When should I be eating?

kbakhtawar69
kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
edited November 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Should I eat when my stomach is growling? Or just starve myself? Idk because if you starve yourself that can make you very sick but what if after I lose weight and go back to my normal eating habits, would I gain more weight than I lost?

Replies

  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
    i personally plan 3 meals a day plus one snack. but this is very personal thing.
    whatever you do, do not starve yourself. you will just get fed up and quit. Look through the boards and see all the people who post, back again, trying again.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    Make your 'normal eating habit' something that won't make you gain weight and a habit that you can stick to. Eat when you're hungry, and work out how you need to spread out your calories through the day to be able to do that. I get hungry about every 2 hours regardless of how much I eat at a meal, so I have small meals and lots of snacks throughout the day. Work your calories around when you feel hungry.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I like to eat when I'm hungry. Obviously, there are times when I have to wait, but following my hunger is working for me.

    I don't plan to change that when I'm done losing. I try very hard to put things in place that become healthy habits. These aren't things that will change when I'm done losing weight. Eating healthy foods, following my hunger, getting daily exercise - all stuff that could go on forever, with any luck at all. :)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    I like to eat when I'm hungry

    I tend to eat every 3 hours or so because that's what I like

    If I've eaten within the last 2 hours I will take a moment to consider whether I'm actually hungry or it's an emotional clue - I will take 20 mins before I eat something, a lot of times the 'hunger' signal goes

    There is no 'returning to normal' you are changing your habits for life

    If you think there is a 'normal' to return to you're going to yo-yo back to where you were

    Work out how you can live like this with a few hundred more calories as you go along - work out your go-to foods, your comfort foods, your favourite foods and keep them

    The difference between weight loss and maintenance can be a simple sandwich

  • KT_3009
    KT_3009 Posts: 1,042 Member
    Keep up with your normal eating habits and just make slight changes to portion sizes. If you are still hungry fill up with a glass of water because normally that will do the trick otherwise snack on some healthy fruits/veggies or nuts until your next meal :)
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    Whenever you want, just have reasonable calorie goals and make it fit.

    I personally have 2 planned meals/day (lunch ~11am, and dinner ~5:30) typically a few hundred calories available for snacks. If I'm hungry during the day and have some food available I'll eat it if it fits my calories. If there is no food available, then I just go hungry, can't do much about it anyways. I also typically eat a snack after dinner.

    This doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me. I eat this way because it allows for two bigger meals and some snacks. If I ate 3 (or more) meals/day I couldn't eat my 2 slices of pizza for lunch today.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    When you're hungry.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    I eat when I'm hungry.

    Sometimes that's 4 times a day sometimes it's 1 or 2.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Should I eat when my stomach is growling? Or just starve myself? Idk because if you starve yourself that can make you very sick but what if after I lose weight and go back to my normal eating habits, would I gain more weight than I lost?

    If you are eating the amount of calories you are supposed to then you won't actually starve.
    You can eat at your maintenance level and not gain weight. If you do it often you won't be losing weight but you will not gain from it. You will gain weight if you consistently eat more than your maintenance level of calories.
    If you are hungry all the time:
    Is your goal too aggressive- set for 2 lb a week when you have less than 25 lbs to lose? Adjust your goal to .5 or 1 lb a week.
    Are you eating any of your exercise calories? With MFP you are supposed to eat at least some of the calories gained from exercise.


    If I really still felt hungry even after eating up to my calorie goal one day then I would eat something. I would probably choose something 100-200 calories or less and something with protein.
  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    Thank you all for your replies, this helps a lot!
  • LastingChanges
    LastingChanges Posts: 390 Member
    I like to have a food schedule. I try to eat at the exact time each day and each meal has a predetermined amount of calories. Even if I dont feel hungry I just automatically eat at that time anyway.
  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Should I eat when my stomach is growling? Or just starve myself? Idk because if you starve yourself that can make you very sick but what if after I lose weight and go back to my normal eating habits, would I gain more weight than I lost?

    If you are eating the amount of calories you are supposed to then you won't actually starve.
    You can eat at your maintenance level and not gain weight. If you do it often you won't be losing weight but you will not gain from it. You will gain weight if you consistently eat more than your maintenance level of calories.
    If you are hungry all the time:
    Is your goal too aggressive- set for 2 lb a week when you have less than 25 lbs to lose? Adjust your goal to .5 or 1 lb a week.
    Are you eating any of your exercise calories? With MFP you are supposed to eat at least some of the calories gained from exercise.


    If I really still felt hungry even after eating up to my calorie goal one day then I would eat something. I would probably choose something 100-200 calories or less and something with protein.

    The thing is, I'm doing something similar to the 13 Day Diet, I just modified it into something longer than 13 days.

    But yesterday, when I started using MFP again, MFP apparently said that I'm eating less than I should be. When I looked for myself it recorded that I still had 1,220 calories left. Since I haven't been on MFP for a long time, I didn't realize that I had been eating too little for the past weeks.

    So what I'm trying to say is that should my calorie intake suddenly increase or should I stick to whatever I'm doing? Apparently if you limit your portion sizes and suddenly eat much more you will go back to the weight you started at. But in these two weeks I lost 1 kg. Should I be eating more?

    And now I realize that I was always starving during these weeks. And currently my stomach is growling, but I ate an apple 15 minutes ago and I'm going to have lunch in half an hour.

    Help me please.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Should I eat when my stomach is growling? Or just starve myself? Idk because if you starve yourself that can make you very sick but what if after I lose weight and go back to my normal eating habits, would I gain more weight than I lost?

    If you are eating the amount of calories you are supposed to then you won't actually starve.
    You can eat at your maintenance level and not gain weight. If you do it often you won't be losing weight but you will not gain from it. You will gain weight if you consistently eat more than your maintenance level of calories.
    If you are hungry all the time:
    Is your goal too aggressive- set for 2 lb a week when you have less than 25 lbs to lose? Adjust your goal to .5 or 1 lb a week.
    Are you eating any of your exercise calories? With MFP you are supposed to eat at least some of the calories gained from exercise.


    If I really still felt hungry even after eating up to my calorie goal one day then I would eat something. I would probably choose something 100-200 calories or less and something with protein.

    The thing is, I'm doing something similar to the 13 Day Diet, I just modified it into something longer than 13 days.

    But yesterday, when I started using MFP again, MFP apparently said that I'm eating less than I should be. When I looked for myself it recorded that I still had 1,220 calories left. Since I haven't been on MFP for a long time, I didn't realize that I had been eating too little for the past weeks.

    So what I'm trying to say is that should my calorie intake suddenly increase or should I stick to whatever I'm doing? Apparently if you limit your portion sizes and suddenly eat much more you will go back to the weight you started at. But in these two weeks I lost 1 kg. Should I be eating more?

    And now I realize that I was always starving during these weeks. And currently my stomach is growling, but I ate an apple 15 minutes ago and I'm going to have lunch in half an hour.

    Help me please.

    I have no idea what the 13 day diet is - what is it?

    If you follow a drastic calorie cut and then eat more you absolutely will gain water weight ..but if you are still at or under maintenance it will stabilise down...scale weight is not that great a metric for fat loss

    But if you are 1220 calories under your target eat something ...

    An apple is not a filling food ..for the same calories you could have 170g 0% Greek yogurt and get 18g protein
  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Should I eat when my stomach is growling? Or just starve myself? Idk because if you starve yourself that can make you very sick but what if after I lose weight and go back to my normal eating habits, would I gain more weight than I lost?

    If you are eating the amount of calories you are supposed to then you won't actually starve.
    You can eat at your maintenance level and not gain weight. If you do it often you won't be losing weight but you will not gain from it. You will gain weight if you consistently eat more than your maintenance level of calories.
    If you are hungry all the time:
    Is your goal too aggressive- set for 2 lb a week when you have less than 25 lbs to lose? Adjust your goal to .5 or 1 lb a week.
    Are you eating any of your exercise calories? With MFP you are supposed to eat at least some of the calories gained from exercise.


    If I really still felt hungry even after eating up to my calorie goal one day then I would eat something. I would probably choose something 100-200 calories or less and something with protein.

    The thing is, I'm doing something similar to the 13 Day Diet, I just modified it into something longer than 13 days.

    But yesterday, when I started using MFP again, MFP apparently said that I'm eating less than I should be. When I looked for myself it recorded that I still had 1,220 calories left. Since I haven't been on MFP for a long time, I didn't realize that I had been eating too little for the past weeks.

    So what I'm trying to say is that should my calorie intake suddenly increase or should I stick to whatever I'm doing? Apparently if you limit your portion sizes and suddenly eat much more you will go back to the weight you started at. But in these two weeks I lost 1 kg. Should I be eating more?

    And now I realize that I was always starving during these weeks. And currently my stomach is growling, but I ate an apple 15 minutes ago and I'm going to have lunch in half an hour.

    Help me please.

    I have no idea what the 13 day diet is - what is it?

    If you follow a drastic calorie cut and then eat more you absolutely will gain water weight ..but if you are still at or under maintenance it will stabilise down...scale weight is not that great a metric for fat loss

    But if you are 1220 calories under your target eat something ...

    An apple is not a filling food ..for the same calories you could have 170g 0% Greek yogurt and get 18g protein

    Basically the 13 Day Diet is where you follow a specific routine listing all the foods and drinks you eat at whatever times for 13 days. Apparently you should have lost a lot of weight by the end of it. My cousins tried it and the stayed slim for only about a month. They gained all of their weight back.

    There is also a fast food place nearby our house and they have burgers and chicken. But it has grease and oil and its just unhealthy. But should I eat it for the last 1,220 calories left or avoid it?
  • Protranser
    Protranser Posts: 517 Member
    In terms of weight management, grease and oil is alright if you can fit it into your calorie budget. So, do your best to accurately determine the calories of what you're eating before you eat it. If it's not a chain restaurant that has an entry in MFP's food database, then guesstimate what they're cooking with.

    Are they greasing up the grill with butter? Maybe oil? Maybe lard?
    Are you using an entry for the hamburger patty, an entry for the bun, and entries for each other condiment on the burger? (cheese, mayo, ketchup, etc.)

    Try to accurately gauge the portions of what you're being served. If you have the opportunity to take it home and weigh it there, then do that. If not, look online for a visual portion guide and try your best to work with that when you're looking at your food.

    If you don't want to deal with all that work, go for the chicken. That's relatively less logging and leaner than most burgers at restaurants.
  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    Protranser wrote: »
    In terms of weight management, grease and oil is alright if you can fit it into your calorie budget. So, do your best to accurately determine the calories of what you're eating before you eat it. If it's not a chain restaurant that has an entry in MFP's food database, then guesstimate what they're cooking with.

    Are they greasing up the grill with butter? Maybe oil? Maybe lard?
    Are you using an entry for the hamburger patty, an entry for the bun, and entries for each other condiment on the burger? (cheese, mayo, ketchup, etc.)

    Try to accurately gauge the portions of what you're being served. If you have the opportunity to take it home and weigh it there, then do that. If not, look online for a visual portion guide and try your best to work with that when you're looking at your food.

    If you don't want to deal with all that work, go for the chicken. That's relatively less logging and leaner than most burgers at restaurants.

    I workout 4-5 times per week and usually on those days I should be consuming more calories. And earlier I had a workout session for 30 minutes, then had a 30 minute walk. And the food that is currently in my fridge is just fruits and won't conplete my calorie intake.

    Should I go for the greasy food?
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    Texas bbq, but not too often.
  • Protranser
    Protranser Posts: 517 Member
    Protranser wrote: »
    In terms of weight management, grease and oil is alright if you can fit it into your calorie budget. So, do your best to accurately determine the calories of what you're eating before you eat it. If it's not a chain restaurant that has an entry in MFP's food database, then guesstimate what they're cooking with.

    Are they greasing up the grill with butter? Maybe oil? Maybe lard?
    Are you using an entry for the hamburger patty, an entry for the bun, and entries for each other condiment on the burger? (cheese, mayo, ketchup, etc.)

    Try to accurately gauge the portions of what you're being served. If you have the opportunity to take it home and weigh it there, then do that. If not, look online for a visual portion guide and try your best to work with that when you're looking at your food.

    If you don't want to deal with all that work, go for the chicken. That's relatively less logging and leaner than most burgers at restaurants.

    I workout 4-5 times per week and usually on those days I should be consuming more calories. And earlier I had a workout session for 30 minutes, then had a 30 minute walk. And the food that is currently in my fridge is just fruits and won't conplete my calorie intake.

    Should I go for the greasy food?

    Do you want it?
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    It might help if you open your food diary and stop trying to categorize food as good and bad.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Should I eat when my stomach is growling? Or just starve myself? Idk because if you starve yourself that can make you very sick but what if after I lose weight and go back to my normal eating habits, would I gain more weight than I lost?

    If you are eating the amount of calories you are supposed to then you won't actually starve.
    You can eat at your maintenance level and not gain weight. If you do it often you won't be losing weight but you will not gain from it. You will gain weight if you consistently eat more than your maintenance level of calories.
    If you are hungry all the time:
    Is your goal too aggressive- set for 2 lb a week when you have less than 25 lbs to lose? Adjust your goal to .5 or 1 lb a week.
    Are you eating any of your exercise calories? With MFP you are supposed to eat at least some of the calories gained from exercise.


    If I really still felt hungry even after eating up to my calorie goal one day then I would eat something. I would probably choose something 100-200 calories or less and something with protein.

    The thing is, I'm doing something similar to the 13 Day Diet, I just modified it into something longer than 13 days.

    But yesterday, when I started using MFP again, MFP apparently said that I'm eating less than I should be. When I looked for myself it recorded that I still had 1,220 calories left. Since I haven't been on MFP for a long time, I didn't realize that I had been eating too little for the past weeks.

    So what I'm trying to say is that should my calorie intake suddenly increase or should I stick to whatever I'm doing? Apparently if you limit your portion sizes and suddenly eat much more you will go back to the weight you started at. But in these two weeks I lost 1 kg. Should I be eating more?

    And now I realize that I was always starving during these weeks. And currently my stomach is growling, but I ate an apple 15 minutes ago and I'm going to have lunch in half an hour.

    Help me please.

    I have no idea what the 13 day diet is - what is it?

    If you follow a drastic calorie cut and then eat more you absolutely will gain water weight ..but if you are still at or under maintenance it will stabilise down...scale weight is not that great a metric for fat loss

    But if you are 1220 calories under your target eat something ...

    An apple is not a filling food ..for the same calories you could have 170g 0% Greek yogurt and get 18g protein

    Basically the 13 Day Diet is where you follow a specific routine listing all the foods and drinks you eat at whatever times for 13 days. Apparently you should have lost a lot of weight by the end of it. My cousins tried it and the stayed slim for only about a month. They gained all of their weight back.

    There is also a fast food place nearby our house and they have burgers and chicken. But it has grease and oil and its just unhealthy. But should I eat it for the last 1,220 calories left or avoid it?

    Just one question....why are you following a diet plan that did not work for your cousin? What is the point of quickly losing weight only to gain in back a month later. Why not just set up your stats in MFP, it will give you a certain amount of calories to eat each day, and then stick to that? Eat when you're hungry, stop when you are full and stick to the plan. You will lose weight. Basically eat the types of foods that you use to just eat less of them. Doing drastic changes to your diet or exercise routine is not usually sustainable for the long run.
  • This content has been removed.
  • CherylG1983
    CherylG1983 Posts: 294 Member
    If you're hungry, you may just be thirsty, as it produces the same feeling. But, if it is true hunger, make sure you eat something every two to three hours, that should help you from feeling hungry. Be sure at least three of the meals include protein, but really aim to have some protein in each meal/snack.
  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
    If you're hungry, you may just be thirsty, as it produces the same feeling .

    This. If I feel hungry and don't think I should be hungry at that time, I drink a large glass of water and wait 10 minutes. If I am still hungry, I eat something.



  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    edited October 2015
    If you enjoy the greasy food and it fits your calorie goals, why not? I myself find I need to sensibly limit saturated fats, so I might choose from the menu carefully. But I also know I can find cheese sticks, fruit and granola bars at a gas station, so if I'm out of food options I've been known to resort to that, too. (But honestly, I always have a can of soup or something at home to eat.)
  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    Bshmerlie wrote: »
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Should I eat when my stomach is growling? Or just starve myself? Idk because if you starve yourself that can make you very sick but what if after I lose weight and go back to my normal eating habits, would I gain more weight than I lost?

    If you are eating the amount of calories you are supposed to then you won't actually starve.
    You can eat at your maintenance level and not gain weight. If you do it often you won't be losing weight but you will not gain from it. You will gain weight if you consistently eat more than your maintenance level of calories.
    If you are hungry all the time:
    Is your goal too aggressive- set for 2 lb a week when you have less than 25 lbs to lose? Adjust your goal to .5 or 1 lb a week.
    Are you eating any of your exercise calories? With MFP you are supposed to eat at least some of the calories gained from exercise.


    If I really still felt hungry even after eating up to my calorie goal one day then I would eat something. I would probably choose something 100-200 calories or less and something with protein.

    The thing is, I'm doing something similar to the 13 Day Diet, I just modified it into something longer than 13 days.

    But yesterday, when I started using MFP again, MFP apparently said that I'm eating less than I should be. When I looked for myself it recorded that I still had 1,220 calories left. Since I haven't been on MFP for a long time, I didn't realize that I had been eating too little for the past weeks.

    So what I'm trying to say is that should my calorie intake suddenly increase or should I stick to whatever I'm doing? Apparently if you limit your portion sizes and suddenly eat much more you will go back to the weight you started at. But in these two weeks I lost 1 kg. Should I be eating more?

    And now I realize that I was always starving during these weeks. And currently my stomach is growling, but I ate an apple 15 minutes ago and I'm going to have lunch in half an hour.

    Help me please.

    I have no idea what the 13 day diet is - what is it?

    If you follow a drastic calorie cut and then eat more you absolutely will gain water weight ..but if you are still at or under maintenance it will stabilise down...scale weight is not that great a metric for fat loss

    But if you are 1220 calories under your target eat something ...

    An apple is not a filling food ..for the same calories you could have 170g 0% Greek yogurt and get 18g protein

    Basically the 13 Day Diet is where you follow a specific routine listing all the foods and drinks you eat at whatever times for 13 days. Apparently you should have lost a lot of weight by the end of it. My cousins tried it and the stayed slim for only about a month. They gained all of their weight back.

    There is also a fast food place nearby our house and they have burgers and chicken. But it has grease and oil and its just unhealthy. But should I eat it for the last 1,220 calories left or avoid it?

    Just one question....why are you following a diet plan that did not work for your cousin? What is the point of quickly losing weight only to gain in back a month later. Why not just set up your stats in MFP, it will give you a certain amount of calories to eat each day, and then stick to that? Eat when you're hungry, stop when you are full and stick to the plan. You will lose weight. Basically eat the types of foods that you use to just eat less of them. Doing drastic changes to your diet or exercise routine is not usually sustainable for the long run.

    Like I said, I modified it. The thirteen days diet only gives you a certain amount of food. I increased the intake. So this diet plan will work for probably a few months, as my doctor predicted.

  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    If you're hungry, you may just be thirsty, as it produces the same feeling .

    This. If I feel hungry and don't think I should be hungry at that time, I drink a large glass of water and wait 10 minutes. If I am still hungry, I eat something.

    What do you eat? I'll try that, but usually when I'm hungry I grab an apple but it doesn't satisfy my stomache and it growls again.
  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    WBB55 wrote: »
    If you enjoy the greasy food and it fits your calorie goals, why not? I myself find I need to sensibly limit satura ted fats, so I might choose from the menu carefully. But I also know I can find cheese sticks, fruit and granola bars at a gas station, so if I'm out of food options I've been known to resort to that, too. (But honestly, I always have a can of soup or something at home to eat.)

    Yeah, it usually does fill up my calorie intake, I would be left with 200-300 calories left and usually I'm not hungry by then.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Even a deep fried chicken breast one can peel off the skin and eat the meat. You have to get your calories somehow.
  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    Protranser wrote: »
    Protranser wrote: »
    In terms of weight management, grease and oil is alright if you can fit it into your calorie budget. So, do your best to accurately determine the calories of what you're eating before you eat it. If it's not a chain restaurant that has an entry in MFP's food database, then guesstimate what they're cooking with.

    Are they greasing up the grill with butter? Maybe oil? Maybe lard?
    Are you using an entry for the hamburger patty, an entry for the bun, and entries for each other condiment on the burger? (cheese, mayo, ketchup, etc.)

    Try to accurately gauge the portions of what you're being served. If you have the opportunity to take it home and weigh it there, then do that. If not, look online for a visual portion guide and try your best to work with that when you're looking at your food.

    If you don't want to deal with all that work, go for the chicken. That's relatively less logging and leaner than most burgers at restaurants.

    I workout 4-5 times per week and usually on those days I should be consuming more calories. And earlier I had a workout session for 30 minutes, then had a 30 minute walk. And the food that is currently in my fridge is just fruits and won't conplete my calorie intake.

    Should I go for the greasy food?

    Do you want it?

    Yes, I do, but I always control myself and find out what is going to be in my body before I eat it.
  • kbakhtawar69
    kbakhtawar69 Posts: 40 Member
    Guys, I forgot to mention, but since I started this diet, I've been losing 0.5 kg per week. On my profile I gave in the wrong measurement of my weight, but I've lost 1kg in two weeks. Its a good diet plan, but am I eating less?
This discussion has been closed.