Anyone knows of a really good appetite suppresant??

luvinme0817
luvinme0817 Posts: 19 Member
edited November 15 in Food and Nutrition
I am an emotional eater. I always feel as though i am hungry. Anyone knows of a appetite suppresor i can buy to kind of help me suppress my appetite??
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Replies

  • NaurielR
    NaurielR Posts: 429 Member
    If you're an emotional eater, I'm not sure how helpful suppressants will be. My understanding is that suppressants, if they even work at all, dull the physical signs of hunger. When you eat because of certain emotions, that's mental, not physical.

    Getting to the root of why you eat emotionally, and taking control of it, will help you more than appetite suppressants ever will. :)
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    NaurielR wrote: »
    When you eat because of certain emotions, that's mental, not physical.

    Getting to the root of why you eat emotionally, and taking control of it, will help you more than appetite suppressants ever will. :)

    This.

    I'm not saying it's easy, but teaching yourself moderation and control is best. Also getting to the root of your problem.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
    edited March 2015
    I do not think appetite suppressants are the answer.

    Many of us are emotional eaters. Make better choices. Have raw veggies prepped and available and turn to water. I have to keep asking myself, "do I really want to eat this, is it really worth the calories". Most of the time the answer is no.

    Divert yourself from wanting to eat. Read a book, go for a walk, do anything else. You will be glad that you did the next day. It is not easy, but it will get easier.

    Best of luck!
  • Justygirl77
    Justygirl77 Posts: 385 Member
    Try resetting your appetite for three days like this:
    Don't eat any sugar or fruit, nor any artificial sweeteners (except stevia...and not RebA).
    Create a three-day menu that includes a pound of veggies divided into three meals, so like:
    omelette for breakfast
    salad and chicken for lunch
    stir fry and salmon for dinner
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Try resetting your appetite for three days like this:
    Don't eat any sugar or fruit, nor any artificial sweeteners (except stevia...and not RebA).
    Create a three-day menu that includes a pound of veggies divided into three meals, so like:
    omelette for breakfast
    salad and chicken for lunch
    stir fry and salmon for dinner

    dowhatnow?

    You don't need to cut anything OP.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    If you are an emotional eater, chances are you are not really hungry, but just like to eat. "As though I'm hungry" - I know the feeling.

    Make sure you are meeting your nutritional needs. Do not go under your estimated BMI, eat at least 1 gram of protein per kg of body weight, and half of that of fat. Have several servings of all kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables every day. Eat something from the other food groups every day as well - meat, fish, eggs, nuts, dairy, grains.

    Learn to recognize and differenciate between the feelings of true hunger and cravings. How does it feel when you have eaten a good meal? How does it feel right before? In your stomach, in your head? What kinds of foods make you feel good - or bad - before, during and after eating?

    Find something else to do besides eating. Being bored is an emotion too.

    Eating and snacking constantly on sweet and strong flavors creates habits and preferences. But taste can change if you really want it to.

    If possible, do not keep trigger treats at home or easily available. Try to keep it off your mind too.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Try resetting your appetite for three days like this:
    Don't eat any sugar or fruit, nor any artificial sweeteners (except stevia...and not RebA).
    Create a three-day menu that includes a pound of veggies divided into three meals, so like:
    omelette for breakfast
    salad and chicken for lunch
    stir fry and salmon for dinner

    how is that going to cure an emotional eating problem?

    OP - ignore this.

    you may need to get professional help to get to the route of the mental issue that is causing you to emotionally eat….

  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
    There are very few effective appetite suppressants currently on the market.

    One of them is Qsymia. This is Phentermine combine with Topiramate in a once-a-day, time-release capsule. Both Phentermine and Topiramate are appetite suppressants, but Phentermine is a stimulant while Tompiramate is a depressant. Given in conjunction they help cancel each other's upper and downer effects.

    It is also quite expensive, at about $180 a month.

    However, many doctors will prescribe a generic equivalent of Phentermine an Topiramate, but you will have to take the pills separately. Generally you take the Phentermine first thing in the morning so that it will burn off by bed time, and you also take a Topirmate with it in the morning and another mid-day. This is much cheaper - it runs me about $30 a month.

    I find it very effective as an appetite suppressant but there are side-effects. The first two weeks I felt very jittery however that has gone away. I can definitely see how people get addicted to speed as I tell my wife in the morning when I take the Phentermine that I am getting ready to "ride the rocket". It definitely makes getting up and going to work easy and I am on fire all work day.

    The Topiramate has a side effect in that it alters taste. Others have reported this also. For me, it made sodas have an unbearable metallic taste. It was so bad that I broke a multi-decade Diet Coke addiction and have drank water almost exclusively since February 18th. Very occasionally I will have unsweet tea at a restaurant.

    There are health concerns taking these drugs. And in order to get a prescription from a doctor generally you need a BMI over 30 plus at least one co-morbidity.

    My mother-in-law took them for a year and lost 60 pounds.

    The problem is, of course, that once you get off of them you will have to deal with the hunger again, and if you do not religiously track your caloric intake and master your hunger, you'll put the weight back on.
  • LovelyIvy466
    LovelyIvy466 Posts: 387 Member
    If it's emotional eating, then the solution will probably involve a change of your mindset, rather than any chemical solution or fad diet. The only other option that may help (MAY) is regular vigorous exercise, because that is reported to suppress appetite, and it releases endorphins which might help you feel better. Yoga might have a similar positive benefit for its stress reduction benefits.

    I have also found that when I put in a lot of hard work exercising, I'm a lot less likely to eat poorly or overeat and undo all my good work.

    But this is all theoretical, based on what works for me and some others. Bottom line is you have to put in work of some kind on your end to face your emotions, and process them in a healthy way.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I am an emotional eater. I always feel as though i am hungry. Anyone knows of a appetite suppresor i can buy to kind of help me suppress my appetite??

    Deal with your emotions instead of eating them?
  • This content has been removed.
  • Caffeine helps...cup of coffee in the mornings. I usually try to drink a glass of water before I eat too.
  • janetteluparia
    janetteluparia Posts: 318 Member
    I know what you are asking and while much of the advise gets to the root of the problem you need a real solution to help you feel full. Hemp protein powder is good, anything with high fiber helps and of course protein and no sugar. I also sometimes rely on sugar free mints, SF hard candies or a 0 calorie carbonated beverage to hold me over in a pinch.....
  • My best appetite suppresor, for wharever reason, is drinking water (an 8 ounce glass each time) throught the day.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    If you're really honestly hungry, eat food.
    If you've met your nutritional needs and still feel hungry, have more high-density low-calorie
    things (water, most vegetables and some fruits - apples are good).
    And despite what I just said there, consider a little good fat - nuts or an avocado.
    Keep healthy foods easy to get to, try not to have unhealthy things. Or if you do, make them
    hard to get to, or portion them into single servings instead of dipping into the whole container.

    If you're constantly hungry, really hungry, despite the above, there are prescription appetite
    suppressants that could help reset your hunger. See your doctor. They're not for people who
    are at or close to a healthy weight, and are for short-term use because of possible side effects.

    (And for the inevitable haters who think that's cheating, just stop before you get started.
    If you wouldn't tell someone they can't have medicine for their migraine because that's cheating
    and they should just learn to deal with it, then don't tell someone who's hungry - which is a
    type of pain - they can't have help controlling it. Appetite suppressants do nothing else - they
    don't lose the weight, they don't do the exercise, they just help you learn to eat less.)



    If you're just eating because you're bored, angry, upset, happy, worried, etc. then nothing
    is going to help other than getting to the root of the problem. Not even the appetite
    suppressant drugs, because you're not really hungry. Figure out what you're _really_ feeling,
    and learn to handle it in a healthy way. That might take some self-exploration with a counselor.


    Also, check to see that your calorie & weight goals are reasonable. If you're aiming too low,
    you're fighting a battle you don't have to fight. Use the third calculator in this post about
    goal-setting to see how many calories you need now, and at a healthy weight (play with the
    numbers to get the BMI below 25). Use 'now-1000' to set your daily calorie goal & lose about
    2 lb / week, as long as it won't put you below 1200. As you hit plateaus, cut 50-100 cal &
    wait a couple weeks. (Again, don't go below 1200 unless your doctor says it's OK.) As a
    bonus, that Baylor College of Medicine calculator also shows you how many servings of the
    food groups you should be eating.
    .
    51637601.png
  • Justygirl77
    Justygirl77 Posts: 385 Member
    My best appetite suppresor, for wharever reason, is drinking water (an 8 ounce glass each time) throught the day.
    Yeppp!
    I started measuring out a day's worth of water, and it's amazing how much appetite and other issues are resolved by being hydrated. Especially a cup or two before a meal...say, 20min before eating.

  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    edited March 2015
    Low carb diets work by suppressing your appetite. A normal appetite is a wondrous thing.

    If it's something you're interested you can read more about it here: LCHF for Beginners.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    The problem is, of course, that once you get off of them you will have
    to deal with the hunger again, and if you do not religiously track your caloric intake and
    master your hunger, you'll put the weight back on.
    The whole point of an appetite suppressant is that the person will learn how to eat reasonable
    portions and that will carry over once the medicine is stopped. Also, I found that I went from
    being almost constantly hungry before phentermine, to only hungry if I hadn't eaten in maybe
    8 hours while on it, to hungry if I hadn't eaten in maybe 6 hours once I stopped taking it.
    My doctor tells me that this last is normal. It seems to have persisted (most days), so I'm
    hopeful that my hunger has simply been reset.

    But if she's eating emotionally, medicine for appetite won't help.

  • lauracups
    lauracups Posts: 533 Member
    I'm an emotional eater and what works for me is hitting the heavy bag instead, it does WONDERS! ! If I'm unable to do that, I excuse myself go somewhere quiet and swear like a drunken sailor or cry or both. Point is I let out the initial reaction (NOT for all to see), THEN when calm I think and respond when necessary, not react. And sometimes I just go Spock, those pesky emotions do not have to drive my behavior.
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
    The whole point of an appetite suppressant is that the person will learn how to eat reasonable portions and that will carry over once the medicine is stopped. Also, I found that I went from being almost constantly hungry before phentermine, to only hungry if I hadn't eaten in maybe 8 hours while on it, to hungry if I hadn't eaten in maybe 6 hours once I stopped taking it. My doctor tells me that this last is normal. It seems to have persisted (most days), so I'm hopeful that my hunger has simply been reset.

    From what I've read, there is evidence to suggest that some hunger is one of the reactions to fat loss an the body's attempt to restore the previous fat level. If so, it may not matter if you have learned new eating habits for some people.

    When I was on Redux back in the 90's, I lost 60 pounds in 6 months, but gained it back when the drug went off the market. Maybe 6 months wasn't long enough to learn new eating habits.

    Last year I lost 30 pounds over 6 months through sheer willpower. But I gained it all back, too.

    I'm just focused on losing the weight. I'll worry about maintenance when I get there.
  • LavenderLeaves
    LavenderLeaves Posts: 195 Member
    OP, I know you probably don't want to see that an appetite suppressant won't work for you, but it simply won't. Emotional eating is all mental. On days I'm emotionally eating, I find I'm able to eat huge amounts of food that, when I'm simply eating by my normal hunger cues, would probably make me physically sick. If you're really emotionally eating to obesity, then it might be time to start taking a look at things from a different angle. Don't try dieting. Stop seeing food as the enemy. Realize that there are things that you need to start dealing with so you can start the road to recovery.

    As someone recovering form binge eating disorder, believe me when I say I know what you're feeling. I was bulimic for a while. There are days I find myself not wanting to eat anything when I get in bad head spaces, and days I want to just lock myself away and do nothing but eat. Nothing other than really figuring out why I end up turning to food in some way or another will help.

    Appetite suppressants will not work. Period. They work if someone is genuinely hungry, dictated by their body, not their mind. The issues that are the root of why you choose to turn to food will still be there. Do some research - find some books for emotional eating and how to deal with it that you think might help you, and just use the coping skills they teach in them. It's a matter of unlearning our disordered eating habits, and there's nothing that is an easy fix for it, but when you're working on it and see improvement, it makes it that much more rewarding.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    I am an emotional eater. I always feel as though i am hungry. Anyone knows of a appetite suppresor i can buy to kind of help me suppress my appetite??

    For your situation - no, I don't know of any. There are some OTC class products that can take a little of the edge off, but that's a whole different thing than dealing with strong "emotional eating" urges.

    An appetite suppressant isn't going to get you want you want, unfortunately.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    Sleeping. I'm never hungry in the morning. Once I eat breakfast then I start getting hungry. That's why I push breakfast out to 11 am or so, then I can eat the rest of my calories throughout the day and not feel hungry.

    I think intermittent fasting is similar, not sure if it makes you hungry when you're not eating. Maybe someone can comment on that since I haven't tried it or looked into it much.
  • tracie_minus100
    tracie_minus100 Posts: 465 Member
    I am an emotional eater. Unfortunately, suppressing your appetite won't fix it. You have to deal with the issue, and learn to deal with it without food. I've turned to exercise in times of stress and it really does help, and a lot more than food does. Instead of feeling temporarily better, then remorseful after stress eating, exercising makes me feel great.
    My first thought is still to turn to food when bad things happen, or I'm feeling really stressed out. But instead, I will go for a walk, or hit the gym, something like that. It's easier said than done...but gets easier with time.
    Best of luck. :)
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    If you're an emotional eater, you'll need to find other ways of dealing with your emotions.

    One of the reasons you might be eating... at least this was true for me... I was afraid of my emotions. They felt overwhelming to me, and I ate to stuff them down, to soothe them away.

    I came to the realization that this was a coping mechanism that I'd learned as a child, and I was still feeling emotions as bigger than myself as an adult--an age where I was fully capable of having perspective. So I started visualizing my emotions as a ball ... in my head... a mass... standing next to me... towering over me, and... I just made the ball shrink.

    Every time I felt like eating emotionally, I practiced this mental exercise. I'd sit down, and close my eyes, breathe deeply, and focus on what was bothering me and make myself picture myself as bigger than it.

    It eventually worked to break the habit. And that's what emotional eating is. It's a habit. It's a learned behavioral response.
  • SweatLikeDog
    SweatLikeDog Posts: 318 Member
    Drink more water, eat more protein, and work through your emotional issues. Eating as a form of entertainment is OK to a point, but beyond that there's no magic pill for bad habits.
  • mominstands
    mominstands Posts: 83 Member
    There are very few effective appetite suppressants currently on the market.

    One of them is Qsymia. This is Phentermine combine with Topiramate in a once-a-day, time-release capsule. Both Phentermine and Topiramate are appetite suppressants, but Phentermine is a stimulant while Tompiramate is a depressant. Given in conjunction they help cancel each other's upper and downer effects.

    It is also quite expensive, at about $180 a month.

    However, many doctors will prescribe a generic equivalent of Phentermine an Topiramate, but you will have to take the pills separately. Generally you take the Phentermine first thing in the morning so that it will burn off by bed time, and you also take a Topirmate with it in the morning and another mid-day. This is much cheaper - it runs me about $30 a month.

    I find it very effective as an appetite suppressant but there are side-effects. The first two weeks I felt very jittery however that has gone away. I can definitely see how people get addicted to speed as I tell my wife in the morning when I take the Phentermine that I am getting ready to "ride the rocket". It definitely makes getting up and going to work easy and I am on fire all work day.

    The Topiramate has a side effect in that it alters taste. Others have reported this also. For me, it made sodas have an unbearable metallic taste. It was so bad that I broke a multi-decade Diet Coke addiction and have drank water almost exclusively since February 18th. Very occasionally I will have unsweet tea at a restaurant.

    There are health concerns taking these drugs. And in order to get a prescription from a doctor generally you need a BMI over 30 plus at least one co-morbidity.

    My mother-in-law took them for a year and lost 60 pounds.

    The problem is, of course, that once you get off of them you will have to deal with the hunger again, and if you do not religiously track your caloric intake and master your hunger, you'll put the weight back on.

    This is the most informative & helpful post I have ever seen someone post on MFP when a person ask for advice on Appetite Suppressants or any other diet medication. Thank you Maillemaker!!!!!
  • Sugarbeat
    Sugarbeat Posts: 824 Member
    Drink more water and increase your fat intake. Works like a charm.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited April 2015
    Sugarbeat wrote: »
    Drink more water and increase your fat intake. Works like a charm.

    There are lots of people that doesn't work for. Personally, I can go 50% fat or higher and still out-eat my calorie goals without even thinking about it.
  • brenn24179
    brenn24179 Posts: 2,144 Member
    I agree try to deal and solve problems. Also counting calories tells you how much you need to eat so say that is enough. And it really is, we are just greedy. Make yourself behave. You can.
This discussion has been closed.