How do you deal with hunger?
daniip_la
Posts: 678 Member
Title says it all. I've been having a really easy time for the last few months. Logging everything, walking a lot, just have a nice time losing weight. But for the last week or so, I've been incredibly hungry.
Not bored hunger, stress hunger, or anything like that. Just actual I-want-to-eat-everything hunger. I've been eating in a deficit still, but usually I'm at a 1000kcal deficit, and the last few days I've definitely not been at that deficit because of my increased hunger.
I guess I'm just wondering what others do when/if they feel like this. I'm disappointed in myself for not having my normal deficit and letting myself eat more. Do others up your intake? Do you just power through it?
(My weight supports that large deficit, it's a 0.65% rate of loss per week. I'm also probably getting close to my period, the timing has been off lately with losing weight.)
Not bored hunger, stress hunger, or anything like that. Just actual I-want-to-eat-everything hunger. I've been eating in a deficit still, but usually I'm at a 1000kcal deficit, and the last few days I've definitely not been at that deficit because of my increased hunger.
I guess I'm just wondering what others do when/if they feel like this. I'm disappointed in myself for not having my normal deficit and letting myself eat more. Do others up your intake? Do you just power through it?
(My weight supports that large deficit, it's a 0.65% rate of loss per week. I'm also probably getting close to my period, the timing has been off lately with losing weight.)
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Replies
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i notice i get ravenous when im getting close to my period also. i guess.. i mostly try to willpower/logic my way thru it. 'im not ACTUALLY hungry, see, look at our diary. you're eating plenty. you're comfort-food craving. pound some water, make some tea. brush your teeth. if you're STILL hungry, what can you have that fits your limits?' and then try to find something interesting to make, because cooking soothes me.0
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It seems that hunger is a highly individual feeling. Just as pain is. For myself, between meal hunger is something I can just ignore unless it occurs on top of other stress. Some people's blood sugar issues make them have to address hunger without delay, though.
Consider whether your calorie deficit is appropriate for you. Eating way too little can eventually backfire. Maybe your body is telling you something.1 -
For me hunger comes and goes in waves. Sometimes it's easy to eat at my calorie goal and I'm just happily cruising along, and other times I just want to eat everything in sight.
I have a few go to foods that really fill me up, like hard boiled eggs, protein bars, brussel sprouts or pretzels. So my first focus is to eat more of those foods.
The second step is to give myself less time to think about food, so more chores or outside activities.
And finally, if all else fails I just reduce my deficit for a week or so. It probably evens out in the long run, gives me a little mental break and might keep me from binging or giving up.2 -
Tea and flavored water ( with Lemon and Lime) help me.. Also gum- but that is a rare treat for me.0
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I keep mine to a minimum by keeping my meals evenly spaced out (it's easier to handle hunger when there's six hour increments between meals). When I do get hungry, I usually drink water/flavored water.1
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If you are hungry all the time then you may want to increase calories a little bit. If it's a once a month type thing because of time of the month then you could try increasing calories just for a few days. I try to get protein in all my meals. Protein helps keep me satisfied for a longer period of time even though I try to eat every 2-3 hours.0
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Chew gum! And drink water. I work in a bakery so it's especially important that I drink a ton of water and keep minty gum on me at all times. Make sure you dont keep your meals too far apart. I like to carry protein bars with me or if there is a fridge nearby baby carrots or part skim cheese sticks in case of emergency.0
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Eat more. There's absolutely no reason to starve yourself with a 1000 calorie deficit when you could still lose weight with a 500 calorie deficit.
Also, lots of protein, fat, and fiber, and less bread and 'empty' carbs.0 -
Eat more. There's absolutely no reason to starve yourself with a 1000 calorie deficit when you could still lose weight with a 500 calorie deficit.
Also, lots of protein, fat, and fiber, and less bread and 'empty' carbs.
As I explained in the first post, I'm far from starving myself. At my weight, I could have a 1500kcal deficit to lose 1% of my body weight a week.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions.0 -
Stock / bouillon as a drink. Convinced me I am eating and fills me up.
Savoury is always the key for me.3 -
Sometimes I just can't ignore it and have to eat a big meal and I'm back to normal again. There's also times it goes away after a little while. The last time I really really struggled with hunger I discovered I was pregnant so sometimes it is your body saying you need a little more.0
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If I get that real gut-growling hunger, I eat. If I get a bit high on calories, as long as they're from real food, I don't worry too much, and I don't try to "make it up" because that way lies madness, at least for me.
If my mouth gets bored (usually a sign my electrolytes are off), a couple of olives or a pickle (mmmm pickles) usually works. Lemon/lime water with salt also. A handful of nuts or an ounce of cheese works too.
I've heard it said that taking a walk will take your mind off hunger, but that doesn't really work for me. Drinking water does, but then I walk around with my belly feeling all sloshy, LOL.
Good luck!0 -
Title says it all. I've been having a really easy time for the last few months. Logging everything, walking a lot, just have a nice time losing weight. But for the last week or so, I've been incredibly hungry.
Not bored hunger, stress hunger, or anything like that. Just actual I-want-to-eat-everything hunger. I've been eating in a deficit still, but usually I'm at a 1000kcal deficit, and the last few days I've definitely not been at that deficit because of my increased hunger.
I guess I'm just wondering what others do when/if they feel like this. I'm disappointed in myself for not having my normal deficit and letting myself eat more. Do others up your intake? Do you just power through it?
(My weight supports that large deficit, it's a 0.65% rate of loss per week. I'm also probably getting close to my period, the timing has been off lately with losing weight.)
I get that way leading up to TOM as well; I just want to eat everything. Often I'll let myself eat at a lower deficit or even at maintenance, if I'm particularly ravenous, just during those days. A handful of days a month eating at maintenance or at a 750 or 500 calorie deficit instead of a 1000 calorie deficit isn't going to make much of a difference in your weight loss in the long run. You could even save up extra calories leading up to those extra-hungry days, so that you're still overall at your 1000 calorie deficit.
ETA - I'm jealous of your N7 jacket in your avi.
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Eat more. There's absolutely no reason to starve yourself with a 1000 calorie deficit when you could still lose weight with a 500 calorie deficit.
Also, lots of protein, fat, and fiber, and less bread and 'empty' carbs.
As I explained in the first post, I'm far from starving myself. At my weight, I could have a 1500kcal deficit to lose 1% of my body weight a week.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
Oh sure. You're always hungry and eat at an unnecessary deficit but you're not starving yourself.. whatever you say...0 -
Title says it all. I've been having a really easy time for the last few months. Logging everything, walking a lot, just have a nice time losing weight. But for the last week or so, I've been incredibly hungry.
Not bored hunger, stress hunger, or anything like that. Just actual I-want-to-eat-everything hunger. I've been eating in a deficit still, but usually I'm at a 1000kcal deficit, and the last few days I've definitely not been at that deficit because of my increased hunger.
I guess I'm just wondering what others do when/if they feel like this. I'm disappointed in myself for not having my normal deficit and letting myself eat more. Do others up your intake? Do you just power through it?
(My weight supports that large deficit, it's a 0.65% rate of loss per week. I'm also probably getting close to my period, the timing has been off lately with losing weight.)
I get that way leading up to TOM as well; I just want to eat everything. Often I'll let myself eat at a lower deficit or even at maintenance, if I'm particularly ravenous, just during those days. A handful of days a month eating at maintenance or at a 750 or 500 calorie deficit instead of a 1000 calorie deficit isn't going to make much of a difference in your weight loss in the long run. You could even save up extra calories leading up to those extra-hungry days, so that you're still overall at your 1000 calorie deficit.
ETA - I'm jealous of your N7 jacket in your avi.
I ended up letting myself eat more the last few days. A week of eating at maintenance isn't going to kill my progress.
Thanks, I love my N7 hoodie! It's probably one of my favourite possessions!2 -
If I allocate more of my calories to protein-rich foods, I am less hungry. We're all a bit different, but that has been working really well for me.0
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I've actually had this the past couple of days, and since I have been going for so long I indulged myself for once. I actually stayed at maintenance or just below each day, so no real harm done.
I actually had a slice of vanilla Cheesecake for breakfast. It was awesome.2 -
Eat more. There's absolutely no reason to starve yourself with a 1000 calorie deficit when you could still lose weight with a 500 calorie deficit.
Also, lots of protein, fat, and fiber, and less bread and 'empty' carbs.
As I explained in the first post, I'm far from starving myself. At my weight, I could have a 1500kcal deficit to lose 1% of my body weight a week.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
Oh sure. You're always hungry and eat at an unnecessary deficit but you're not starving yourself.. whatever you say...
From a scientific standpoint, it's not possible that I'm starving myself.1 -
Eat more. There's absolutely no reason to starve yourself with a 1000 calorie deficit when you could still lose weight with a 500 calorie deficit.
Also, lots of protein, fat, and fiber, and less bread and 'empty' carbs.
As I explained in the first post, I'm far from starving myself. At my weight, I could have a 1500kcal deficit to lose 1% of my body weight a week.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
Oh sure. You're always hungry and eat at an unnecessary deficit but you're not starving yourself.. whatever you say...
From a scientific standpoint, it's not possible that I'm starving myself.
Or maybe the fact that you're constantly hungry should be taken as the clue that is it.
But whatever. Good luck.0 -
I get days when I'm ravenous and days when I'm not that hungry. I find they balance each other out if I eat more on the hungry days and less on the not hungry days.
Cool to read that you decided to eat at maintenance during the hungry days! Sensible decision
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nikolausi88 wrote: »For me hunger comes and goes in waves. Sometimes it's easy to eat at my calorie goal and I'm just happily cruising along, and other times I just want to eat everything in sight.
I have a few go to foods that really fill me up, like hard boiled eggs, protein bars, brussel sprouts or pretzels. So my first focus is to eat more of those foods.
The second step is to give myself less time to think about food, so more chores or outside activities.
And finally, if all else fails I just reduce my deficit for a week or so. It probably evens out in the long run, gives me a little mental break and might keep me from binging or giving up.
All of this.0 -
Intermittent fasting has really helped me deal with hunger a lot. Made me feel more in control. Thankfully we're sentient beings and not mere animals, slaves to any urge or whim that might pass thru our brain by chance.0
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Eat more. There's absolutely no reason to starve yourself with a 1000 calorie deficit when you could still lose weight with a 500 calorie deficit.
Also, lots of protein, fat, and fiber, and less bread and 'empty' carbs.
As I explained in the first post, I'm far from starving myself. At my weight, I could have a 1500kcal deficit to lose 1% of my body weight a week.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
Oh sure. You're always hungry and eat at an unnecessary deficit but you're not starving yourself.. whatever you say...
From a scientific standpoint, it's not possible that I'm starving myself.
I'm with you. We have as much chance to starve in this environment (US) as the chance of someone who wants to kill themselves by holding their breath.
After I have this realization, I became much more confident and comfortable in addressing some "hunger" discomfort, as opposed to getting worried and running to foods immediately. That's one of the big keys in my success.
Onto your questions, I keep a box of cashew, brazil nuts around. A few of them with water will take care of my out of control hunger which I rarely have anymore. That's addressing the symptom. I pay attention to the pattern. Usually the last large carbs filled meal, or one exactly the same time the day before, would cause this hunger. It's conditional. Sodas, donuts and their brethren, eaten several hours before and not disposed properly, tend to cause this kind of hunger for me.0 -
the best trick to weight loss (for me anyway) is to never feel hungry, if you do, binges are more likely to happen, as well as cravings for sugary/fatty/etc foods, and willpower can only get you so far. I either buy or make up a big bag of peppers, carrots, cucumber etc and literally stuff myself with them until I feel full, you can eat large quantities of fruits and veggies without destroying your diet, and plus you don't have to deal with the hunger. For example, I have been known to munch through an entire brocolli for one mid-morning snack. If this sounds real boring, you can season with low fat butter or dip veggies in salsa/low fat sour cream etc. good luck 0
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Stock / bouillon as a drink. Convinced me I am eating and fills me up.
Savoury is always the key for me.
This is me as well. I get "over sweet" very easily and so many 100-200 calorie snack suggestions are sweet. I'm sick of sweet protein bars and sweet protein milkshakes. It's easy for me to eat an extra 200 calories that way and still not be satisfied because it feels like a "treat" and not like proper food.
I make an unsweetened protein fluff for when I work out - flavoured with PB2 and milk, and even the sugar in milk makes it taste sweetish to me.
Whenever I get a rotisserie chicken or roast a chicken myself (about once every 2-3 weeks) I set up a huge pot of broth made from the carcass and leftover bits of onion, celery, and carrots in my slow cooker. I let it go overnight and it gets a very deep colour and a complex flavour. Cheap and super-easy, and much tastier than the canned broth. From one chicken I can make ~ 10 cups of broth. Whatever I don't drink plain, I use in recipes like soups and stews. Freezes really well, too.
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From a scientific standpoint, starving yourself is eating below your BMR, so a person could be eating 1000 calories and still technically starving themselves. Just because they are eating doesn't mean they aren't starving their body.
I would recommend just eating when you're hungry. Eating is good for you.1 -
I am always hungry even though I am not starving myself too! Most of the time it's still bearable, sometimes it gets too much but I just can't eat any more - that would basically erase my deficit! I try to keep myself busy as much as I can. I've noticed that I am barely hungry between my main meals if I've got a lot to study or if I'm running around the city. So I have come to the conclusion that, even though I am partially hungry due to be eating less than my manteinance calories, part of it is just boredom/stress/anger that I can't actually recognize. Once you've become used to turn to food as a comfort for so long, it becomes a pattern, so it's hard to break the habit! Whenever I find my hunger to cross the painful stomach mumbling point, I try to eat something that wont't at least make a big damage - carrots, celery, fruit, crackers, and lots of water. I've also tried to find the perfect combination of foods that will keep me satisfied all day long - which means I usually have salad for lunch, bread and veggies at dinner, and always have a piece of fruit at the end of each meal! Food volume seems to play a big role for me - you should try to find what works best for you!1
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These are what helps me...
7-8 hrs of sleep at night (I take Olly melatonin to help with sleep)
plenty of water
fiber
full fat (no low fat anything)
protein
eating on or 1/2 quest protein bar in-between meals helps when I'm really struggling
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I eat mostly dairy, meat and vegetables and do cardio0
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