I'm always Hungry!

Hi,

What are you eating for breakfast and morning snacks that you go through 1200 by lunchtime??

Cheers,
D.

Hi! I'm new here also and that's what I'm trying to figure out myslef but I want to cut back on all the salt/sugar intake. Wish you the best.

I LOVE baby carrots with hummus or triscuit crackers with hummus as a snack!!! And not sure if you do this, but before eating a meal try and drink a big glass of water!! It should help fill you faster too. Also, when craving chocolate or a snack I bought those Quaker Oat Square Bars. They have different flavors and are 120 calories. But they hit the spot when I need a taste of something goodddd

If you have been exercising, you should be 'earning' extra calories. It is important to eat your exercise calories back; at least some of them; I would say as a rule of thumb - at least half. I find that protein rich foods are pretty filling - nuts, greek yogurt (Athenos and I think Dannon, have a 100 calorie package), fish, cheese, etc. Also, fiber rich items are good. Oatmeal, whole wheat pastas, and breads. The trick there is to watch your portion and pair it with a protein. I aim to get my protein with the lowest fat (or no fat). Always drink a glass of water before you eat. That will let you eat less at a sitting and save some of your portion of food for later. Lots of tricks. I hope this helps; it's been advice that was passed on to me and has helped me get a great start to a new life.

My normal sandwhich for lunch hasnt been filling me up enough lately so i added a few extra things and it tastes GREAT.

2 pieces wholemeal sandwhich bread
1 serve sliced turkey breast (3-4 slices)
1 boiled egg
1 cup iceberg lettuce
3 slices tomato
1/2 cup cucumber with peel
1 thick slice onion
Dijon mustard
Bulla onion and chives cottage cheese
Salt and pepper

It's so simple but amaaaazing! i loved it and it filled me up good (:
Also only 342 calories

Hi, so Ive found that the best thing for me is a high fiber cereal for lunch like kashi or fiber one. the calories are relatively low and with skim milk it sustains my hunger longer. (7-8am) than around 10 I have a quick snack like 1/2 piece of fruit or veggie like peppers (my fave is orange pepper raw) or I will have a weight watcher string cheese just to tide me over until lunch. than at 12-1pm I eat either a small salad with 1/2 a turkey sandwich with mustard (no mayo) and cheese. midday snack is either a greek yogurt 0-2% fat depending on my calories from earlier in the day eaten, and dinner is more greens with about 3 oz of meat. I drink and drink and drink WATER! it curb my appetite and if i start to feel hungry in between my eating and despite the water I go for a quick lap around the office (at work) or the block (at home) the exercise is good and I usually get side tracked in my eating and find something else to do!
Hope this helps!

If you've JUST started, you're going to be STARVING the first week or two until your body gets used to eating less. I was prob. eating about 2000-2500 calories a day with no exercize. When I started MFP in March, I dropped to 1200. Talk about a shock to my body, lol. It took about 1-1/2 weeks before I got it right, and I'm not hungry anymore until dinner time.

Did you normally NOT eat breakfast before you started your diet? I normally don't eat breakfast. (Except for coffee w/ International Delight and 2% milk) When I started my journey, I decided to do what is "recommended" and eat 3 meals a day. BIG MISTAKE. I was STARVING by 11 am. By eating a meal I never normally ate, I must have upped my metabolism so I was hungrier. After a few days, I went back to not eating breakfast and just having 12-16 oz of tea with two splenda and (at the time) 2% milk. Once again I wasn't hungry until 1-2 pm. When I'm working, I can go until 3 pm until eating lunch.

So, if you normally didn't eat breakfast and now you are, cut breakfast out.. Have coffee or tea w/ low fat milk (I have finally switched to skim milk) or no milk at all. That'll save you 1200 calories for lunch and dinner. I eat a LOT of salad and healthy cereals. Most times I'll have cereal for lunch, following recommended servings. Cereals I eat are: Fiber one cereals, Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, Great Grains. That's about 200-250 calories for Lunch, leaving me with 1000 for dinner. HOWEVER--- w/o exercising, you don't want to eat 1000 calories for dinner then go to bed. I'm planning on switching my meals and eating a bigger lunch and a smaller dinner.

As for exercise, I didn't start exercising until I lost 18 lbs. And that's only walking 3-9 miles a week. I recently started jogging, weaving it into my walking, but I still like walking better. I do eat a bit more when I exercise, like someone else said, about 1/2 more. One day I got a small fry w/ my McDonald's salad-- I felt so guilty! hahaha.

You are welcome to look thru my diary as well. (except yesterday, I splurged and had a bagel but it was sooooooooooo yummy!! ) Most days I eat less than 1200 calories without exercise. I've been losing about 2 lbs a week. I'm almost pre-pregnancy weight! (my son is 9 BTW, rofl!)

Good luck!

Definitely try to eat things higher in fiber & protein and lower calorie. For breakfast, try scrambled eggs (190 factoring in butter substitute), 1 cup fruit (60), greek yogurt or nonfat yogurt (120-160). For lunch, tuna sandwich (140 bread 70 tuna 100+/- for mayo) and nuts (170-190 almonds/pistachios/walnuts). For dinner, chicken breast (90-110), green beans (40) and multigrain pasta (210). For a grand total of: 1250

If you are hungry, you probably need more protein. If you are not vegetarian, ry to make most of your meals consist mostly of meat/fish/poultry and vegetables.

Example:

Breakfast: eggs (maybe 1 whole egg + egg whites, which are lower in calories) - scrambled, omelet with veggies, etc. + 1 slice high fiber toast or an english muffin + 1 fruit

Morning snack: yogurt or fruit or protein bar

Lunch: Meat/fish/poultry/egg + salad (low calorie dressing or homemade oil & vinegar dressing) + 2 cups veggies (try to avoid/limit carrots, squash, corn, peas)

Mid-afternoon snack: hard-boiled egg white or cooked ham slices (no sugar, low sodium) and dill pickles

Supper: Same as lunch

Evening snack: have something with protein in the evening - milk, yogurt, a protein bar or shake

Do not drink calories! Drink only water (minimum 8 cups per day), coffee, tea
Limit milk to 2 portions per day
Limit sugar/sweeteners

Switching to sea salt can help reduce bloating

Good luck!

Hi again, thanks for opening your diary

Ok, just a couple of suggestions:

- 500 kcal for breakfast is too much if you are trying to stick with 1200 per day. You need to drop it to 300-400.

- waffles with syrup are tasty, but they are not filling and certainly not low-GI, which is what you need to feel full until lunch. It's better to have cereals (natural, very low in sugar!) or porridge.There are plenty of cereals you can have as porridge (oats, millet, quinoa, buckwheat, etc), add a teaspoon of sugar if you feel the need for something sweet.

- have a large salad or salad sandwiches for lunch - 2 thin slices of bread, some lean meat for protein, and as many vegeis as you want (not pumpkin or potato or starchy vegetables). It's very satisfying and you won't get a sugar crash (what you called a "hunger headache") in the afternoon.

- Yoplait yogurt is loaded with fat and sugar. Replace with low-fat (2%) natural yoghurt - it's about 50 kcal per 100 g, instead of 170! Add a bit of honey or berries or cinnamon, or grate half a cucumber into it.

- In general, your diet is very unbalanced. You are eating lots of high-calorie foods that don't fill the stomach (almonds, sweets, junk food), but at the same time you are eating tiny amounts for breakfast and lunch, it's no wonder that you are hungry all the time! You are skipping meals and then bingeing on junk food, that's a very bad habit.

You need to eat a LOT more vegetables and lean protein, especially at night. For example, a lean steak (150-200 g) or fish or chicken breast, grilled with only a little bit of oil and a large garden salad (without oily dressing or mayonnaise) is about 300 kcal, but much more filling than a 500 kcal MacDonalds burger, right?

If you want to keep the weight off, you need to completely overhaul your entire diet and possibly even lifestyle, sorry about that... Otherwise, you might lose the extra kilos, but as soon as you stop this diet, you WILL pile the kilos back on, there is no doubt about that.

Read up on low-GI diets, it might help you to understand what steps you need to take to reduce your calorie intake but still stay full and eat healthy. Another book that really helped me personally to do the full overhaul was "French women don't get fat". The main principles in it are very sensible and sound.

Good luck!

V.

Hhhhmmm what ARE you eating? My guess is that you're probably filling up on complex carbs. I would try eating more fruit and veggies. The fiber will go a long way towards filling you up.