Super hungry

I eat lots of good fats and protein when I'm struggling with hunger. It helps keep me satiated when I'm in a deficit. Things like avocado (LOVE THEM), steak, fish, cottage cheese, etc. Plus I tend to 'bulk eat' things like salads, etc (things with lower calories... a few cups of fresh veggies are pretty darn low in calories). Love an avocado chicken salad. Delicious and fills me up for hours. And I tend to sip on tea or coffee, which helps me quite a bit. Plus - make sure you're getting enough water.

StefaniMerlo wrote: »

Anyone have any tips on how to deal with crazy hungry - jittery lightheaded kind of hungry? Any satiating foods you can recommend? I'm eating my basal metabolic rate of calories so about 1430 - I just raised my activity level since this feels so uncomfortable and I'd like to be able to stick with it. Any other advice? Thank you!!!

How many calories did MFP say to eat? How much weight do you have to lose, what's your weekly weight loss goal?

I just calculated my BMR and I'd be hungry with that amount of calories as well. It's not that much lower than the calories given to me by MFP for my weekly weight loss goal, but I need an additional few hundred exercise calories per day to be happy.

I found additional protein and fiber help satiate me. (I eat plenty of fat.)

Understanding satiety: feeling full after a meal

...Tips on how to feel fuller

So how can we best try to enhance these feelings of fullness to help us control how much we eat? Here are some top tips for helping you feel fuller:

1. Foods high in protein seem to make us feel fuller than foods high in fat or carbohydrate, so including some protein at every meal should help keep you satisfied. Foods high in protein include meats such as chicken, ham or beef, fish, eggs, beans and pulses.
2. If you are watching your weight, opt for lower fat versions, using leaner cuts of meat, cutting off visible fat and avoiding the skin on poultry as this will help reduce the energy density of the diet, which can help to enhance satiety (see below).
3. Foods that are high in fibre may also enhance feelings of fullness so try to include plenty of high-fibre foods in the diet such as wholegrain bread and cereals, beans and pulses and fruit and vegetables.
4. Alcohol seems to stimulate appetite in the short-term and therefore drinking alcohol is likely to encourage us to eat more. Alcoholic beverages can make you forget about your intentions to eat healthily by making you lose your inhibitions. Alcoholic drinks are also calorific, so you should cut down on alcohol consumption if you are trying to control your weight.
5. The ‘energy density’ of food has a strong influence on feelings of fullness or satiety. Energy density is the amount of energy (or calories) per gram of food. Lower energy density foods provide less energy per gram of food so you can eat more of them without consuming too many calories. Low energy density foods include fruit and vegetables, foods with lots of water added when cooking such as soups and stews, and lower fat foods. Click here for more information on energy density.

Read more: http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html

Speaking only from my very own personal experience, I found carbs to be at the root of my insatiable hunger. Now, I am not saying to try to cut out carbs altogether or to reduce them drastically, but maybe lower how many you have at a sitting and see if it helps. For example, If I were to have a bowl of oatmeal, grits, a muffin or something along those lines for breakfast I would be both sleepy and hungry and end up stuffing my face all day and fighting sleep. This is true even if I have protein and fat and plenty of water. I changed my habits to be that breakfast would be more protein and fat based with some smaller carbs like fruit or just a slice of buttered toast. Lunch wouldn't be a burger on a bun or a sandwich but rather leave the bun out or have some other cut of meat, maybe tuna and use lettuce as a wrap for that or a small tortilla, along with some type of veggies, maybe a piece of fruit. Dinner would have the heavier carbs like rice, pasta, or other grains, potatoes, breads and such. Snacks would have no more than 10 g of carbs each. This is what finally put a stop to my insane eating. I was relieved to find a few other people talking about the same thing being true for them and I figured maybe if it worked for them it could help me also. This is not to say I never have any type of candy or cake or other such items. I just don't have them before dinner, I have them after dinner. This also helps because I am usually already pretty satisfied after having a good meal and the urge to stuff my face endlessly is much less at this time, and since it's close to bed time it doesn't leave me very long to resist the urge to gorge. Just my personal experience that may or may not apply to other people through out the world.

ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »

Speaking only from my very own personal experience, I found carbs to be at the root of my insatiable hunger. Now, I am not saying to try to cut out carbs altogether or to reduce them drastically, but maybe lower how many you have at a sitting and see if it helps. For example, If I were to have a bowl of oatmeal, grits, a muffin or something along those lines for breakfast I would be both sleepy and hungry and end up stuffing my face all day and fighting sleep. This is true even if I have protein and fat and plenty of water. I changed my habits to be that breakfast would be more protein and fat based with some smaller carbs like fruit or just a slice of buttered toast. Lunch wouldn't be a burger on a bun or a sandwich but rather leave the bun out or have some other cut of meat, maybe tuna and use lettuce as a wrap for that or a small tortilla, along with some type of veggies, maybe a piece of fruit. Dinner would have the heavier carbs like rice, pasta, or other grains, potatoes, breads and such. Snacks would have no more than 10 g of carbs each. This is what finally put a stop to my insane eating. I was relieved to find a few other people talking about the same thing being true for them and I figured maybe if it worked for them it could help me also. This is not to say I never have any type of candy or cake or other such items. I just don't have them before dinner, I have them after dinner. This also helps because I am usually already pretty satisfied after having a good meal and the urge to stuff my face endlessly is much less at this time, and since it's close to bed time it doesn't leave me very long to resist the urge to gorge. Just my personal experience that may or may not apply to other people through out the world.

You know, I don't usually eat breakfast because if I do I'm starving all day long. Now I realize it could be WHAT I was eating rather than when. I don't know why I never thought of this before... Thanks for this post.

JustSomeEm wrote: »

You know, I don't usually eat breakfast because if I do I'm starving all day long. Now I realize it could be WHAT I was eating rather than when. I don't know why I never thought of this before... Thanks for this post.

I know right? I literally just found this out about myself about a month ago. Eat a bowl of oatmeal because they tell you to. Within an hour I am wanting to knaw hubby's arm off! I'm 54 years old. You'd think I would have caught on. I guess I'm slow on the uptake LOL

But it is a great post and very valid for some.

ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »

Speaking only from my very own personal experience, I found carbs to be at the root of my insatiable hunger. Now, I am not saying to try to cut out carbs altogether or to reduce them drastically, but maybe lower how many you have at a sitting and see if it helps. For example, If I were to have a bowl of oatmeal, grits, a muffin or something along those lines for breakfast I would be both sleepy and hungry and end up stuffing my face all day and fighting sleep. This is true even if I have protein and fat and plenty of water. I changed my habits to be that breakfast would be more protein and fat based with some smaller carbs like fruit or just a slice of buttered toast. Lunch wouldn't be a burger on a bun or a sandwich but rather leave the bun out or have some other cut of meat, maybe tuna and use lettuce as a wrap for that or a small tortilla, along with some type of veggies, maybe a piece of fruit. Dinner would have the heavier carbs like rice, pasta, or other grains, potatoes, breads and such. Snacks would have no more than 10 g of carbs each. This is what finally put a stop to my insane eating. I was relieved to find a few other people talking about the same thing being true for them and I figured maybe if it worked for them it could help me also. This is not to say I never have any type of candy or cake or other such items. I just don't have them before dinner, I have them after dinner. This also helps because I am usually already pretty satisfied after having a good meal and the urge to stuff my face endlessly is much less at this time, and since it's close to bed time it doesn't leave me very long to resist the urge to gorge. Just my personal experience that may or may not apply to other people through out the world.

It blows my mind that if I eat something desserty after lunch I feel yucky but I can have dessert after dinner and feel fine.

If I'm really hungry in between meals, I'll have porridge (Oatmeal in the US?). It's hugely filling and tasty too!

Break up when you eat. I need small healthy snacks mid morning & mid afternoon

Catawampous wrote: »

JustSomeEm wrote: »

You know, I don't usually eat breakfast because if I do I'm starving all day long. Now I realize it could be WHAT I was eating rather than when. I don't know why I never thought of this before... Thanks for this post.

I know right? I literally just found this out about myself about a month ago. Eat a bowl of oatmeal because they tell you to. Within an hour I am wanting to knaw hubby's arm off! I'm 54 years old. You'd think I would have caught on. I guess I'm slow on the uptake LOL

But it is a great post and very valid for some.

I don't expect carbs (alone) to keep me full for any length of time.

Oatmeal can be a great breakfast BUT I make it with milk to bump up the protein and add pumpkin puree (or PB2) & chopped nuts. Protein, fat & fiber.

I understand some people feel less hungry with less carbs, I don't think this is what OP is experiencing. Being jittery and lightheaded indicates some degree of hypoglycemia and/or electrolyte imbalance, which usually happens when you suddenly lower carbs or go for lengths of time without eating that largely exceed what you are used to. In this case, having a carby meal would greatly help, as well as reconsidering meal timing and calorie distribution. If the lower carbs/longer fasting periods are intentional, then it's just a matter of waiting to get used to it.

The only way I can think of where carbs would cause this is if she has reactive hypoglycemia due to hypothyroidism or some other cause, in which case eating many small meals and slowly digestible carbs would be a good option. Alternatively, a low carb diet.

I'm inclined to believe it's mostly the former rather than the latter, because if she does have reactive hypoglycemia it would have manifested itself even before she started dieting unless the decrease in calories was also accompanied by a decrease in eating frequency.

TeaBea wrote: »

Catawampous wrote: »

JustSomeEm wrote: »

You know, I don't usually eat breakfast because if I do I'm starving all day long. Now I realize it could be WHAT I was eating rather than when. I don't know why I never thought of this before... Thanks for this post.

I know right? I literally just found this out about myself about a month ago. Eat a bowl of oatmeal because they tell you to. Within an hour I am wanting to knaw hubby's arm off! I'm 54 years old. You'd think I would have caught on. I guess I'm slow on the uptake LOL

But it is a great post and very valid for some.

I don't expect carbs (alone) to keep me full for any length of time.

Oatmeal can be a great breakfast BUT I make it with milk to bump up the protein and add pumpkin puree (or PB2) & chopped nuts. Protein, fat & fiber.

Not always true. It never mattered what or how much protein I included. Still ravenous. I know that flies in the face of the typical hunger control advice, but it's true.

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

amusedmonkey wrote: »

I understand some people feel less hungry with less carbs, I don't think this is what OP is experiencing. Being jittery and lightheaded indicates some degree of hypoglycemia and/or electrolyte imbalance, which usually happens when you suddenly lower carbs or go for lengths of time without eating that largely exceed what you are used to. In this case, having a carby meal would greatly help, as well as reconsidering meal timing and calorie distribution. If the lower carbs/longer fasting periods are intentional, then it's just a matter of waiting to get used to it.

The only way I can think of where carbs would cause this is if she has reactive hypoglycemia due to hypothyroidism or some other cause, in which case eating many small meals and slowly digestible carbs would be a good option. Alternatively, a low carb diet.

I'm inclined to believe it's mostly the former rather than the latter, because if she does have reactive hypoglycemia it would have manifested itself even before she started dieting unless the decrease in calories was also accompanied by a decrease in eating frequency.

Yeah the symptoms do seem to allign with just very low blood sugar so to the OP I do wonder if you are attempting some sort of extremely low carb diet? If you couple low calorie with low carb its possible you just aren't getting enough carb to sustain your blood sugar (hence the dizzy) and just aren't getting enough calories in general (hence the starving).

It is possible to lose weight without being hungry or dizzy and if you are experiencing that its probably a sign that your diet of choice is too extreme.

This didn't happen to me, but it did to my sister and both her daughers, and eventually we were all diagnosed with Diabetes Type 2. One niece is very slender, one is chunky, my sis and I both were overweight at the time of our diagnosis. For me, I never got hypoglycemia and my blood sugars just were always high even on a very low carb diet. For my sis and her daughers, they would have very low blood sugars if they had too many carbs at a meal. They would spike up and then crash. When they crashed, they'd get sweaty, light-headed, even to the point of feeling nauseaus and my sis even fainted. They learned to keep their carbs lower at meals, increase their fat content at meals, and eat small meals frequently.

Dear OP ... have your blood sugar tested.

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

@diannethegeek has a super helpful list of general tips about hunger. Maybe she'll post.

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.