Straight talk. How do I ease the HUNGER?

em9371

Eat all your calories
Eat at least 5 a day fruit & veg
Eat out less, it's amazing how much more food you get for the same calories if you cook for yourself
If you did you end up with cals left over late at night, try planning your meals the night before, that way you know what you need to eat and can take things to work if you need to
Instead of logging and eating back exercise, maybe try the bmr / tdee method (look up helloitsdans post 'in place of a roadap'). This way your exercise is included already in your allowance, it makes it easy to plan meals and more motivation to exercise as you have already eaten the cals.

I weigh nearly the same as you, eat 2000 / net 1500 and am consistently losing 1.5lbs, I am very rarely hungry except when it's nearly meal times which is perfectly normal.
My diary is open if it will help - if you look at Friday compared to the rest of the week you will see how much less food you get when eating out!!!

angelina2585

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.

Lozze

Stop eating out so much. Fast food is OK in moderation (says the woman who ate KFC today) but you're eating out every day. It's not filling and doesn't provide the nutrients you require.

As others said more fruit and veggies. I eat all day. I also have a sugary treat or two every day. Not slowing down my weight loss in the slightest. Protein as well (tuna is awesome!) Drink water too.

And eat your calories. That's what they are there for!

BobOki

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.

renstwin

I work at a hospital, and my lunch time always varies, depending on how needy my patients are. Why can't you pack your lunch? I do. Buy a lunch cooler, insert a frozen pack. Fill said cooler with healthy lunch options. Keep it at your desk. Eat when time allows.

Lozze

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?

Sandwiches. Salad. You don't have a locker at work? There's no microwave you can use? Since you don't want sugar coating, you're making excuses. If you have time to go and get junk food you have time to eat healthy. At the very least get Subway. Sodium is high but it's better than what you're currently eating.

impyimpyaj

"How do I ease the hunger?"

Eat. Eat healthy foods, lots of protein, lots of fiber, not so many empty calories.

Problem solved.

Elizabeth_C34

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?

Lunch container with an ice pack to keep things cool is good. I usually do sandwich and some fruit or a protein bar for my packed work lunches. I don't have access to a fridge or microwave either. It CAN be done. You just have to do it.

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)

The nice thing about MFP is that you can log your exercise separately from your daily activity level. So, if you have a desk job, set your activity level to sedentary, and just log whatever exercise you do. This should make it very easy to manage your intake.

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.

It takes a long time for your body to slow your metabolic rate from too little intake, so one or two days will not put you into "starvation mode." You should have a deficit of about 500 calories per day. This equates to about 1 lb of fat loss per week, though this will vary quite a bit depending on what exercises you do and how your body reacts to the calorie deficit.

Also, I agree with Lozze. You're making an awful lot of excuses to avoid doing better. No changes will occur in your body or wellness until you make the changes in your diet and activity level. There is no "try" only "do." So, either you do or you don't. Simple as that.

KimInsanityP

Try adding a protein shake to start your day. Protein is the best thing you can eat to curb hunger. It fuels your body its great to have first thing in the morning or for lunch!

Hanablu2

Make some low calorie fruit smoothies with vanilla almond milk and add whey protein. Use frozen strawberries and a small portion of frozen bananas or whatever fruit you prefer, add a cup of almond milk and a scoop of good whey protein. You can alter flavors by using chocolate or vanilla whey protein also add some vanilla extract to really make the flavors come out blend and drink or eat because you can play with textures the more frozen the fruit or add ice and you can turn it into an ice cream like texture and knock off the cravings in between meals. Good Luck!

SARgirl

I like protein shakes (homemade, not premade) they taste good are quick to make on the go and keep me full. I usually do a scoop of protein powder, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup light chocolate soy milk, tablespoon peanut butter and 6 ice cube and blend in the blender. Yum!

selfishshellfish

Protein is your friend, and some fat. Eat eggs every day - whole ones, not just the whites. Don't be scared of nuts and seeds.

Cut down white starch (like spuds, rice, bread). They're not no-nos, but I find they don't curb my appetite long-term, even though I feel full immediately after eating them.

Make notes in your diary about how long you felt satisfied after each meal and look for correlations between food type and satiety.

Also, what works for me is that I don't start eating until lunchtime. I'm not ever really hungry 'til then, and I get to have what would have been my breakfast as a pre-bed snack (I can never sleep if I'm hungry). So try and bias your eating to cover your hungriest times of day.

ashfuse

if you're hungry EAT. Eating is one of the only ways (with exercise) to speed up your metabolism. If you don't eat enough, you can exercise all you want, you won't lose fat. So eat clean, train dirty, and be happy/healthy.

ashcky

Would say add more fiber. Usually when I eat a fiber bar I feel fuller.

lancelot12

Low fat natural yoghurt,add honey to sweeten and then any fruits and seeds you fancy-If you want you could always zap it into a blender and have it as a drink.But you do need to drink more water-add a squidge of lemon juice,makes it more enjoyable. Good luck

Hanablu2

Stop eating out so much. Fast food is OK in moderation (says the woman who ate KFC today) but you're eating out every day. It's not filling and doesn't provide the nutrients you require.

As others said more fruit and veggies. I eat all day. I also have a sugary treat or two every day. Not slowing down my weight loss in the slightest. Protein as well (tuna is awesome!) Drink water too.

And eat your calories. That's what they are there for!

I use to work in an office setting now I work from home. While in the office yes there are situation when you can't leave the cubicle sometimes I am tied to a live phone to wait for a call to come in, I am in the medical field. There are still options to eating out or crappy cafeteria food. Buy yourself a little cooler or lunch bag that you can put cool packs in and make healthy sandwiches and snacks and bring water or flavored seltzer water. The coolers and lunch bags can support keeping your food even yogurt cold until lunch time even if lunch is at 2p! It is doable you have to make an effort, try it out for at least a week. Good Luck!

sandralila

Try eating a larger breakfast, an omelet, with cheese, mushrooms, and spinach will curb your hunger well. For lunch tuna or salmon patty, made with an egg, and flax seed, cooked in your frying pan and green beans on the side, very healthy and filling, for supper meat of your choice, pork chop, chicken etc. And a potato with a vegetable. Even a salad, although I like salads they don't seem to fill me for long. Cottage cheese, with cocoa and splenda makes a filling snack or dessert. Especially good if you have a sweet tooth like me. Good luck, keep trying.

Wilson336

The only thing that consistently works for me is to NOT eat less. I just found substitutes that contain fewer calories, so I can still "pig out", but not consume as many calories. Want a big ol' sloppy hamburger? I use skinless chicken breast instead, and use mustard instead of ketchup or mayo (no calories in mustard). Dying for chips? Try "Veggie Straws". They taste like Pringles. Want to just eat for the sake of eating? Salad with lite Italian dressing. You can have literally a pound of it for 50 calories (lite Italian dressing is only 15 calories for 2 tablespoons, and the salad mix is usually 30 or less). The trick is to find those lower calories alternatives that you actually enjoy eating.

Hanablu2

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.

I use to work in an office setting now I work from home. While in the office yes there are situation when you can't leave the cubicle sometimes I am tied to a live phone to wait for a call to come in, I am in the medical field. There are still options to eating out or crappy cafeteria food. Buy yourself a little cooler or lunch bag that you can put cool packs in and make healthy sandwiches and snacks and bring water or flavored seltzer water. The coolers and lunch bags can support keeping your food even yogurt cold until lunch time even if lunch is at 2p! It is doable you have to make an effort, try it out for at least a week. Good Luck!

TheOriginalGinging

Most of your days you're a whole meal under your calories--no wonder you're hungry! And I know how meds can throw off your weight. Give yourself time and be patient. Also, think NUTRITION--Learn more about what foods do what and why. Myplate.gov is a good start. Use as much fresh, unprocessed foods as you can. Best wishes. Oh, and add me if you'd like!