I'm always Hungry!

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.