Starting and hunger

First 3 days are always the worst, and it gets gradually better after that.

girlviernes wrote: »

What is your height and how much are you wanting to lose?

This plus have you tired dieting before? and current weight?

Have you tried to figure out how much you were eating before? 1200 calories is really low. It's not something most people can easily adjust to, so if you're used to doing 1-2 days of a diet and giving up, it sounds like you're setting yourself up to do that exact same thing again.

1200 is low, you may want to be less aggressive and only resort to being more aggressive if you stall. Some fleeting hunger is normal, since you're restricting, but it shouldn't be intolerable or constant.
Increasing your protein and fiber will help a lot with hunger. Also choosing foods that are high in volume and low in calories will help fill you up. Snacks and meals that are time-consuming to consume, like salad, edamame pods, nuts and seeds you have to shell yourself, etc, can also make you feel like you're eating more than you really are.
It gets easier, but it won't get easier if you're harder on yourself than necessary. Losing weight shouldn't feel like torture.

kscm02 wrote: »

So can anyone give me an idea of how long before the hunger pangs go away when I'm just starting out. I've set my goal at -2lb a week and it has me down for 1200 calories per day. I'm a bad snacker so this is definitely a challenge. I'm sure from past experience the pangs go away and my body gets used to the lower calories and stomach starts to shrink Just would like to have something to look forward too as I adjust especially in those moments of (I can't do this, I give up, Moments). I am drinking a lot more water 100oz per day and drinking water doesn't fill me up for to long.

You can drop your weight loss to 1.5lb/week. I use this tier, and it is very helpful:

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lb/week is ideal
If you have 15-25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lb/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lb/week is ideal

1,200 may be too aggressive for your goals and needs, hence you being hungry! Since you want to lose 43lbs (Edit: just saw you have 55lb to lose; still applies though!), I would try to lower it to 1.5lb/week, so you can have a slight boost to your daily calories.

Try filling up your intake with fiber and protein; these things will keep you fuller longer. One meal example I love is a serving of rice pilaf, 4-5oz of chicken (I recently did garlic and herb for a marinade), and 3oz of broccoli. That can tide me over easily from lunch until dinner time.

Also having calorie dense snacks (my favorite is guacamole with tortilla chips) can help you get calories in and not feel so hungry.

kscm02 wrote: »

So this is what I have had today and although I've had some issues with hunger this is what 1200 calories has given me -76 calories I have still to use but I'm not sure what else I should have without overdoing it.
Special K - Vanilla Almond Cereal, 1cup 
Walmart - 1% Milk, 1 cup
Banana - Medium 7-8", 58 g
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Peppers - Sweet, red, raw, 1 cup
Ortega - Refried Beans Fat Free, 1/2 cup
Trader Joe's - Light Shredded 3 Cheese Blend, 1/8 cup
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Skinnytaste - Skinny Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese, 1 cup
Spinach - Raw, 2 cup
Cucumber - With peel, raw, 0.5 cup slices
Wish Bone - Balsamic Italian Salad Dressing , 2 tbsp
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Market Basket - Mozzerella String Cheese, 1 stick
Apples - Raw, with skin, 1 cup
Fudgesicle - Sugar Free, 1 Fudgesicle

Are you vegetarian?

AliceDark wrote: »

What's the macro breakdown of your day? FWIW, I would be starving and ready to kill people if that's all I ate in a day.

Agreed. Starting my day off with cereal and a banana...no no. Need me some protein.

Edited to say I guess a lot of people start their day off that way. Just not my preference personally.

I would try something more along the lines of 1400 calories. 1200 is super low for many people. You don't want to set yourself up for failure.

I don't know if you're interested in swapping your cereal, but I did and feel a lot better. You don't get to eat much of it and it always seemed to make me hungry.

Also, it's hard at first to distinguish true hunger from simply wanting to eat. If you're truly hungry, I would suggest eating an extra snack. Boiled egg, small salad, air popped popcorn, etc.

I would ditch the breakfast cereal in favor of and scrambler made of
- 1 egg plus 1/2 cups egg beaters
- One tablespoon grated parmesan (low calorie but adds a noticeable cheesy flavor)
- 1 chopped up piece of ham, turkey sausage, or morningstar (soy) sausage.

It really packs the protein in first thing in the morning, which will sustain you longer than the cereal does.

That said, I'm hungry quite a bit, and I try to just think of the hunger as how I know the plan is working!

Good luck!