Just Starting/ Hunger

I was hungry all the time for the first 3 weeks. For me I stuck with it because I needed to retrain myself what was an acceptable portion. I am only almost 7 weeks into this and I still get really hungry in the morning but that is about it. I am actually get that full feeling after meals now. I agree with others that maybe choosing 1 lb per week may be better for now. It's not easy so far but it has been worth it.

Also play with your macros to see what helps satiate you.

For me a carb/protein/fat with every meal helps. Drinking at least 48oz water, getting 7-8hrs of sleep also helps me. I also only eat brunch and dinner as frequent smaller meals made me hungrier.

You'll need to tweak things as you go to find your sweet spot.

mharnden92 wrote: »

JaydedMiss wrote: »

Also small changed helped me alot, Something like instead of eating 1 bagel for a meal ill split that bagel over 2 smaller meals and spread them out a few hours, Kept me satisfied over a longer period and mentally i got 2 little delicious meals to look forward to. Its possible something like this may help you with the mental aspect

thank you i differently will start to play with my diet and see what works. Its nice to here i dont have to drop everything i love to get my weight down. I think that helps a lot with the mind going crazy. I think a lot of my problems with this diet thing are in my head at this point. Hopefully in a week or so things will calm down a little. My problem is i overthink.

I eat what i want i just make sure i work for it, If i want a chocolate bar ill have it but ill walk my booty to the store an hour away and back and then sit down and enjoy every last little bite. Dont cut off foods its horrible to crave constantly, Just work them in

leejoyce31 wrote: »

JaydedMiss wrote: »

leanjogreen18 wrote: »

Also play with your macros to see what helps satiate you.

For me a carb/protein/fat with every meal helps. Drinking at least 48oz water, getting 7-8hrs of sleep also helps me. I also only eat brunch and dinner as frequent smaller meals made me hungrier.

You'll need to tweak things as you go to find your sweet spot.

This is a good point i never brought up. For me personally second i begin to eat i get starving for the rest of the day so i now eat as late into the day as possible, Save all my calories for the late afternoon/evening That way i can eat what i want more ...not have to fire my appetite up as early and worry about spreading my calories out thinly. If your anything like me and dont like breakfast that much it might be worth a shot to try. Wont work for everyone but i know many people who dotn bother eating until later and it definatly helps with satisfaction/hunger

This is what I do by using the 16:8 IF method. I delay eating as long as possible. Sometimes longer than 16 hours. You're right. Once I eat my first thing for the day, my brain says game on. It's feeding time. So, I try to push that back as long as possible. In fact, I'm already past the 16 hour mark. I'll try to hold off a bit longer since I'm not hungry anyway.

yeah i generally start with something small. ill get hungry say okay i can eat in 30-1 hour. eat a small piece of kolbassa to hold me off 45mins-1 more hour before my first meal. By time thats done its nearly dinner time its wonderful.

rsclause wrote: »

First you need to build willpower. It helps if you increase water intake. Eat healthy foods that are not super calorie dense and avoid the ones that are like bread, potatoes and pasta. Try snacking between meals. My favorite is a handful of almonds or an apple.

Avoiding bread, potatoes and pasta works for some.

I personally have some form of bread almost daily and am losing weight steadily. I modified by getting bagel thins, killer Dave 60 cal bread and sandwich thins. These are staples for me.

I have potatos maybe 4-5 times a month and I rarely eat pasta as I'm not a big fan, although in my 6 months of counting calories I have had lasagna a couple of times.

I think the thing is one needs to figure out if they can adhere to their calorie goal while eating certain foods or not. Adherence is most important to be successful at not only losing but maintaining.

I personally could not stick to a way of eating that restricts my favorite foods.

leejoyce31 wrote: »

annacole94 wrote: »

I've had to retrain my hunger - and the first week or two is hard. I used to eat a snack every day at 10. I have stopped, but I was super hungry at 10 for a while. Definitely drink lots of no-calorie beverages (tea, coffee, water, even diet pop if it makes it easier), focus on big volume foods for at least part of your diet (lots of veggies, fruit, and things like popcorn that can *feel* like a lot of food).

And of course, there's just the fact that getting hungry before I eat needs to be my new normal. Not that I'm hungry all the time, but that I allow that discomfort in my life. If you're used to eating a lot, you don't really ever get to "hungry". It's a new feeling and you'll learn how to manage it.

It's interesting that you use the words retrain your hunger. I feel that's what I have done with IF 16:8. Before I started IF in October, I felt the need to eat as soon as I became hungry. But IF taught me that if I ride it out for a bit, the hunger actually goes away. It was so amazing because after all these years, I didn't know that. I guess because as soon as the hunger urge hit, I would react to it. Now, I get a little hungry in the mornings some days. But after a while, it passes and I'm not hungry again for hours.

I love IF. It has really taught me a lot about hunger cues. Oh by the way, I'm not advocating IF for everyone. I know that it's just a method of eating and not everyone can or wants to do it.

Looking back i did something super similar...

I hadnt decided to lose weight but i got really angry that when i didnt eat every few hours id get shakey and starving and feel weak. One day out of nowhere i just refused it i was like no im not going to eat see what truely happens. After a few hours it stopped fully so i rode it out to see when i got hunger see if i could recognize true hunger, 3 days later i hadnt felt it and was like i need to eat now but what the actual hell. And i had lost weight so i was like....this is a thing i can do...Set up my calories and stuck to them and now im down 82 pounds XD

Its very empowering to learn what hunger really is

My first 2 weeks at 1250 calories were tough--mostly because I had distract myself from mindless eating and I was working REALLY HARD on getting my portions weighed and all that. It was all very new and foreign to me. After a while, I was truly less hungry at that calorie level and stayed there for about five months. I upped my calories when I got to having +/- 50lbs to lose (I started out needing to lose 100), which is about 1430 for a 1lb per week loss.

If you stick it out for 2 weeks and still feel terrible at that level, then look at changing your rate of loss. I know I had a sense of fear and panic that I could never eat and my brain really wanted me to cave in and eat ALL the food. I drank lots of water, had some black coffee, and went for walks to distract myself from what was really breaking the habit of eating out of boredom.

No matter what you decide, hang in there and don't give up. You can do it!

Sometimes you're gonna feel hungry. I think getting comfortable with that will save a lot of stress. If you're sure you're eating enough and at good intervals, do something else to take your mind off it for a while.

I'm definitely not saying you need to be hungry to lose weight. Or rather, you don't need to ignore hunger to lose weight. You should actually experience hunger, and fullness, and get used to more healthy definitions of those feelings. And if you decide to rejig your mealtimes, it takes time to get used to it. I was uncomfortable for a few days, and now it's fine. I'm not living in hungry misery indefinitely.

In my opinion, you should not have to be truly hungry. Of course there can be mental adjustments to work thru.

Look for ways to have bigger meals that are not calorie heavy. Having a salad with light dressing (even cheese!) can add bulk to a meal without adding a ton of calories. And veggies like asparagus, broccoli, squash: not calorie dense. Meaning you can get a lot of them for 20, 30, 40 calories. Having these things in your meals really helps. Have lean meat, and mostly cook it by baking/grilling. Avoid things that add calories without much other benefit, such as having fried food. I don't mean that you need to give up fried food totally but it should not be a daily thing if you're adjusting to a reduced calorie limit.

My lunch today: spaghetti squash w/ sauce, parmesan cheese and garlic salt & some sauteed shrimp. It was a decent amount of food, because the squash is so low in calories. 236 calories total. I don't normally try to have that low of a lunch, but I also had some peanut butter on bread just before heading out to walk at noon. That was 137 calories and I logged it under breakfast. I may add a mid morning snack category...

I've lost 93 lb in 55 weeks with a weekly goal of losing 0.5 lb per week. This needs to be comfortable and that bigger calorie goal gives me a comfortable cushion.