So Hungry

karenconey98 wrote: »

wkwebby wrote: »

Water is a good trick, but definitely balancing the protein with the carbs in each meal. Perhaps you have a tendency to have a lower blood sugar after breakfast (very few proteins, but high carbs) and dinner (again same issue). How did you feel an hour after lunch? If you were still hungry, then perhaps the water is the issue. Your brain gives those hunger signals if your blood sugar dips too low and without the protein to balance out your spikes and troughs, and when it needs water. Try the water first, then try rounding out each of your meals somehow.

An hour after lunch hungry; all I have is fruit. It's just hard to have protein in school as most foods have to be cooked.

If you're eating very high carb, low protein and fat meals then I don't wonder you're always hungry. If I eat nothing but carbs for a meal I'm starving within an hour or so. I'm about 5'3" and eat around 1200-1400 calories per day. I'm rarely stomach-growling hungry even at mealtimes.

Definitely try to up the protein factor. There are many foods that are high in protein which don't require cooking but might require refrigeration. Tuna is a great option, for example. I'll have a 7 ounce tin of tuna (5.6 ounces or so of actual tuna once the water is drained) with mayonnaise and diced cucumber for lunch a couple of times each week. You could add other veggies to it, if you'd prefer. Just plain tuna and mayo on a bed of lettuce with some sliced tomatoes and a little salad dressing is also good. Hard boiled eggs can be added to salads. I love egg salad scooped with celery stalks or egg salad on lettuce. There are lots of beans which are relatively high in protein; they're cheap, too, if you buy them dried and plump them up yourself.

One more thing you might try is to eat smaller meals spread throughout the day. The "meals" can just be snacks (an ounce of almonds, a string cheese, a hard boiled egg, an apple, etc.) but it'll help stave off that hungry feeling until your next meal.

Your diet choices look very healthy(and delish!), but it looks like you are eating a lot of simple sugars in your fruits, which cause a spike in blood sugar and cause you to feel even hungrier later. Like a few others have said, more proteins in place of fruits would help you to feel fuller. I've noticed two things that help me feel full for not very many calories:
1.Eggy toast, which is basically two poached eggs eaten on a piece of toast, the yolk-y toast is eaten after the eggs, I usually like to have this with sriracha, for me this is 185 calories
2.Have you ever just sat down and drunk a whole pot of tea? I accidentally did this once when I was still hungry after dinner and I was so full I thought I would burst!

Good luck maintaining!

karenconey98 wrote: »

I feel mainly hungry during school and before and after dinner. The problem is that eating any more food always exceeds one of my goals, and I feel that they're a little too generous in the first place. It doesn't make sense that eating so that I'm not hungry is overeating, but seeing the amount of calories that everyone else eats my height causes me to second guess myself.

You have to play around with your macros and meal times until you find a combination that suits you. You are set at 45/20/35 CPF, try 35/30/35. Try spreading out your meals throughout the day - instead of three large meals, maybe have six small ones, so that by the time you get hungry, it's already time for the next meal.

Try lowering your consumption of simple carbs, and eat more of complex carbs. From Harvard Health Publications - "When you eat a food with a high rating on the glycemic index, enzymes in your digestive system attack its carbohydrates and furiously snip off simple sugars such as glucose. These quickly slip into the bloodstream. As blood sugar levels shoot up, cells in the pancreas churn out extra insulin. This hormone helps cells sponge up glucose. A surge of insulin also signals the body to store extra glucose as fat. Too much insulin may eventually drive blood sugar below the level your body needs to keep things running smoothly. This triggers responses that get your blood sugar levels back into the normal range. Hunger pangs are one of these."

Fiber makes you feel full too, so I suggest you increase your fiber if you aren't having much (fair warning - it might cause bloating for the first couple of days, so don't freak out, it'll go away as soon as it came).

ETA - As far as low calorie snacks are concerned, when I'm out of calories for the day but I'm still hungry, I binge on lettuce. It's not terribly nutritious except for a lot of vitamin A and a bit of some other micronutrients, but 100 grams of lettuce is only 15 calories.