit, although to be sure of staying within such a limit you have to be logging/weighing accurately. Also, dropping calories drastically from previous intake will definitely result in hunger almost regardless of what foods you eat. You can either make the decrease more gradual or just deal with it for a couple of weeks until you get used to it.

George_Baileys_Ghost

Like Beach said, self-control is key. It's not at all easy to learn, but you've gotta fight through it. Maybe try to eat a bit less at meals, and use that difference to snack more often. Protein tends to increase satiety so you could possibly also try to increase your protein goal and decrease your carbs or fats a bit. (Fats are higher calorie per gram than carbs or protein, but they are also really important to the body. Either way, make sure your macros are balanced.)

Either way fight through it. Good eating habits are difficult to learn, but once it gets in there, the road won't be as hard.

ndj1979

Work on self control. It has to be learned and you can do it.

this may sound simplistic but it is true ..

I can eat a whole large pizza by myself and then slaughter a pint of ice cream an hour later < used to do it back in the day too…

However, I learned that eating like that was what was causing me to be an out of snap piece of crap …so I slowly started changing my habits..at first, I kept ice cream and stuff out of my house and then slowly re-introduced it as I was able to control myself more…

Right now, I have a package of dark chocolate milanos and about five flavors or talenti gelato in the freezer…back in the day I would of eaten the whole bag of milanos; now i can have one or tow and leave the rest alone…same with the talenti….

AllonsYtotheTardis

I only got hungry for the first couple of days - until I learned which foods were calorie-dense and which ones weren't. Once I figured out how to balance the two, I was able to hit my calories and still feel like I'd had enough to eat.

Galatea_Stone

I still fight it. I've had to up my exercise to keep up with my eating, but I'm slowly lowering both exercise and eating to more sustainable levels.

It takes practice, patience and a little self-forgiveness when you slip.

lauranordersvu

I am 5"8', I weight approx 70kgs and my BMR is: 1484 CALORIES/DAY and my TDEE is: 2820
I don't really understand what that means though

Sinisterly

Of course I get hungry. So, I work out to eat more if I want more food.

msbunnie68

Eat over BMR (minimum calories to breathe LOL) and under TDEE (total amount of calories you need to keep your weight the same given your activity level).

wheird

I won't lie. It is tough. I have to get myself into the right mindset or I can easily put away 4-5k calories per day.

One thing that helps me is to satisfy my cravings early on before they snowball into a ravenous urge. Earlier today I craved chocolate. If I ignored it, then this evening, when I am at my weakest, I would have went and binged. But instead, I found a gas station and bought a pack of Rolos and ate five of them. It satisfied the craving and I am within my calorie goal.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

I don't get hungry if I eat enough protein. On days I slack I am a black hole for food. True story.

FindingAmy77

it isn't so much how much you are eating but what you are eating. I like to add lots of vegies to my foods/meals and beans and lean meats. I go for basis whole foods and stay away from those empty calores that are not filling and expensive to buy. I drink lots water and eat slower so that my brain can catch up to my stomach. I enjoy each bite I take. I don't make too much. if I do, I put it in a container immediately and freeze it. I allow myself to eat six times a day but smaller meals. I go for things with fiber in it and protein. I cut out pop. I do get hungry a lot. but I make sure this problem is solved in the grocery store: meaning I only buy things that are good for us to eat. I keep cut up vegies and fruits in the fridge. I have snacks like popcorn or quick oats or kasha cereal, etc to grab. I keep wheat bread only in the house. I buy almond milk for my cereal. I do a lot of tacos or stir frys. You can never go wrong with that and its filling. I watch out for an limit my trigger foods like pasta or pizza. I brush my teeth right after eating. I go for a walk after eating lunch and dinner. Those are some things I do. I also preplan my dinners first thing in the morning. Pre planning is key to combatting the raging hungries.

HollyKarlsen

I don't know what you're eating, but I believe that if you eliminate chemicals from your food, and eat whole foods you will feel more satisfied. MSG is just one of many hidden ingredients (they will call it by other names so that you don't know what you're getting) that will make you crave more. Of course processed sugar does that too. I also have a big appetite, so I have been exercising a lot more since I joined MFP so that I can eat more.

froeschli

Appetite and hunger are two different things. I've had to cut down on my food to actually feel hunger again. I could eat half a turkey, but I made myself realize that I am not actually hungry anymore after just the first helping. For a treat I may eat a bit more, but as a general rule, I don't.
I know I ought to start logging again, just to see where I am at calorie wise, but the hunger thing seems to be working fine for now...
It also helps that I hate being dehydrated before I run, so I am drinking extra water all the time now...

lauranordersvu

For example, I ate a meal of brown rice, tuna, zucchini, cucumber and sprouts approx 2 hours ago and now I'm so hungry I could eat that plus more again.... But I'm going to try and keep busy til dinner and just drink water

asciident

I've been working on distinguishing actual hunger from a desire to taste things I like and from eating because I'm bored. Some people eat because of emotions in addition to or instead of boredom. It takes practice, and patience.

princessnarmor

At 33 years old I was 5'6 and 117 lbs. I danced A LOT! In the meantime, I also used a diet for those who are insulin resistant. I react weird to carbs even though I am not diabetic. So I got in the habit of eating 6 or 7 small meals. The word "meal" is kind of deceptive. I ate one thing and called it a meal. n The "meal" can't be over 200 or 300 calories. As I got older, I still ate that way and now I am still inclined to the 6 or 7 meals, but they grew. So my appetite grew as well. As did my weight.

Here's what I have found. As you limit your meals, weighing and measuring, eventually your appetite shrinks. Just watch out for High fructose corn syrup because it does have a bad effect. It's made from GMO corn and it blocks some brain chemical that makes you feel full.

I eliminated that from my diet (and practically everything else since almost everything uses it) and it helped a lot. Green tea helps with appetite. Make sure your drinking water because you can mistake thirst for hunger. I hate water but I force myself to drink it for that reason

One more thing, Protein helps hunger better than carbs. Veggie carbs are better than starches.

betreich

My own experience was this - I am older and shorter, so the 1200 cals MFP recommended for me to get the weight off at 0.4kg a week seemed like starvation rations and I knew I would be hungry and find it difficult to sustain, so I tried to exercise as many days as possible - cycling or running mostly, sometimes just a 30 min run, and ate most of those exercise calories back. I felt like I had adequate food and mostly didn't feel hungry, but still lost weight. I also think if you cut fat to too low a level hunger is more likely, so think about including healthy fats, and for me more protein and less carbs seems to work. And drink plenty of water. All the best...