Straight talk. How do I ease the HUNGER?

lillebanon

I highly recommend eating more. Lots more. And still losing weight.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less
Here is a group that can help you do it right.

Also a blog I wrote on the subject:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/lillebanon/view/my-take-on-eating-more-to-weigh-less-254554

toysbigkid

bumping for later read.

becky3277

This totally works!!!! Several friends and I started doing this about a month ago and we have all seen changes in our bodies. The body fat is dropping, losing inches, and pounds. Stick with it for a month and see what happens!!!

Eat less processed foods and more fresh foods.

Work out how many calories you should be eating to lose weight. Have a read of the stickies in this group :-

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less

I especially recommend these two stickies:-

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/512956-tdee-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-not-eat-below-your-bmr

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/541567-once-you-have-your-tdee-and-bmr-next-step

I can't for one moment imagine that your calorie intake is correct. I am female, 5'4", 42 years old and am losing weight eating 1800 calories a day and not netting below my BMR. Work out your BMR and TDEE. I hope you will give it a go. It upsets me to think that folk are fuelling their bodies with so little

Let us know how you get on.

ZombieSlayer

1) Eat your exercise calories. They're given to you for a reason.
2) Eat more fiber
3) Eat more protein
4) Drink lots of water

robin52077

EAT MORE!

I looked at one week of your diary and you left a total of over 3000 calories on the table. Those are meant to be EATEN. You could only leave that much behind if you were set at maintenance. You are presumably set at a deficit so you need to EAT them to avoid having too large a deficit, which will leave you (imagine that!) STARVING!

Yes, more veggies and less processed food would be good, but the bigger issue right now is just getting enough into you at all!

jenfrade

Veggies dont have to be boring . Try looking for curried veggioe receipes and also the flat belly diet book receipes can be found on line and I haven't found a bad one yet! Im a real foodie too. Good luck!:happy:

EmBlazes

I am trying Low GI at the moment so cutting out most refined white carbs but including healthy wholemeal carbs (brown rice, wholemeal pasta). I try not to eat any bread at all. It's helped a lot with me not feeling ravenous all the time.

Try having more protein with every meal.

Not sure what your pattern of eating is but perhaps you could try having larger meals but less of them so you are properly full after you finish eating.

TheChosenOne_

Drink water and you wont feel hungry
Or chew a gum

Lleldiranne

First off, you only came close to your calories 1 day last week. The rest you were under by at least 500. So eat those calories!!

It also looks like you are trying to get by on 3 meals and nothing else. I would say add some healthy snacks in. I am making my food diary public, so take a peek if you'd like. After exercise and breastfeeding, I get about the same number of calories as I noticed you have. I am by no means perfect, but it might give you ideas. I don't always eat snacks, but I have yogurt, nuts (roasted, no salt ... not the canned kind), cheese, fruit, and veggies around if I do want a snack. When I was on the go, I carried a granola bar/nutrigrain bar with me every day. I still try to keep something in my purse/diaper bag because if I don't eat when I'm hungry I get REALLY grumpy and then go overboard. Even when I'm splurging, I try to keep the calories moderate so I have room for later in the day.

AbsoluteNG

Eating a fruit stops the hunger. Grab an apple, peach, kiwi, orange, or anything from the vegetable section that has sugar in it. Another thing you can do to subside the hunger is do a light jog for 24 minutes.

Silver_Star

if you work out a lot,..... high fat foods with protein seem to do the trick. the fat keeps you full longer if you dont want to overload on carbs/sugar.

2 oz of cream cheese, Avocados and protein powder shake/smoothies, peanut butter on celery or toast....

dont be afraid of fat! keep it healthy moderation and it does curb hunger

MonicaT1972

Give up all the processed foods and focus on protein and vegetables! You'll never feel hungry and you will even find you have a hard time eating all your calories!

suequeally1

i do freah fruit with sugar free jelly reall helps me good luck

MereExtraordinaire

You definitely need to eat more. Try more foods with less calories: rather than a high-calorie sandwich and carb-loaded side for lunch, try a sandwich with lower calories and vegetables and/or fruit on the side. You can eat a lot more carrots and celery volume-wise for the calorie content of a serving of Cheetohs!

Also, make sure you are eating all of your allotted calories for a given day. MFP automatically adjusts your daily allowance of calories so you can lose weight, and if you are eating less than that, you are just starving yourself!!

SpazzyMal

You're not eating all the calories you should be. Not eating exercise calories back, I assume? MFP builds in a deficit already. If you do no exercise, and just eat the amount they give you, you'd still lose weight because they already subtract calories. If you add exercise but don't add any food to make up for the energy you burned working out, you're eating even less to fuel your body. On the surface that probably seems good, but it's really not healthy. So eat your exercise calories back!

As for your diet itself, it does look like a lot of processed food. Processed food usually means you're eating less bulk for more calories than you would be if you were eating less processed foods. I know you said you don't like vegetables, but you can train yourself to become more adjusted to them. just try adding them into your foods more often. Taste buds change (they renew themselves every few months, I believe) and become acclimated to the things you're eating most. You can grow to like veggies. Maybe not all of them, because everyone has preferences, but you can definitely widen your palette. Give it some time.

And for your lunch, brown bag it. Most sandwiches keep well for the day without needing to be refrigerated. Try pastas, too, especially cold ones. Salads are good too. Veggies and dip. Peanut butter and fruit. Nuts. Do a web search for children's lunchbox blogs, where people write about what they put in their kid's lunches. Bento blogs can be good too if you're into asian food at all — bento are traditional Japanese lunchboxes and are pretty popular. You can probably get some good ideas from there and adapt them to your needs.

toomuchsweetness

I agree, you arent eating enough either, but, I wouldnt add more of the same to what you are eating.. you eat a Ton of sodium .. more fresh fruit, and veggies. cottage cheese, Fiber bars are good, peanut butter. GL

Susabelle64

Really good advice on here, I would also suggest adding a good multi-vitamin. Sometimes hunger is triggered because we are just missing something in our diet. Add a multi-vitamin in the morning with a protein shake of some sort and you may find this helps your hunger.

rader1

Unless you're not logging all of your foods, you are not eating enough. One thing that helps me is drinking water before eating. Like you, I also love meat and very few veggies. Try making your own stir fry with brown rice, lean cuts of meat and the veggies that you do like. If you feel the need to eat more do so early in the day, so you have the rest of the day to burn it off. Most importantly, stick with it!!

R_Sheets_RI_bike_commuter

My trick is simple. I track my calories for the day and then exercise my butt off. This earns me more calories for later in the day, usually leaving me with plenty of calories left over. For me its better than starving. I'll just go hungry on days I don't exercise. God bless

Nikstergirl

Lots of veggies, especially leafy greens and PROTEIN!!!! Lots of protein. Keeps you full for a longer time.

acstansell

Eat more veggies. Find foods that are higher in fiber. Drink a lot of water. Drink two full glasses of water before eating. If you feel hungry, drink water. Chew gum

jessgrey2

Great advice here!

1) EAT.

2) Where is the fiber?

If you are a bread eater, eat whole grain bread, Ezekiel is my favorite, high fiber.

High fiber veggies are here:

Avocado
Beans
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Carrot
Chick Peas/Garbanzo Beans
Eggplant
Greens -- collards, kale, turnip greens
Lima beans
Mushrooms
Potato with skin
Pumpkin, canned
Peas -- black-eyed peas, green peas
Peppers
Rhubarb
Spinach
Sweet Potatoes

Laurej

If you're hungry, eat!

I noticed a lot of fast foods, junk foods, processed foods and restaurant eating in your diary. Stop that and things will change drastically. I like to take baby steps in everything so maybe getting involved with a local slow food movement can help get you on track with healthy and tasty places to eat at if you must go out. or cut out one fast food day for a bring from home day. eliminate or drastically reduce your processed foods. That will allow you to eat a lot more!

I know you say you don't enjoy veggies, and don't have time to not eat out, but in honor of you asking people not to sugar coat it, I'm seeing a lot of excuses. If there is a will, there is a way.

3 cups of mixed green salad mix tossed with1 tablespoonful of homemade balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing =81 cals which is really a LOT of food and very low cals. you could eat 3 whole cups of food for 81 cals.. a bit more if you add some carrots, other fresh veggies... or you can eat a wendy's meal for 570 cals. I understand the desire for fast foods, but is your desire to lose weight, and be healthier stronger than your desire for a quick tasty fix?

If you don't have access to good tasting veggies, do you have an area at home to grow some? I have a very small yard and even have planter pots filled with fresh herb gardens and lettuce mixes, arugula is one of the best tasting lettuces I've found. LOTS of flavor and a tiny amount can turn a blah salad into something very tasty. Throw in some raw walnuts and some dried cranberries, and it turns into a really delish salad.. if you feel that wouldn't be filling enough even throw in a boiled egg.

There are plenty of great tasting meals you can make at home that do not require heating, and if you don't have the ability to store something, opt for something that doesn't need refrigeration, and can be stored in your car until lunch, or in a cooler in your office... heck... Even something packaged like a couple of whole food nutrition bars like LARA Bars, or KIND bars ( which you can shove in your pocket) would be a filling and better choice for food than eating at fast food places.

One things I've found very helpful is to make a bunch of different dishes once a week, so there's always something to throw into a container and go.

Check out the recipe section here, There are some delicious filling lower cal choices that will enable you to eat eat eat and still stay under your cal goal.

hillbillyannie

Eat more veggies and protein and you won't be hungry as much. I have become accustomed to being a little hungry though.

ShrinkRapt451

I have VERY hard times NOT eating out due to my job. Lunch time is varied, sometimes I only get a few minutes and cannot even leave. Other times I have a full hour. When eating out I try my best, thus far, to go to places that have fresh veggies in the quick area, choices are few and far in between. Fatz seems to be the best.

I am not sure, but lunch might be a lost cause. In server room/cubical world it is also VERY hard to bring food, not many places to heat up or store it as well. Ideas on that front?

So BMR was around 2000 and TDEE minus the 15% was about 2688... saying I do light exercise. So how do I balance the not going into red and not eating below my BMR? I guess exercise more? (holy crap that just sounds like a bad word)

How low over your daily allowed is starvation mode land as well? Getting great advice, no doubt, and am trying to figure out how the heck I can do some form of scheduale to garuntee I can eat those calories, and not just have 700 left eod.

p.s. yeah the cat in my picture is fat too... thought it was fitting.

Okay, not sugarcoating. Background: I started with 100+ lbs to lose, I work in a hospital, my opportunities to take a lunch break are hit-or-miss, and I almost NEVER miss lunch any more. I just get creative.

1. If your BMR is 2000 calories, then you should eat enough calories that your NET (as in, after exercise) is above 2000. As soon as you start doing that, you will NOT BE HUNGRY. This means you must eat more. 2000 calories on days you don't work out, more on days you do, if you don't exercise regularly.

2. Bring your damn lunch, in a lunch cooler. Starbucks protein bistro box (or the equivalent of its contents), Greek yogurt, apples/oranges/bananas, veggies + peanut butter, cheese, cold sandwiches... all are portable and do not require a microwave. Fast food and restaurant food is high-fat, high-calorie and should be enjoyed in much more limited quantities.

3. Start adding some healthier proteins. I'm a meat-eater too, man.... but chicken, turkey, pork and fish do exist and are good for you, if you choose healthier cuts.

4. Snack. Three times a day: morning, afternoon, and just before bed. Something easy (almonds, protein shakes or snack bars, that kind of thing).

5. Choose complex carbs when you can. Brown rice, whole wheat pasta, low-carb tortillas.

6. You are a grown man; it's time to be responsible for yourself. Learn to cook. Hunt down recipes that are easy to make but use healthier ingredients. Start with recipes that are intended for moms to "hide" veggies in foods for kids. (Not kidding; those foods are similar to what you're eating now, just healthier.)

Best of luck to you!

Suziq1023

I checked out your diary and you are waaay below your allowed calories. No wonder you are hungry. The people saying eat more are right. Eat more of whatever foods you like - have snacks in between meals.

For sure, eat more calories, watch your sodium and get more water but I think you need to put your extra calories into substantial snacks. Can you consider eating six times a day? Three moderate meals with a morning snack, afternoon and bedtime snacks. If your calories start creeping up then incorporate more veggies into your diet. My lunch and dinner plates are half salad with one or two veggies and a portion of meat. the first two weeks were rough while my stomach adjusted to the new portion control program then things got easier.

islandnutshel

I have advice, not the healthiest but it helps me.
I am not very hungry in the morning or afternoon so I eat low calorie then, I also exercise to add more calories to my menu. Then by evening I have at least 800 calories to eat and I start with lots of vegetables. Sometimes I don't even feel like eating them all. But I was missing the eating till full feeling so I left myself room to eat more in the evening if I felt I needed it.

sreysaott

If you like protein, go for fish, tuna, and beans. It's satisty your protein need. I've been eating a lot of fish, tuna, beans and veggies. It helped me to maintain protein hunger and keep me on the run for workout.

leslturn8

If you don't like veggies, it's usually a texture thing.

BINGO! HAHAHAHAHHA I dont eat fruit, i dont eat vegies, i dont eat most meats, I dont eat salads, I dont eat alot of things!
And before i get a lecture on you cant lose weight like that, i lost 21 kilos from walking and halving my intake of junk, AND i gym now and I am stalling because i lost my will power, but i have found it again so! MFP bring it on, btw, im always hungry as of late, i eat a full meal, the meals that use to quench me and 15 minutes later that big plate is gone through my digestive system and im starving again....weird body! It use to be if I didnt have a fatty meal, i wasnt fulfilled, i had them and now it just doesnt work anymore.....P90X tomorrow :drinker: im gunna :sick:

lluulluu

i looked at your diary and you are not eating enough calories , eat more and you wont feel so hungry. Drinking water and eating more veggies fills me up.