Tips for Hunger Control

I was hungry in the beginning. Oddly enough, I don't really feel that hunger as much now. The main that helped me was eating a little bit of protein every 3 to 4 hours and drinking plenty of liquids.

I cook up a big batch of lean chicken in the crockpot on a regular basis (chicken breasts, low-fat chicken broth, chopped onion, pepper and either Lawry's Seasoned Salt or a little regular salt and some cumin.)

I would cool the chicken and put it in little snack-size zip baggies. Each bag had 2 oz. (about 100 calories). If I felt hungry or had an urge to eat, I'd grab a bag from the fridge and a big glass of ice-tea. Within 30-40 minutes, I'd noticed that my hunger was gone.

There's nothing wrong with feeling hungry. It won't kill you. Embrace it and stop obsessing over food. There's no getting around it. You might try short term fasting since facing that feeling for a more prolonged period may help you to deal with it on a smaller scale.

I disagree that you have to be plagued by hunger while eating reduced calories. Since I've switched to a lower carbohydrate plan (I typically eat between 60-80g per day) I haven't had bad hunger at all, only if I skip a meal entirely does my stomach even growl anymore. I realize this way of eating isn't for everyone, but in my experience it's made losing weight much easier for me. I also recommend eating foods higher in protein and fat (meats, higher fat greek yogurt, cheese, nuts/seeds & their butters, avocados, olive oil, etc.) as well as eating lots of bulky foods (lots of veggies!). Good luck! :flowerforyou:

I agree here ^. I very much assumed I'd feel hungry all the time, but me too, since switching to lower carbs I truly haven't been hungry at all (2 months in now). And that's amazing to me. I was eating such super HIGH carbs previously and I was always hungry ~ always.

One 'tip' I'd offer is I buy the bag of (Dole brand) cole slaw mix (plain from the produce section, it's just shredded raw cabbage and some carrots, doesn't come 'dressed' with mayo). I use it in place of my carb. It kinda looks like potatoes or pasta . I heat up a big handful in the microwave and top it with everything LOL. I eat it with lunch and dinner everyday. I sometimes use it as a snack ~ like today I topped it with a couple of tbls of nacho cheese sauce and it was a pretty good imitation of mac & cheese IMO (and under 60 calories!). I'm finding this pre-shredded cabbage filling, satisfying, and handy/easy ~ which handy/easy for me is a key to not pigging out on 'bad' stuff.

The first three weeks sucked for me. I was eating about 2,050 for calories and doing everything I could to eat more protein, avoid pre-packaged food, etc. It just was what it was. The worst would sneak up around 8:30 PM at night (former ice cream time).

So I then got motivated to work out more, so that I could get those extra 100+ calories in the beginning.

Another member mentioned that they ate sugar-free jello when they wanted a "treat". Each one has 10 calories, so I could literally eat jello until I was sick of it and that seemed to help.

Finally, I am honest in what I record. I had a terrible week (go look my diary) because I am getting through a running injury so I am resting, but my body has been used to eating at 2600+ calories a day. So I found myself eating more salty, carb-laden food because that is what a long distance runner needs to propel through 19+ mile workouts. This will taper, and I'll get back to eating the basics again.

Good luck!

... FIBER, FIBER, FIBER

.... brown rice and WHOLE WHOLE grains

Fiber bloats me.