Not that new...still struggling. .. need some advice

Maybe the amount of calories you're eating is too little and that's why you're still feeling hungry.

I suggest you look into glycemic load of the foods you eat. For me if I eat simple carbs like fruit and bread I come off the rails and have a hard time controlling appetite. Personally I think nature wants us to load up on fast carb foods when available and store them as fat. That was what was required to survive way back in time. Now that natural tendency works against us because simple fast carbs are abundant and we use no energy to acquire them. So just avoid the simple carbs. Not only is your appetite not triggered into a frenzy you will eat better more nutritionally dense foods. Good luck

Eat healthy and as much as you want. Fruit, veg, clean carbs, good sources of protein. Make food more interesting, stop counting calories.

Oh and drink more water, I drink 5 litres at least. I also love loose leaf white/green tea's for the aid of weight loss.

I think there are two different angles you can take on this. Why you're eating, and what you're eating.

What you're eating is an easy problem to fix. A slice of bread has a lot of carbs that have been cooked down to make it easy for your body to convert them into energy. Most of the bread we get from the store is so soft because it's white bread (bran and wheat germ layers taken out before milling it) and because bakeries handle it with other baking steps and ingredients to make it super-soft and tasty. But that stuff just goes straight mush in your belly and then glucose in your bloodstream, and pretty quickly your belly is empty and you want more again.

The trick here is to have something that's not white carbs (no soft bread, no white rice, no sugary stuff) or liquid, but has some heft and snap to it and takes a while for your body to break down. For me, the best option is to have some cut-up celery, carrots, cucumber, or other juicy vegetables on hand, shake some salt on them if I'm also craving salty food, and pig out on that instead.

For you, it might be some other food, if raw veggies aren't your thing. Hell, eat your sandwich, just skip the bread! Slap the meat and trimmings on a plate, eat it up with a fork. You'll still get the salty and rich flavors from the meat and flavor from the mustard or whatever you put on it, but if you leave off the bread and butter/mayo you've cut the calories by 50-70%. Huge improvement.

Knock yourself out. Have two or three breadless "sandwiches." Just as long as it's not as quickly digested as bread and it's something you enjoy eating.

That leads into the second point, WHY you're eating lots late at night. I completely get what you mean when it's 11 PM, you're hungry, and your belly is whispering "oh mannnnnn wouldn't a burger just hit the spot right now!!?" And even if you don't have any room left in your diet plan, you do it anyway because, very literally, it feels freaking GREAT to have that food. Makes you happy, perks you up, and it has a little subconscious tickle of all the other times you've had a great burger, or you had a burger at a really fun cookout when you were a kid.

This is a nicely intertwined set of incentives your belly and your brain have presented you with, and they are harrrrrrrrrd to resist. Really the best thing I've figured out to deal with them is to give up. Not give up and have the burger, but give up and go the f--- to sleep. Whatever you thought you were going to accomplish that night, it's probably going to be done sloppily if it's work, or it doesn't really matter in the big picture if it's watching TV or kicking around online.

I get that sometimes we have work problems that keep us up late, and in that sense yeah I'd take keeping my paycheck on track over keeping my diet plan on track. But if it's not critical to your job performance, just pack it in, go to sleep, and start again in the morning. It's by far the best way to quiet those cravings, and the extra sleep will feel freakin' great the next morning too.

replace food with exercise... IF you are hungry... grab a water bottle lace up the shoes... and go for a walk... empty the house of the "bad" food... and search for healthy alternatives... chances are you are not paying attention to your macros... OR getting enough protein... you can get all your calories from a bag of chips... OR from a bag of carrots... guess which one is going to help you feel fuller longer??? also...take your time eating... slow down... it is NOT a race... the more time you take to eat.. the more time you give yourself to feel full.. the less you will actually have to eat to feel full

I completely understand what you are saying. I have been on MFP for 3 months and have just realized what it means to eat until you are satisfied, not full. 1/4 of my calories are to be eaten for breakfast, 1/4 for lunch, and 2/4 for dinner and dessert or 11 o'clock snacks.

I used to eat 3/4 of my calories for breakfast/lunch because I listened to the saying "breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day." It does not matter what time you eat because it is all calories in, vs. calories out. I do the math every Saturday because if everyday I had to stay under ____ many calories, I would fail. Some days I want more, and some days I want less. For me this is possible because I can eat 75 more calories today, but the next 3 days I need to eat 25 calories less.



So, I guess what I'm trying to say is save some calories at night for your snack, and you won't go over your limit.