Does hunger ever go away?

jt1807
jt1807 Posts: 5 Member
edited July 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm still remaining at 270lbs, it's my fault for not dieting or exercising as I should. Anyway, I reduced what I eat and I keep starving.

When you lose weight like 50lbs. Does the hunger ever go away? I mean, can you eat less and feel fuller? Or is it just stuck with you for life? Doctor told me it's just sort of an addiction to food, and if I eat less sweets it should go away. It hasn't went away.

I can eat 2 chicken breasts and a protein shake. I don't feel full for hours. I tried snacking. All of this is nonsense. I tried drinking water before I eat. None of this works. I assume these are just myths. Is it just stuck with us for life?

I even reduced the amount of diet cokes I drink to 3 to 4 a week and reducing it. I eat only whole grains or whatever digest slowly it hasn't really helped either.

Just from personal experience all of the things I've read or my doctor told me feels like a myth. I feel hungry all the time. I just ignore it, but it's still there. Been at it for two months now.
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Replies

  • Gena575
    Gena575 Posts: 224 Member
    Fiber is your friend. My lunch today was right around 400 calories. I had a 8.5 ounce baked potato topped with butter, half a steamer bag of broccoli and 2 slices of cheese. I was FULL when I finished. And now close to 5 hours later I'm not quite hungry yet. I started at 248lbs and am down 21 lbs in just over 2 months. I get hungry, even hangry at times. But I don't walk around hungry constantly. Shakes of any sort do not fill me up. I occasionally drink one as a sweet treat when I'm not hitting protein goals. But they are not and will never be a meal replacer for me.

    Friend me if you'd like to look at my diary. I've not been as on my game the past few days in making the most nutritious choices. But I'm satisfied.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    You haven't told us how long you've been doing this for. I found the hunger reduced after about 2 weeks, and now I only get hungry maybe an hour before meals, which I'm fine with.

    Like everything, consistency is important here. Your body is used to a certain amount of food, so it gets hungry on proportion to that. You now want it to adjust to a smaller amount of food and adjust its hunger signals to match. That will only happen if you are consistent about eating that smaller amount - if you eat less for a day or two and then overeat again, it's not going to adapt and you will stay hungry.

    Hang in there, be consistent and it will improve. The tricks you mention are not myths, but they're not magic wands either. You're making a big change and it will take time for your body to catch up.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited July 2016
    There are foods that help with saiety and fullness and are not myths. Fill your self up with healthy fats/protein and carbs along with fiber rich foods. Voume foods like fruits and veggies and stay away from more calorie dense foods.

    Yes it does get better. If your doctor told you that you had some sort of food addiction, did he offer you a referral to see a therapist or dietician to help you with this?

    Are you spacing out your meals or do you need to eat in a way that will satisfy better like eating your calories in bigger meals or by making sure each smaller meal is well balanced with carbs/fats/protein. Water does not fill you up except for a few minutes after you drink it, you drink this for dehydration not as a trick to stay full.

    Diet cokes are fine, but if they act are some sort of sweet/sugar trigger reducing might be a good thing.

    You should have started seeing things get better after 3 - 4 weeks and not have to wait until 50 pounds lost. If you truly truly have any issues with food and/or your relationship with food, you should talk to your doctor so that you can obtain the best advice based on your medical history and weight history.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Experiment until you find an approach that works for you. For me, that means whole foods: healthy fats like nuts and avocados, protein, high fiber vegetables, and LIMITING refined carbs. I lost the weight, and have kept it off. Your mileage may vary.
    Good luck!
  • LisaKay91
    LisaKay91 Posts: 211 Member
    Are you having hunger issues or craving issues?

    My tear inducing cravings went away after 3 weeks.. I am 45lbs down and I probably could mess it all up in a few days. I get fuller quicker but I eat super slow and drink an obnoxious amount of water before and after my meals. The first 3 weeks sucked and it felt like I was in eternal hell of hunger/cravings and sadness haha.

    Can you tell the difference between actual hunger and food cravings? They're quite similar to me.. some days honestly nothing seems to fill me up and I go to bed with a roaring stomach.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
    edited July 2016
    For me it comes and goes in cycles. When I first started limiting my calories I felt it a lot. Gradually I got used to eating less and enjoying seeing the weight drop, so I ignored the hunger infavor of weight loss. After months of eating my reduced calorie amount for weight loss I got really hungry. I have had to adjust my calories upward.

    I also tried various ways of eating to rduce hunger. They seemed to work for a while and then I would have to change them. Examples are, lots of protien, lots of fibre. eaing three meals a day, no snacks, eating 4 meals a day, eating less fibre more dairy, eating no fruit or sweeteners of any kind, eating lots of veg to fill up my tummy, eating no bread, eating vegetarian and whole grains, eating mostly fruit and veg, eating low carb, ex ersizing, not excersizing, weights, no weights but cardio, sitting in a chair and eating 1200 a day because excersize raised my hunger levels, over excersizing because that nuked my hunger, etc. etc. etc.

    Basically, do what works for you to eat less calories than you need per day and you will lose weight. You often must try a million ways of tricking yourself into feeling ok with that in order to be able to stick with it long enough to get the weight off.

    Then there is maintenance, another story.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    You aren't hungry when you've had what you need. Just because we can eat more, it doesn't mean that we have to eat more. A normal way of eating will get you hungry for some time before meals, and then not hungry, until some time before next meal. Some people are used to eat all the time and think of feeling stuffed as full, and what would otherwise have been described as satisfied, as hungry. But you can't starve yourself either. ARE you starving yourself? How much are you eating per day?
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    Good question re how much are you eating, if you're finding it really hard and are still very hungry after several weeks, maybe you need to increase your calories and settle for slower weight loss.

    Also, don't forget the importance of exercise in allowing you to eat more. It can be a lifesaver.

    And meal spacing is important. For me, a smaller breakfast and lunch and a big dinner help me to be more satisfied. Others find lots of small meals are best. Experiment to see what works for you.
  • Bxqtie116
    Bxqtie116 Posts: 552 Member
    What are your calories set at? In the beginning of your weight loss, it does take your body some time to get used to smaller portions. But if after losing 50 lbs and you're still hungry, you may have your weight loss goal too strict. You may want to increase it a little. Try 1 lb per week or even .5 lb per week and see if that helps. Try incorporating small snacks inbetween your meals and by eating foods that are higher in protein and fiber.
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    Ok, so IF you are eating enough calories in a day and not going on 1200 because someone told you that was all anyone needs, then there are some tricks that I have you can try, (although you may also need to evaluate if it's really hunger or just cravings too)

    First I do Intermittent fasting, so I don't start eating until 11 or 12 and then I'm done for the day between 7 and 8. I find that the earlier I start eating, the hungrier I am all.freaking.day.long. it's not for everyone but it was a game changer for me.

    Second I go for long walks, not so crazy strenuous that I'm starving afterwards but enough to earn me extra dinner so I can eat what I'm used to eating/what my family is eating.

    Third, I save 100 calories for a small frozen chocolate treat after dinner, knowing it's coming stops me from going crazy all day and makes me satisfied enough to stop there.

    Fourth I have an arsenal if flavoured teas for hunger/craving breakthroughs, berry, vanilla, they do make chocolate ones but those aren't for me.

  • tlflag1620
    tlflag1620 Posts: 1,358 Member
    I find fat has the most staying power, protein fills me most in the moment, and the combo of fat and protein, with very limited carbs (I do 50-80g per day) keeps me from having that constant gnawing hunger feeling all day. If I do eat a higher carb meal, I always make it late in the day, otherwise I'm going to suffer all day long. I also try not to eat anything besides my coffee and half and half until close to, or even past, lunch time (today I had "breakfast" at 2:30 p - a bunless cheeseburger and a pile of green beans, well buttered). They call it intermittent fasting. All I know is once I break my fast for the day, I'm hungrier the rest of the day. So I try to start eating later. Some people find increasing fiber and water consumption helps, but it sounds like you already tried that. There is also the possibility that you have gotten into the habit of snacking/grazing all day or you eat out of boredom. Breaking those habits and keeping yourself busy can help. If it is not true hunger, just habit, it will ease up once you develop new habits.
  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
    It goes away! I find that when I start dieting, at first I am always really hungry and can eat anything/everything, but after about two weeks or so that goes away and I start getting fuller a lot faster.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    Wholeheartedly agree with previous posters that have encouraged you to examine your weekly weight loss goal. If you were eating say, 2500 calories a day, and suddenly dropped that to 1200, you will naturally be hungry. Consider a smaller goal, even if just initially until you become accustomed to eating less.
    I also think for some of us, hunger is a fairly new, and thus more intense, sensation. If you were like me, you maybe never went without food long enough to experience true hunger, and it may take some getting used to. But you do adjust, and food may actually come to taste better to you when eaten out of actual hunger. As others have mentioned, this should just be pre-meal hunger, not all-day hunger.
  • Spacewitch88
    Spacewitch88 Posts: 5 Member
    Btw, another problem:
    Sometimes you feel hunger instead of thirst when you're thirsty. This sounds like grasping straws but for some people this does happen. So when you get super hungry, check how much you drank that day as well!
  • duddysdad
    duddysdad Posts: 403 Member
    For me, I can eat an entire plate of lean protein and vegetables, even over a pound of food, and still be hungry. You need fat in your diet. For me, adding some fat in the form of butter, or a healthy oil will settle my satiety and allow me to be satisfied. Protein and fiber will also help, but for me the answer is fat. You just have to experiment and see what works for you. Don't fear fat, it doesn't make you fat. Eating too many calories makes you fat.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Experiment until you find an approach that works for you. For me, that means whole foods: healthy fats like nuts and avocados, protein, high fiber vegetables, and LIMITING refined carbs. I lost the weight, and have kept it off. Your mileage may vary.
    Good luck!

    This worked for me. I was hungry all the time until I cut down carbs and ate more fats (avoiding man made "trans" fats).
  • Pawsforme
    Pawsforme Posts: 645 Member
    Sadly, I've never had any success losing weight w/o some level of real, true hunger. I expect it. I don't see how one can maintain the calorie deficit needed to lose weight w/o some hunger. Otherwise I would question if it was a true deficit. Only you can figure out the best way to handle it for you. What works for someone else won't always work for another person, and what works at one stage of life may not work in another. When I was younger what worked best for me was 5 or 6 small meals/snacks a day. Now I do much better with no snacks and three decent sized meals of healthy food (so few/no empty calories from sweets, refined carbs, etc.). It still takes every bit of my willpower sometimes to ignore my hunger between meals.
  • AmandaHugginkiss
    AmandaHugginkiss Posts: 486 Member
    A lot of people confuse the feeling of being overfull with satiety in the beginning. You're used to overeating, and your stomach is used to feeling overfull. It can take some time to learn the difference between being overfull, full, sated, not hungry, and hungry. This time around, it has taken me about 2 months to get back to recognizing accurate hunger cues.

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    diannethegeek wrote: »
    These are my really general tips for hunger:

    1. Make sure that your calorie goals are actually set appropriately. Don't skip this step. A lot of people set goals that are too aggressive and then wonder why they're having a hard time. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    2. Look for foods higher in protein, fat, and fiber. These help us stay full and more satisfied longer. If you're using MFP's default settings, try to consider protein, fat, and fiber as minimums to reach every day rather than maximums to stay below.

    3. Drink plenty of fluids. Some people really do confuse thirst and hunger.

    4. Get plenty of rest. This includes sleeping enough and taking rest days from the exercise. Sometimes our bodies look for food when they're exhausted.

    5. Play around with your meal timings. Some people do really well on 5-6 small meals a day and others feel like they want to gnaw their own arm off eating like that. Skipping breakfast, eating breakfast, 16:8 fasting, 6 small meals, 3 larger meals, snacks, no snacks, meal timing won't make a big difference to your weight loss, but it may help your hunger levels, mood, concentration, gym performance, etc. throughout the day. Don't be afraid to try a different way and see if it helps.

    6. Wait it out. If you know you're eating enough and the other steps above aren't helping, you may just have to wait it out. Our bodies send out hunger signals partially out of habit. If you eat at a certain time every day your body will start to get hungry at that time. The good news is that these signals can be retrained to stop telling you to be hungry all the time. The bad news is that you may just have to be hungry for a little bit while that happens.

    7. I also think it's important to remember that there's a habitual component to hunger. This goes along with point #6, but if you eat because you're bored or you're used to eating in front of the TV or in the car or whatever it is, then you can replace those habits with others that are better for you. Things like keeping water on hand to sip instead of snacking or picking up hobbies that keep your hands busy or that get you out of the house more can help out a little while you're retraining your hunger cues. You might need to pay attention to why you're eating/hungry or what you're feeling when you eat and try to replace food with other things, but it can be really beneficial over time.

    @jt1807 - these are really good tips. 1-4 are especially important to me and I only get hungry right before meals.

    In the AM, I often feel hungry when I'm actually thirsty.
  • Jleigh225
    Jleigh225 Posts: 49 Member
    I would get your vitamin levels checked to make sure you're not missing anything in your diet. Make sure you are eating enough fat. Protein is great but if you don't eat any fat and all protein, yes you will be hungry. Fat gets a bad rap but in moderation all macros are good. Of course, be sure you are drinking enough water. 8 glasses a day is a good rule for people but many people need more than that. I would also suggest getting a fitbit of sorts to make sure you are eating enough calories. If you're eating 1200 at 270 lbs, that is not enough and exceedingly low for no reason. You want to set your calories so that you're a little hungry but its manageable for the long haul even if you lose 1 lb a week. Consistency and enjoyment of the process are way more important than losing weight really fast.

    If your vitamin levels check out, youre eating enough fat and calories, and drinking enough water and still "hungry" I am going to say theres an emotional eating connection. If in the past, you've used food as a release from bordedom, or sadness, or frustration your brain will make a connection that food helps to lower the stresses of those situations. In turn, youll feel hungry when you actually want to eat to relieve the stress of emotions. Real hunger, as in your body's way of telling you to eat food because you need fuel, is gradual and steady. It doesn't become gnawing and unmanageable very quickly unless you are actually starving. If the hunger feels unmanageable and upsetting after not eating for just a few hours, it's most likely tied to emotional connections with food. I would grab a book on emotional eating or see a therapist specialized in it if your budget allows.
  • kschramm7
    kschramm7 Posts: 72 Member
    Yes, you'll probably be hungry for the first 2 weeks. But it DOES get better. And keep in mind you should ALWAYS make sure you're not thirsty. That's got me LOTS of times....if you don't drink enough fluids, it can FEEL like being hungry.

    I've found that protein, fiber and small meals every few hours help with hunger. I'm at 1400 calories a day, so here's what my day today looks like:

    7:00 a.m. - Coffee with sweet N' low & 2 tbsp of fat free creamer, light english muffin with 1 tbsp Jif Whipped peanut butter and sugar free jelly.

    10:00 a.m. - 1 cup of cantaloupe cubes with 1/2 cup 2% Cottage Cheese

    11:00 a.m. - I get my first bottle of water (750ml)..I try to drink 3 of these a day

    12:00 noon - Home made Buffalo Chicken Wrap with 5 oz. chicken, 1 tbsp buffalo sauce, 1 tbsp light ranch dressing, Tumaro wrap (60 calories), lettuce tomato onion

    12:20 p.m. - 2 1/2 mile very brisk walk, weather permitting.

    2:00 p.m. - Sugar free jello with 2 tbsp fat free cool whip

    3:00 p.m. - 80 calorie nonfat greek yogurt

    4:30 p.m. - 45 minute spin class

    6:00 p.m. - 2 Chicken Fajitas (2 tumaro wraps, 5 oz. chicken, 1 tbsp breakstone sour cream, 1/4 cup of Kraft Fat Free Shredded cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, green pepper.

    8:00 p.m. - 321 cake with 1/2 cup of Breyers Fat Free Sugar Free Vanilla Ice Cream and 3 tbsp fat free cool whip.

    Times are all negotiable based on how hungry I am, but I graze most of the day. This leaves me with 150 or so daily calories + exercise calories to eat back. If I get truly hungry, I'll have enough calories left to grab a cup of cherries, another yogurt, an apple or a protein bar.

  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    For me, cutting carbs helped with hunger, but I am insulin resistant and would go on the blood glucose roller coaster every time I ate. Within a couple of hours I needs something else or I was shaking, getting headaches, and very light headed. Now with fat as my fuel rather than carbs (LCHF diet) I don't get those false hypoglycemic lows and can go a lot longer between meals - minimum four hours - without hunger.

    Mentally though? I wanna snack. Bored? Wanna snack. Tired? Wanna snack. Wanting is a different sensation than needing though. It's easier to ignore.
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
    @Gallowmere1984 is kinda right. I always felt hungry for the first couple of months too. It might also be useful to see your food diary if you've been keeping one. I find that I need a good balance of carbs and protein or I don't feel full. Like I can eat oatmeal for breakfast and be hungry an hour later, but if I eat oatmeal and an egg I'm good.

    You can also look into volume eating. There is a popular(ish) "diet" called volumetrics that basically just focuses on eating more for the same calories. Like you can eat 1 piece of toast with butter or 2 pieces plain. Personally, I like the butter but I'd feel fuller eating 2 pieces of toast in general. There are several people on here who do this one, but I can't remember who they are right now.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited August 2016
    Haven't read the replies but you have to eat 1) a sufficient amount, 2) a good balance of macros.

    The *only* thing that keeps me full is a balance of protein, fat, and fiber. An apple alone? Nope. An apple and a piece of cheese? Yup. Chicken breast and veggies rarely fills me up, I have to add some refried beans or a potato with a bit of butter etc. Typically though, adding an apple to a meal will keep me full longer and is definitely worth the 100 calories (I have an apple a day).

    That being said, I rarely feel full longer than 3 hours. I exercise quite a bit so I can eat more too... I never picked more than a 1lb a week loss, and I'll be pretty much hungry if I waste more than 300 calories a day on non filling foods (white bread, candy, chocolate, ice cream etc). I stopped drinking my calories too.

    But no, my hunger hasn't gone away as a whole and I still have to be very careful with what I eat.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Well, it goes away, but it comes back ;)
  • boolz
    boolz Posts: 61 Member
    Are you always hungry, or just as mealtime approaches? For me, this is what worked:

    1) I played a lot with carb and protein balance. I found that I needed at least 90g proteing (on a 1200 cal diet) to feel full. I feel even better if it gets up to 110, but that pushes the carbs too far down so I can't sleep. This is something that I think is different for everyone, so you just need to experiment. It sounds like you do that already in some ways, but maybe looking it as macros might help.

    2) I made peace, even happiness, with feeling hungry as mealtime approached. Years ago, I read a book that said that chronic overeaters miss out on a fundamental source of security that we had (if we were among the lucky of the earth) as infants: the knowledge that when we grow hungry, someone will feed us. The idea is that this daily cycle of feeling hunger and feeding it is emotionally strong. I don't know how much of that I honestly buy into, but I decided to embrace it.

    3) I noticed that certain things I make just really make me feel full in ways that others don't, and that I can't explain scientifically. For example, my chili really sticks with me. I make big batches, freeze lunch size portions, and pull one out when I really am in the mood for that comfort food, super full feeling.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    boolz wrote: »
    2) I made peace, even happiness, with feeling hungry as mealtime approached. Years ago, I read a book that said that chronic overeaters miss out on a fundamental source of security that we had (if we were among the lucky of the earth) as infants: the knowledge that when we grow hungry, someone will feed us. The idea is that this daily cycle of feeling hunger and feeding it is emotionally strong. I don't know how much of that I honestly buy into, but I decided to embrace it.

    I don't entirely buy all of that either, but the essence of it, that food deprivation leads to food insecurity, is blantant. We overfed westerners often impose it on ourselves, first, wanting to be slim, and when that fails, in an attempt to curb the overeating. My way of dealing with this, has been meal planning. Making it really really certain that I am going to be fed, and being detailed as to what I am going to eat, has made me, over time, very relaxed around eating. I even learnt to enjoy waiting for and anticipating a meal, much inspired by Allen Carr's book. The old adage "if you're hungry, eat a carrot - if you don't want a carrot, you aren't hungry" suddenly made sense to me - I had already decided that a meal consists of at least protein, fat and vegetables - most readymeals and "junk" food is easy to eat, practically predigested, whereas eating a real meal takes some effort - preparation, chewing, and I need to be motivated for that to bother. I will know for certain if I need fuel or something else.

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