I am sick of feeling hungry!!! I don't remember it ever being this bad starting out

I've tried leafy greens, fibrous foods, oatmeal, hot beverages, frozen foods, overdosing on water--nothing works. Even after a large meal (800 calories or more), I'm hungry no more than 30 minutes later.

And it makes me angry because I keep giving into the temptation for delicious chocolate ice cream. And yes--even now--I am salivating over the mere thought of my beloved frozen treat.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Foods they eat to curb those pesky hunger pangs? It's getting really hard to focus on classwork :L

I had this problem several times, too. So, I want to write back.

First and for most, the majority of the hunger feeling you have to sustain and deal with it. Why? Well, because every fat cell in your body starts screaming at your brain when it gets empty that it wants to get filled again (otherwise it will get dissolved after staying empty for some time). On the other side, eating too much filling your fat cells will easily increase their number (if they are full, new ones are added). Hence, if you have started losing weight, you will experience this hunger which you have to ignore because it is a mechanism that wants to drive you back to more weight. (evolution...)

Moreover, you talk about focus on homework, there are quite some people out there whose brain does not get full nutrition at full eating, so the brain always wants more. Additionally, I think this is enhanced by sugar consume as simple sugar has been demonstrated to affect the brain and even change its structure!.

Lastly, I dont want to only give you the advice of ignoring the hunger, if it is really bad, it might be because you deprived your body of something, usually: water or vitamines or minerales. Do you eat protein? it is not mentioned in your list, fish often helps me, sometimes only animal meat is the solution, sometimes it needs to be an avocado or some plant product...

But, as you said, you watch those things, I can only tell you what helped me just recently (and I still have some remaining hunger feeling, but it is not like a hammer in my head): I upped my complex carbs on some days, but concentrated on reducing simple sugars and especially green tea helps me a lot. If have been fine on this but yesterday I nearly imploded, so I stilled my craving (by carefully eating bit by bit and with waiting periods) and today I am good again.

Another time, I was actually sleep deprived, as soon as I rested a weekend it was good.

Try to experiment around.

Thanks for the tips! Since I already eat excess protein (I love fish and chicken breast), crunchy vegetables, and soup and chew gum, it seems like there's nothing else to do but buckle down and deal with it. (Which I figured as much haha)

Over the last couple of days, I have discovered a solution. Well, an additional trigger for the hunger pangs anyway. Whenever I do give into icecream/high-sugar beverages after meals, my hunger triples-back within the hour, and I feel like I have to eat everything in sight. Seems like my body is growing progressively sugar-defensive.


On a positive note, I've found an alternative to sugary deserts. Peaches. Sweet, juicy, aromatic peaches! They're in season. And I can have a peach for a snack/desert that's just as satisfying as icecream without the ridiculous calories or hunger whiplash.

no, it is not sugar-defensive, it is insulin rise and fall. The more sugar you eat at once, the more insulin is released, the faster sugar is entered into cells, the faster it is leaving the blood, the faster insulin is left over, but no sugar, thus a stronger craving is coming right after. Eat protein with sugar to keep insulin levels steady. Eat complex carbohydrates to release sugar slowly to the blood. Drink green tea to decrease the sugar uptake...

and, sugar is sugar, be careful with sweet fruits. Especially, fructose is my personal enemy. It is not only a simple sugar, it can only be converted by the liver and is only directly converted into fat (in contrast to glucose the other simple sugar).

Nah, didn't mean "sugar-defensive" literally. And I've been diagnosed as insulin-resistant. Next step down (if things don't change soon) is full-on diabetes.

Never heard that "sugar is sugar." But peach versus ice cream is more about the *amount* of sugar grams for me. Your standard peach is gonna have 11 grams of sugar. Your standard cup of ice cream is gonna have at least 34 grams of sugar. There really is no contest here lol. If it's 1 peach versus 1 cup of ice cream (what I normally end up eating), then it would be smart to pick the peach every time. And I didn't even get into empty calories.

I'm finding that my pre-diabetic body can handle sugar, but only in small amounts.

Like you suggested though, I never eat only the high sugar-content food by itself. Always with some protein/fats. Also, I'm taking cinnamon supplements to help with sugar-processing. Just can't get into green tea though. I was raised on black tea, so that green stuff has a funny after-taste to me.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Like you suggested though, I never eat only the high sugar-content food by itself. Always with some protein/fats. Also, I'm taking cinnamon supplements to help with sugar-processing. Just can't get into green tea though. I was raised on black tea, so that green stuff has a funny after-taste to me.

You might want to try hibiscus tea. Any kind of tea that has "Zinger" in the title. My favorite is Raspberry Zinger.

This is going to sound silly. But I have earplugs, sunglasses, and noise canceling headphones with me at all times. I am prone to migraines, so sensitivity to light and sound is a problem frequently. On top on that I am totally ADHD, so I find it easy to focus on anything *but* my books lol.

In your situation, earplugs/noise cancelling headphones is the only thing I can recommend. Sorry you are having such a tough time of it.