How do you maintain low calorie diet without starving?

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  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,306 Member
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    I faced the same thing..today my first total week counting at 1200 on low carb. I immediately went to the net and googled "what are the lowest calorie foods".... there were 25 listed and it helped a lot. I'm eating a lot of those...and eating white fish and shrimp as ways to get protein and cut calories so I can add more stuff.

    I also eat an Atkins advantage bar everyday..they are so good! I'm still under most days by about 200 calories.
  • Mrsbrandnewmeslimandtrim
    Mrsbrandnewmeslimandtrim Posts: 267 Member
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  • SierraSwearingen
    SierraSwearingen Posts: 8
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    I feel hungry a lot also. I'm trying to 'make friends' with that 'hunger pang' feeling, rather than thinking it's dangerous. I tell myself that pang is the feeling of losing weight, and it's good!

    But here are my tricks for avoiding the feeling:
    (1) I make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, and load on the protein. It has "staying power" to get me through to lunchtime.
    (2) When I feel hunger pangs in the afternoon, I drink a giant glass of water.
    (3) Lifting weights seems to kill my hunger pangs, so that's kind of a motivator to get to the gym.

    I have been working out and dieting all summer with very little results, by the way. At the beginning of the summer I set my stats to lose one pound per week and guess what? I lost zero pounds per week. So I reset my stats to drop two pounds per week. I immediately started losing weight, but I also started feeling hunger pangs. Maybe it just comes with the territory.

    I am glad to know I am not the only one with that feeling! =) I just need to find a way to deal with it, I guess. My weight seems to go up and down, up and down and I realize I can't be too excited every time I lose a bit of weight. =( Yes, I am trying that breakfast = biggest meal of the day... and I do feel better when I eat a lot in the morning. Thanks for the suggestions!

    Good work! Keep it up, and the pounds will eventually come off. The most important exercise you do every day is to keep on keeping on. Quitting gets you nothing.
  • crafterpaula
    crafterpaula Posts: 47 Member
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    try eating a big bowl of air popped popcorn if you want spray it with pam and thensalt and a lg glass of water I garenty you wont be hungry at midnight and even if you go over you wont gain weight from it !:flowerforyou:
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
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    try eating a big bowl of air popped popcorn if you want spray it with pam and thensalt and a lg glass of water I garenty you wont be hungry at midnight and even if you go over you wont gain weight from it !:flowerforyou:

    Huh?? Do tell me what causes weight gain then. yes if you go over but remain in a deficit you won't gain but this is true of any food you eat. "Going over" your TDEE will cause a gain, period.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    I found high protein snacks (3-5 almonds) and lowering my carbs to under 50% made me a lot less hungry. Also, I know things that are high in PROCESSED carbs - white flour, white rice, quick oats - make me really hungry after 90 minutes or so. Low processed foods and I feel more and more full for the first few hours after I eat.

    I also never let myself get hungry. First little hint of hunger and I pop an almond or two or a cherry tomato or even a teaspoon of ice cream. My 'folk theory' is that I'm teaching my body that I'm not really starving it - food is readily available. My more scientific theory is that I am keeping my blood sugar/insulin levels at a fairly steady level that doesn't trigger hunger.

    Anyway, I am virtually never hungry now - even on those days when I (accidentally) net under 1000 calories.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
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    I can eat all day long and still only hit 1200. Lots of fruits and veggies so I can munch on food all day and nuts and protein to keep me full.
  • MissyAZjourney
    MissyAZjourney Posts: 96 Member
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    Easy. Reduce carbs, eat more healthy fat. Fat helps keep you full and is less depressing than low fat/high carb *cheesy grin*

    ^^This is what works for me. Im not cutting carbs out completely anymore, but if I tried to eat all nonfat low fat food all day i'd be starving. a little peanut butter, avacado or nuts really keeps the hunger at bay for me. I'm allowed 1500 but I never hit that number...im always short...and i'm not hungry
  • IanCooke07
    IanCooke07 Posts: 1 Member
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    Try eating small "healthy snacks" often and skip the idea of three meals a day. I eat all the time. Oatmeal, yougurt,baby carrots etc. Get awaw from big meals and eat when your body tells you to. Also if you cant keep you caloric intake down, don't feel guilty, just exercise.
  • _TheAceofSpades_
    _TheAceofSpades_ Posts: 5
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    I had a really hard time with it when I first started - I would feel really tired and sometimes get pretty cranky. But after about two weeks of holding to it, I started to settle in alright. I think one of the biggest things is that your stomach will shrink or expand based on how large your meals are regularly. So when I had been eating a lot of large meals, I would frequently feel like I was hungry, verses eating small items throughout the day, which helps to make you feel less hungry constantly.

    The easiest way I found to do this was to concentrate on foods that give you a lot of bulk for the calories. I really like boiled broccoli with salt and pepper, which is 100-200 calories for the entire head (depending on its size). Low-calorie crackers, most fruits and veggies, and cottage cheese are good go-tos.

    I also found it easier in the beginning to get pre-packaged foods (I know there are a lot of people who are going to disagree with this one, but whatever, it worked for me). It was a lot easier to put up with eating celery sticks (5 calories each...) to feel full if I knew I could look forward to a 250 calorie lean pocket or 300 calories worth of chicken nuggets in the evening! That also helped since I'm a college student, so it was too hard for me to buy lots of ingredients that involve lots of preperation, and a lot easier to stuff an apple and some crackers in a bag, or microwave something in the evening. Cheaper, too.
  • leslie0422
    leslie0422 Posts: 108 Member
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    For me, I find that I'm not really hungry in the morning so I just drink coffee which seems to curb my hunger until around lunch time. At lunch I eat some sort of low-calorie meal and on days that I'm extra hungry, I add a salad with lots of veggies and fat free salad dressing. Then for snacks I eat fruit to curb my hunger. But the key for me is exercise. I exercise so I can eat more rather than starving myself all the time. For example, I'm planning to burn around 600 calories later on the treadmill, so I get 600 more calories to eat today. To me...that is a huge motivation to exercise each day. But I will admit that when I try to stay under 1200 calories, I am hungry at times.
  • ritsq83
    ritsq83 Posts: 2
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    I just took a look at your food diary, and you should find foods that fill you without being high in calories.

    I know this is hard, as an Asian myself I do miss cup ramen, but you will have to start eating foods higher in protein and fiber (makes you fuller) and lower in fat and refined carbs.

    First you need to cook more. When you eat out instead of cook, most restaurants use a lot of oil and butter to make it taste better but this adds calories.

    Also you need to find low calorie substitutes - for example Miracle noodles are made out of mushrooms that have no calories and are much healthier than ramen noodles which are flour fried in oil. And multigrain whole wheat bread has fiber that will make you feel full longer than white bread. Another strategy is eating closer to Japanese style food rather than Chinese style (less grease).

    For example one of my favorite Asian meals that I cook is a lean pork chop from Trader Joe's sliced with some chopped up vegetables for fiber with miracle noodles in a light fish broth - all this in a huge bowl makes me very very full for hours (some times I don't even need dinner), but is less than 400 calories, most of which are protein.
  • Aedrah
    Aedrah Posts: 100 Member
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    Just eat as many 0 calorie foods as you can bc they dont count

    Agree I like paper (shredded paper goes down easier). That keeps me full all the time.

    Ah, that`s the trick!
  • annebubbles
    annebubbles Posts: 83 Member
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    EAT PROTEIN WHEN YOU FEEL HUNGRY & YOU WILL FEEL FULL. CARBS JUST MAKE MY BODY RELEASE INSULIN & THEN i CRAVE MORE CARBS. I EAT 1200 CALS & PROTEIN IS MY SECRET WEAPON. EAT 5-6 TIMES A DAY & DON'T FORGET TO DO YOUR EXCERSIZE.
    IT WORKED FOR ME
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    Eat a low carb, high fat whole food diet to lose weight without hunger. I didn't read any of these other posts so I don't know if it's been suggested and you're not interested or not but here's a link to what I'm talking about:

    LCHF for beginners:
    http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
  • mandyysue
    mandyysue Posts: 16 Member
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    When I switched to a vegan diet (I am vegetarian now -- I couldn't stay away from the cheese!), I found that you can eat a TON of vegetables and lots of fruits (but not all fruits because some have a very high sugar content) to fill yourself up. You can literally gorge yourself on vegetables if you so desired and still be under your limit. Of course, this is only eating plain vegetables. I would not suggest eating just tons of veggies for every meal but for a snack it is good because you can actually eat a lot more than you would if you just had a normal snack.

    Another thing to to remember with MFP is to put your exercise into your diary, because it rearranges your calorie intake.

    Good luck! If it gets unbearably hungry for you, just change your weightloss goal a bit because 1200 can be a little ridiculous for some people.
  • anacsitham5
    anacsitham5 Posts: 814 Member
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    I can't eat enough calories and I'm worried. I eat and eat, but only get in about 1000 and I'm stuffed. I'm looking for foods to add that won't raise my fats, carbs or sugars too much.... mostly my calories. Someone recommended Hormel 70% fat free pepperoni and that has helped as well as the powdered peanut butter and cream cheese on my wraps.
  • mandyysue
    mandyysue Posts: 16 Member
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    also drink enough water! it helps to fill you up
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
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    I find that if I meet my protein macros I am not hungry. I set my macros to 40/30/30 for carbs/fat/protein and it's pretty hard for me to keep my carbs that low, but I can keep my calories down if I try to eat: protein and a fruit for breakfast, protein and vegetable for lunch, protein and a fruit for snack, protein and a vegetable and a complex carb for dinner.

    I also like the Jamie Eason approved foods list, you can just pick and choose your preferences for meals. It's here:
    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-eason-livefit-trainer-approved-foods-list.html
  • thelovelyLIZ
    thelovelyLIZ Posts: 1,227 Member
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    Honestly, you may just need to bump up your calorie intake. 1200 is way too low for most people, especially if you're active and working out.

    Slow and steady wins the race. Eating more and losing slower is going to be more maintainable over the long run, because you'll be less hungry and more likely to stick to your plan. You may lose faster at 1200, but how long can you stick to that?

    Also, keeping active certainly helps. I find my appetite is smaller on days I'm active, plus once I add in my exercise calories, I get to eat more.

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