Does hunger get better after dieting for a few weeks?

^Great hunger scale, @rainbowbow ! Thanks for posting that.

Taleatia wrote: »

I've maintained a 40lb loss for about 3 years, and got there by eating around 1600 calories per day (after much research this is the number I came up with). I've put 7 pounds back on and am have gone back to 1500-1600 calories per day to lose it (plus the last 5 pounds or so I've been struggling with).

I'm eating high protein, tons of veggies, lots of water, whole foods and fiber but 3 days in I'm still SO HUNGRY. Like, can't focus on much else hungry. Even right after meals. For most of the day.

My question is: does it get better? I dimly remember feeling a little less hungry after a few weeks of caloric deficit. Have other people found this to be the case?

what about dietary fat? dietary fat is satiating.

I'm basically always hungry at a deficit, even when I'm getting plenty of fat, protein and fiber.

I've switched to IF, eating between noon and 10pm and made peace with the feeling of hunger before lunch.

My first two weeks were really hard. I was so hungry it was painful. But I worked out my eating plan so I was able to manage it and then I just decided that it was nothing more than pain and since I can handle a lot of pain I can handle this too. Once I stopped letting the pain rule my brain it started to back off and I have been noticing that I don't really feel more than a little hungry from time to time now.

Taleatia wrote: »

drewchiu1 wrote: »

You are 40 lbs lighter than previous and if you have been exercising, that also means you have increased your lean muscle mass. In order to give some options, you will need to look at you current BF, your activity level and your nutrition intake.

This is a great point! I've been doing 2-3 days per week of heavy lifting for the past 8 months and have wondered if some of the extra weight could be muscle? I'm oddly stronger and fitter than I've ever been despite the extra few pounds. I'm more solid but my clothes are tight. It's all very confusing.

I body fat test with calipers and haven't seen any significant difference but I also don't know if I'm good enough at working the calipers yet for to trust my results. I did use a calculator that took lean mass and activity level into account.

These are all really helpful responses. I think at first I'll try shifting some calories into meals and out of snacks (closer to the 3 squares per day idea). If that doesn't help maybe I'll give IF a go for a week or two.

Some of the extra weight could definitely be muscle. Keep in mind that muscle is denser than fat, so a pound of fat will take up more space than a pound of muscle.

It definitely went away for me .

It also really helped to observe and work around the times of day I most need to eat. I played with meal size as well.

Eating 1500-1700 most days, this is what works for me on a typical work day (working 7-3:30):

- breakfast 6:30am (1 slice of toast with Laughing Cow cheese and cucumber slices, and a banana. And coffee #1)

- snack 9-10am (granola bar approx 160 cals)

- coffee #2

- lunch anywhere between 12:30 and 2 (typically a sandwich with lean meat, or a homemade tuna wrap. With a greek yogurt cup, 100 or more calories of fruit, and a string cheese)

- dinner 6ish (TONS of roasted veg, a lean meat, and salad. Sometimes 100g cooked rice)

- small snack before bed (Oreos, or an ice cream bar maybe)

This is the most effective formula to keep my hunger at bay and my energy up. It took a lot of experimenting to nail down though.

galgenstrick wrote: »

I do an intermittent fasting type diet: skip breakfast and eat between 12pm and 9pm. Only reason is I'm super hungry at night if I eat breakfast and run low on calories.

This is what I do as well. It's a lot easier to not eat in the morning than feeling like I'm hungry while trying to go to sleep. Also, I feel like I can tell more when I am actually hungry vs when it is a craving.