Food suggestions?

Eggs, oatmeal, yogurt. Add some fresh fruit or a slice of toast and breakfast is set. I will also make breakfast sandwiches the night before with an egg, canadian bacon on an english muffin that I can grab out of the fridge on my way out the door.

For lunch I grill chicken and turkey breasts on Sunday weigh them and pack into snack bags so I can grab them on the go to toss on a salad.

Dinner steamed veggies and a lean meat or salad if I don't want to cook. I like turkey, chicken, salmon and a steak on occasion.

I also make sure I have two healthy snacks per day. I enjoy an apple with 1 tablespoon of natural PB or Wasa with light swiss Laughing cow and tomato slices.

If you're always hungry are you eating enough? Protein? I hope this helps.

Make sure you are eating enough and then work on what you are eating and when you are eating it to remain sated. For many of us, sweet flavors and starches make us hungry. We definitely need protein in our breakfasts. Some folks don't. Some folks need to eat several small meals a day or have scheduled snacks; some do best on one large meal. What works for you works for YOU.

That being said, it sounds like you may wish to learn more about choosing what to eat and why. For this, I recommend starting with the NutritionSource from Harvard at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/

You spoke of a "teaspoon of shredded cheese." This probably has far fewer calories than you think. Are you using a kitchen scale at all? You'd be surprised how much a full ounce of shredded cheese is -- especially if you shred it yourself using a micro-plane -- by far the easiest cheese-shredding tool. Once ounce of cheese is only 105 calories for most cheeses.

Your diary isn't open but if you want me to take a look at it and make suggestions, I'm a retired librarian with time on my hands.

I tend towards high fiber/high protein choices.

Both of which are helpful in keeping the edge off. I eat relatively small meals several times a day, so my body is always working on processing the fuel I put in and rarely gets to the point of starving itself and thus causing me to feel like I could consume a whole haunch of something roasted and delicious.

I find that if I am consuming too few calories per meal, I'm ravenous by my next meal. Same applies to too many calories for me... if I'm not feeling at least lightly hungry by mealtime, I know I probably overdid it on the last round.

And yeah, I find that variety makes a huge difference in my appetite. Excluding foods (including the occasional sweet treat!) makes me focus on what I can't have, instead of all the things I *can* have.

Another thing to consider is proper hydration... if you're dehydrated it will often make you feel hungry when you're not... I like to think we all get enough water, but sometimes the daily "recommended standard" doesn't seem to be enough, especially if you have dietary factors (e.g. excessive caffeine or alcohol use or other chemical or physiological imbalances) that can quietly dehydrate you without you realizing it.... and I know quite a few people who require larger quantities of water in their daily routine when starting out on a fitness/dietary program as their body works overtime to compensate for water used in exercise and other bodily functions and to flush itself out as toxins are shed... so being aware of your hydration levels and environmental factors is something to perhaps look closer at too.

Breakfast for me is usually a high fiber whole grain cereal of some sort supplemented with a protein portion on the side, like one egg or a serving of 0% fat Greek yogurt.

Mid morning snack is usually raw fruit of some sort, and I like pretty much all fruit so the type varies widely, but as long as I stay within my calorie allowance for snacktime I eat whatever fruit is handy.

Lunch is usually more protein heavy than breakfast for me, something along the lines of a 3-4 oz portion of extra lean beef (or turkey, chicken, etc) with as big a heap of seasoned with herbs/spices(but not buttered!) vegetables as my calorie allowance will support. Beef in particular tends to be pretty high calorie, so whatever my meat calories are I just subtract that from my calorie allowance for that meal and fill in the leftover calories with tasty vegetables.The protein keeps me going, and the vegetable fiber digests slowly enough to keep me happy until snack time a few hours later.

Mid afternoon snack tends to be light for me... a high fiber protein/granola bar... maybe a protein smoothie...

Dinner is pretty much just like lunch, using the same formula of meat calories first with vegetable calories added to make up my meal calorie total, but with different meat/vegetable combos to keep my palate from getting bored. And don't underestimate herbs and spices! They have huge flavor impact for minimal calorie intake, and often have other trace nutrients that are good for you too. If you're just starting out on a "healthy" eating program, remember that your taste buds my need to readjust to your new foods too. Things that taste bland and unsatisfying at the beginning can become surprisingly tasty once you're no longer expecting/craving the flavor profiles of highly processed commercial foods.

It can take a while to find the right foods and their effective ratios that work for your particular calorie needs and metabolic rate, so keep experimenting with foods. Theres *tons* of nutritional info out there on pretty much every food known to man so the likelihood of finding new and tasty things to add to your menu is almost infinite.

Much of this may have already been known to you, but hopefully it was useful anyways.

Cheers and good luck!

You've had some great advice. I second what some above posters said about snacks. I know your mindset may be to avoid snacks in order to restrict calories, but "snacking" (i.e., mindless eating of whatever's around) is not the same thing has having 1-2 planned snacks.

I tend to eat about 300 cal for breakfast, 150-300 for a mid-morning snack, 300-400 for lunch, 100-150 for mid-afternoon snack, and then 500-700 for dinner, with some dessert in the evening if I have the calories for it. It keeps me from being hungry at all throughout the day, and if I'm feeling hungry, I try a glass of water.

Make sure you are getting enough protein and fiber.

How about a snack between breakfast & lunch, and lunch & dinner.

1/4 cup almonds (160 calories)
1 hardboiled egg (~90 calories)
yogurt (100-160 depending on the kind) -- this would assume a different breakfast
1 oz cheese (100 calories)
1 serving of crackers (around 150 calories)
1 slice of bread with 1 TB peanut butter (total around 200 calories, depending on bread & peanut butter)
cut up veggies with 1TB of ranch dressing, or your favorite kind (about 100 from the dressing, veggies have very little)
etc.

You may want to change up your breakfast. Something whole grain would probably hold you longer. I often eat cereal & milk for breakfast, looking for low sugar kinds made with whole grains.

What helps me is eating balanced meals with as little processed foods as possible, like making sure I have produce of some sort with dinner and protein with each meal. This works for me. I've been experimenting and I suggest you do it too. Don't diet-diet. Just get to know what works for you and give yourself time to make the changes. This is advice from someone who is finally doing it herself!!!

I'm really just trying to change my habits by logging my food and figuring out portion sizes and things that put my calories/sodium over the top and aren't worth the bother. I'm incorporating the foods I love but modifying them so I quit gaining weight and start losing it. You don't have to be perfect - try different things. Some days you'll go over your goals and some days you'll go under. I don't eat breakfast till about 9 or so because I'm not hungry. I don't eat white rice at home but had some at a restaurant the other day. I'm not beating myself up and I'm not trying to be perfect. It makes life so much easier.

What were you eating before for breakfast? If you had bacon, eggs, and hash browns, maybe you could throw half a cut-up potato in the oven when you wake up, and when it's ready, make one egg and half-a-piece of bacon. And just experiment as you go with healthier choices, like oatmeal and berries. I wouldn't deprive myself (been there, done that) because that only leads to binge eating.

I see that others have posted similar answers... Just don't starve yourself. That's not benefiting anyone.