How long did it take for the hunger feelings to go away?

A few weeks for me, I barely knew what hunger was before.

I've been thinking about this a lot as my hunger feelings went away but now they are back, but in a good way.

I learned that when I lowed my carbs a tad (40%) and mixed high glycemic foods with proteins I didn't get hungry. So things like quick oats in the morning or waffles were filling, but I'd be starving 2 hours later. I just don't eat that any more. I have muesli with yoghurt, which takes longer to digest.

So once I figured out a lot of foods I liked that kept me satisfied, the hunger pains were absolutely gone for several months. If I got a bit peckish I'd grab a few cashews and that would make me happy until it was time for my next meal.

Then what happened was I just got too good at eating a lot without eating a lot of calories. So I would hit 11:30 and just absolutely want to have lunch. Or 4:00 and just want to eat. The problem was, I wasn't eating ENOUGH calories. Like the last two nights it was 9PM, I'd already had my meals and an ice cream snack and after my exercise calories (just an hour of walking) I was still netting 900.

Not surprising I was hungry! So I ate something.

Frankly, every single time I am hungry - from the beginning to the end of this - I eat something. Often, though, it's not very much - like a few cashews. I use that information to shape what I eat so that I am satisfied, eat enough, but stay within my goals.

Sorry for the complicated answer!

Subway sandwiches (why??).

Me too! I'll have a footlong and 20 minutes later I'm still unsatified, yet a teeny burger and small fries with hold me over for 4 hours.

It's the huge roll. It has an incredibly high glycemic index. I split one with my son the other day (he had 4/5, me the rest) and I was SHOCKED to see it was over 700 calories for the whole thing. Wow!

The big roll and also the sauce and cheese all have high carbs so it spikes your blood sugar. You get a big insulin surge, which stores all that blood sugar in your cells as fat (temporarily). It also keeps you from burning fat while that's going on. But of course you need sugar to run your body. So you get hungry because your body can't use the fat it has stored.

Low blood sugar is what triggers hunger.

I never felt hungry when I dropped the calories BUT most of my calories were from pop ( I got fat eating 1 meal a day for years), so when I cut my calories and cut out pop I was actually struggling to get enough calories for a while. Even now, when I "feel" hungry I drink a big glass of water and that usually makes the feeling go away. I've never had a healthy relationship with food and never really learned the difference in my bodies response to hunger vs thirst, so my first step is always a drink of water.

I started skipping breakfast. It took 2 weeks for me to no longer want breakfast. ( I usually do leangains style daily fasting)

i used to try the protein route too but it didn't matter. I'd still be hungry 2 hours after breakfast. IT didn't matter if it was healthy irish oats or egg veggie omelet. I'd be hungry with either.

So two weeks and I no longer wanted breakfast. Amazing because I am usually hungry ALL the time.

Then again...there are some weeks I will have breakfast like regular people and be hungry all the time! This was one of those weeks.

Other times..i won't touch breakfast at all.

I find that when i am about to start my period, I want breakfast. When it's over- i am fine and not as hungry.

So it never REALLY goes away. It can come back. I just find that I know there are times i will be able to control it and sometimes i cannot.

I felt the exact same way at first...took about a month and a half for me to adjust to my lower cal daily intake and exercise. I was eating way too much before and not exercising so it took some getting used to the reduction as well as making better choices.

I eat pretty much all of my calories and most of my exercise cals everyday now and actually feel uncomfortably full when I go over on the occassions that I go out to eat/drink with friends! Give yourself some time and don't beat yourself up if you go over...just continue to imrpove your choices and try to stay on track..eventually it will be second nature!

I went from around 2000 calories a day, I'm sure sometimes more, all the way down to 1200 and it was definitely an adjustment but I also started walking 4 miles every day and always found that just the exercise itsself would help with the cravings, usually once I came back from my walk it woudl take me a long time to be hungry and ready to eat. Filling up on more protein and fiber though will help to keep you full even if they have more calories it's worth every one to not have that nagging feeling in your stomach.
I've been doing this for over 6 months now and there's no way I could ever eat the way I used to, making the change is hard but SO worth everything in the end. Just keep up the good work!


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I find I have the same problem too, maybe I should start adding protein to each mean/snack to keep me over... I've been trying really hard to make a huge effort in drinking a LOT more water since I pretty much existed on coffee prior to getting back on MFP. Good luck! We can do this!! :-)

First, I had to differentiate between hunger and boredom. The desire to munch on something isn't the same as true hunger. If I wanted to eat, for instance, an entire bag of Butterfingers, that wasn't hunger. When I'm hungry, I just plain want to eat, not just a craving for a particular food.

Choosing the proper weight loss rate and activity level mattered a lot, too. 1200 calories, even with exercise calories, was too low for me. I never had enough weight to lose to choose 2 pounds a week anyway, so when I moved to one pound a week, and then a half pound a week, it afforded me enough calories to satisfy my hunger.

Having more protein than MFP suggests made a difference, too. Not so much in my appetite, but in my energy and fitness levels. Once I started aiming for 100g of protein a day, I was able to run faster and longer, hold planks longer, do pushups from toes instead of from knees... everything just got easier. And it takes our bodies longer to digest protein than carbs, so we stay feeling full longer. And I love carbs, but their for quick energy... like lighter fluid. Getting more protein and fat is like having a slow burning log catch flame.

Once I figured those things out, I was only hungry when it was time for a meal or a snack. If it was between meals, I had a snack, like a piece of fruit or a protein bar, sometimes a candy bar or ice cream or pretzels. But usually no more than 200 calories. If it was close to meal time, I'd just wait til meal time.