So hungry lately..!!!

I'm in the same boat. I'm 5'8" and I weighed in at 162.4 this morning. I really noticed my hunger this week. I'm set for 1500 calories and usually eat my exercise calories (I usually exercise just so I can have a glass or two of wine or a chocolate cupcake at night). I dropped 2.6# this week so I guess I did pretty good.

One thing I did try this past week was drinking a bottle of water (24 ounces) before my meal because I was feeling really hungry and was worried I'd go crazy once I sat down at the table. It did help, then I had a big cup of herbal tea a little later about half way between dinner and bedtime. I usually eat lots of fruits and veggies and try not to have too much carbs but I am prone to over doing it on the sodium.

Pair carbohydrates with protein.

If you eat a carbohydrate-only snack or meal (or a disproportionately heavy carbohydrate snack or meal), then your blood sugar will rise dramatically. This causes your pancreas to release insulin in order to lower your blood sugar. When your blood sugar is low again your body will send you strong signals to eat again. So a vicious cycle can develop wherein you eat a carbohydrate meal, your blood sugar spikes, your blood sugar drops through the floor, you eat another carbohydrate snack, and the process repeats.

To combat this, pair protein with carbohydrates. So, you can have fruit, but eat some cottage cheese with the fruit. Or you can have crackers, but eat cheese with the crackers. You can have a slice of bread, but add a slice of chicken to it and make a mini-sandwich.

Eating protein with the carbohydrate will moderate the insulin response. You will end up feeling fuller longer and will be less likely to desire a snack or overeat when you do have a meal.

You do not need to go around feeling hungry. Deprivation is not a virtue.

I am trying to combat feeling hungry by eating a small meal evry 2 hours or so. I will eat protein with fruit or a vegetable. I usually never sit down for a huge meal like I used to, and this seems to really help me from getting so hungry. If I eat every few hours, I will not let myself get so hungry that I want to grab everything in sight! A small meal for me would be a protein bar and an apple, or Greek Yogurt and a pear. I try to get more veggies with the protein than fruit, but I have noticed I pick the fruit more often, which I have to watch because of the sugar. I will also grab a small, small serving of grilled chicken and a yam or broccoli. Protein helps keep me full longer than carbs, so I really limit the amount of carbs I eat in a day. I will sometimes have light wheat bread with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter and add a veggie or fruit with that. I know everyone is different and all of our bodies respond to different eating techniques. I hoped this helped!

I think part of it is that it is winter time and our bodies are going hey it's getting cold out, we need to stock up. Cause trust me my body is going NUTS over here going hungry hungry hungry hungry food food food. And I swear it's like this every winter. I read somewhere it's our primative urges coming through for our survival insticts or something like that so we have to give into it a little, so yes eat low cal things to keep it happy.

Maybe try a low gi diet :-)

Eat healthy fresh foods...I eat all day, and stay about 1200 calories. I stopped eating high calorie processed foods...and I'm doing great with it

Good luck : )

Try keeping a bottle of water at your bedside and fill up when you are tempted to eat when you wake up. Try eating grapes or stuff you can eat one by one that appears like a lot of food but it isn't a lot of calories (carrot sticks, celery, grapes, apples slices).

I had gastric by-pass surgery. They suggest that drinking liquids with meals causes the stomach to empty quicker, and you feel hungry sooner. They (surgeons) recommend not having anything to drink until 60-90 minutes after eating. It's a hard habit to break but I feel that it works. I set my cell phone for the time I can drink after eating.

Drink 8 glasses of water per day. It really helps and is good for your diet, hair, and skin. Good luck.

I'm also going to say that I think it might be changes in weather as I've just noticed this as well over the past few days which is exactly when it started snowing and getting cold here.