How do you deal with hunger pangs?

sammylou315

Hi there, Im a newbie with an underactive thyroid, and I'm also vegetarian with intolerance to Quorn...seem to forever gain weight even when im actively trying to lose it and have had enough now!!

Anyway, was just wondering how you deal with hunger pangs. I've tried drinking water but it just makes me feel more hungry, done the cleaning teeth, eating sugar-free gum bit too but it just doesn't work for me. I HATE the feeling of being hungry and it makes me irritable too!

Sam

quilteryoyo

I know this might sound like I'm being rude, but I'm not. I say eat. If, after you drink water, you are still hungry, have a healthy, low calorie snack...like carrots or other raw veggie. This should fit into your overall daily calorie intake and tide you over until your next meal. That's what I do.

gaiareeves

If you're feeling actual, genuine hunger pangs that cannot be dampened with water, then you are probably eating too little.

Eat a healthy snack. A piece of fruit, some natural yoghurt, or something along those lines.

CatieN

Hi, I'm a newbie too. I have tried so many things to stop myself from snacking when I start to feel peckish and drinking water only occasionally helps. Do you think you are actually hungry when you get these hunger pangs? Or just bored? I know that I tend to eat when I am bored, so finding something to keep yourself busy with might help. Chewing gum tends to fill your belly with air, and that doesn't do much more than make you feel horribly bloated. What I have started doing to help myself is to eat six small meals a day rather than 3 larger meals. This keeps you feeling fuller for longer and keeps your metabolism running. Make sure you have a good breakfast that is going to keep you feeling full for a few hours. have a reasonable sized lunch and a smaller dinner. In between these meals have a small healthy snack such as a piece of fruit, a hand full of nuts or a yoghurt. This should keep you feeling full and stop those hunger pangs hope this helps!!!

kikilorain

Drinking a cup of plain hot tea helps me. Something warm in my stomach feels nice especially when I'm suspicious the hunger is emotional.

linhmaimac

I agree with the above poste, if your body is truly telling you "YO I'M HUNGRY, FEED ME!!!" then, listen.

On the other hand, if you're judging that it's something you want to slowly control and want an alternative from snacking, try gum or drinking some hot tea. Low in calories and keeps your mouth busy! I also find that drinking the hot tea (green tea) can speed up metabolism and tastes good. Plus, it takes forever to drink down hot tea so it keeps you occupied till at least the next full meal. Again, this is if you don't want to snack on something like celery with PB, fruits, or popcorn...

Good luck!

aimibean

Eat! Listen to your body, treat it well!

Thesoundofwolf

-Hot tea
-Popcorn (light and air popped is best!)
-Nuts (almonds are perfect!)
-Beans! The perfect hunger stopper. Lots of fiber fills you, and so much for flavor to play with.

Basically, if you're hungry- think hot foods, hot drinks. They 'fill' you up.
Cold foods, cold drinks increase metabolism and make you hungrier.

Eat small portions, and eat when hungry. 6-small meals is the magical way really (like 200cal 'meals'), but its not realistic. So just go with your body's needs.

yaddayaddayadda

True hunger pangs are a sign from your body that you need to eat something...

If I am ahead of where I need to be for the day calorie-wise, I follow the following steps:

1) ignore them
2) drink tea or some other low calorie drink
3) exercise
4) if the above strategies don't work, eat raw veggies or air popped popcorn with a spritz of olive oil

I have found that if I am eating foods that are high in proteins and fiber, and that I eat small amounts every few hours, I don't get real hunger pangs. My real problem is with cravings for "bad" things like chocolate or other high calorie foods. I try to follow the list above for those kind of "pangs" too!

trainguy917

I find that if I'm eating enough protein and fat I don't get hungry. Most of the other posters suggested fruits and vegetables, which are good (especially vegetables--fruit has a lot of sugar and can make you feel hungrier because of blood sugar issues), but for me, the key is good protein and good fat. I probably get 40-50% protein daily when I'm eating the way I should. It's just what works for me.

honghaodinh

I agree with all of you. Should eat little instead of total abstinence. It'll not good for health.

aldousmom

if it's a one off thing, I eat apples or oranges. If I'm having a hungry day (these happen to me periodically...I just can't get full!) I eat fresh veg soup..something homemade with tons of super nutritious veg in it (kale, spinach, or greens, turnips, etc) so I can eat a lot of it and still not screw up my health.

mfpcopine

I agree that drinking a warm, pleasurable beverage like green or herbal tea might help. As someone else said, protein tends to be more satisfying to me. You could have 1/2 an individual-sized container of Greek yogurt and that would be only 50 calories. I add a little sugar to mine.

You also might look up a web book called "Fast-5." It's about Intermittent Fasting (IF), but talks about different kinds of hunger pangs.

http://www.fast-5.com/content/welcome

I hope you find a way to assuage these pangs, but sometimes momentary feelings of hunger are normal when creating a calorie deficit. You're eating less than the amount to which your body is accustomed. Of course I'm assuming you're eating a balanced diet with an appropriate number of calories for your goals.

jpuderbaugh

Make sure you are getting enough protein. I'm allowed to have 100 or more grams of protein a day. It helps me. If I am hungry at night, I mix up a protein drink (I buy them from my trainer) and it definitely helps me. Also, hot tea helps too. It seems anything warm in my belly helps get rid of hunger. So if I don't want or don't have any protein drinks, I will drink hot tea or hot coffee. When I feel hungry, I can't eat more, because I WILL gain weight. I was only over my calores by a little bit last week and I gained almost a pound. My trainer surveys my food diary, and I am eating right. But it is easy to go over on calories even when eating right. Whole grains also help with hunger (not for long I've noticed though.). I thought I had an underactive thyroid, but my blood test showed my thyroid is fine. So my problem is only that I am an emotional overeating binger.

atomicpunk1974

When I first started, I had hunger pangs all the time because my body simply wasn't used to eating the smaller amount of food that I had to stick to in order to stay within my calorie limit. A friend of mine who started about a month before I did told me that she had had the same experience but that after three weeks her body adjusted to the smaller amount of food and the hunger pangs went away. So I just pushed through those hunger pangs for three weeks and found out that she was right. I also discovered that when I shifted my diet to be a much higher percentage of veggies, I could "pig out" on the veggies and feel much fuller much of the time because I could eat a lot more without adding very many calories. And here I am a year later and 80 pounds lighter feeling SO grateful that someone told me that the hunger pangs wouldn't last forever.

123philhunting

I agree with all of the above.. Healthy snacks and smaller meals every few hours should help.... I also find staying active (keeping my mind occupied) helps me.. All the best on achieving your goals!!!

Jo2926

I know this might sound like I'm being rude, but I'm not. I say eat.

Thats exactly what I was thinking!

I try not to let myself get hungry by eating regular, sticking to healthy food. If I cannot eat or I'm running low on calls I find a cup of coffee tides me over to my next meal.

hunter624

In the morning after breakfast , I take a tea spoon of cider vinegar in a pint of water and that helps me through the morning, then the same again after my lunchagain in a pint of water, it works for me , I think it was a chinese remedy to cover hunger pains , but not sure.

sammylou315

wow thanks everyone for your tips. I had NO idea that hot tea helps, for example, so will definately go and put that to practice in a minute!

On the subject of tea and coffee though....who uses sweetners? There seem to be mixed views on this but to me it satisfies my sweet craving and I dont like the taste of tea without it, but I believe they can be bad for you.

And with regards to something like homemade soups...how do you go about logging the calories consumed on here when you're making your own and basically throwing loads of veg, stock cubes in etc?

Thanks in advance

LittleTurnip

When I first started, I had hunger pangs all the time because my body simply wasn't used to eating the smaller amount of food that I had to stick to in order to stay within my calorie limit. A friend of mine who started about a month before I did told me that she had had the same experience but that after three weeks her body adjusted to the smaller amount of food and the hunger pangs went away. So I just pushed through those hunger pangs for three weeks and found out that she was right. I also discovered that when I shifted my diet to be a much higher percentage of veggies, I could "pig out" on the veggies and feel much fuller much of the time because I could eat a lot more without adding very many calories. And here I am a year later and 80 pounds lighter feeling SO grateful that someone told me that the hunger pangs wouldn't last forever.

I find this very useful to know! Thank you for sharing.

pollard775

I get insanely hungry after hard workouts. That is the hardest time I have trying to control over eating. I am going to try the hot tea idea. :drinker:

sammylou315

hehe I thought it was just ME that was ravenous after a workout, and always feel guilty for eating afterwards because it feels like I'm undoing all the hard work *has cup of tea in hand*

vestarocks

ummmm I eat.

Rocbola

Hi there, Im a newbie with an underactive thyroid, and I'm also vegetarian with intolerance to Quorn...seem to forever gain weight even when im actively trying to lose it and have had enough now!!

Anyway, was just wondering how you deal with hunger pangs. I've tried drinking water but it just makes me feel more hungry, done the cleaning teeth, eating sugar-free gum bit too but it just doesn't work for me. I HATE the feeling of being hungry and it makes me irritable too!

Sam

If you are hungry, EAT. (And drink lots of water) Hunger is your body asking for something. It might not always be calories that you need, so when you are hungry, eat nutritionally dense food and drink water. Nutritionally dense food= raw fruit and veggies.

awisegirl84

On the subject of tea and coffee though....who uses sweetners? There seem to be mixed views on this but to me it satisfies my sweet craving and I dont like the taste of tea without it, but I believe they can be bad for you.

And with regards to something like homemade soups...how do you go about logging the calories consumed on here when you're making your own and basically throwing loads of veg, stock cubes in etc?

Regarding the sweetener, I use honey in my tea. Yes it's "high" in sugar but in my opinion it's natural so it's not really a bad sugar. And a little bit goes a long way.

As far as the soup goes, I would create a recipe. Maybe on Sunday make the soup and measure all the ingredients and log them under the Recipe option. Maybe it makes 4 servings (which will easily last you a week) and when you get the hunger pangs and have the soup, just mark 1 Serving on your diary.

rcclcruiser

Eat watermelon.

LennyInFlorida

I would also suggest eating high volumetric foods (big foods, low calories). By incorporating foods with a low calorie density, you eat more food, feel more satisfied and still take in less calories. Veggies, Popcorn, sugar free jellos, there are lists online of low cal high volume foods.

itgeekwoman

I eat celery or cucumber to manage my hunger pangs. If it's in the evening I'll have extra veg with dinner. During the day it's always extra cucumber or celery though. Once in a while I'll add peanut butter to the celery if I need a protein boost.

LennyInFlorida

Eat watermelon.

This is definitely something I do lol, Watermelon is very volumetric, you can eat a half of a watermelon (if you could even do that as it's so much water) and it's only like 400 calories or something last time i measured it

rcclcruiser

Regarding logging calories for homemade soups, I just type in homemade vegetable soup and use the one most similar to the one I made. Most of the time, some of the veggies may be a little different than what I used, but it is close enough. Then I make a note at the bottom of the page of what I actually put in my soup. It still works because it is close enough.

BarbraP44

I will chew gum along with a bottle of water. I never sip water, I guzzle it down.