Did you feel less hungry after a while eating in a deficit?

When I was just starting out I often felt hungry. Once I started logging I realized I was probably eating around 3000 cals a day and dropping back to 1800-2000, so I reasoned that my body would feel hungry for awhile because it was used to getting so much more food. It did normal out after awhile!

Not sure if you are exercising at all, that may affect your hunger levels as well. I find I can be ravenous after HIIT, strength training and running.

I'm about 5 weeks in to eating at a deficit, and for the first three weeks I felt like I was starving all. the. time. I would eat lunch and then be hungry again an hour later. Good news though, about a week or two ago I felt like I really turned a corner, and am not having those crazy hunger pains anymore. Stick with it - it will get better!!!!

At first, definitely it was harder. I was accustomed to grazing between meals and my meals were already pretty dense. I was an emotional eater too. So, not constantly eating was a trying task. Now, I have days where I'm fine not eating into the afternoon/evening.

Yep I did and always thinking about food sometimes made it worse (I also have had some phases of disordered eating and emotional eating which was related to my depression/anxiety), now I still think about food but in a practical way and although I still enjoy it I don't medicate my mood with it nearly as much, it gets easier and exercising to give me more wiggle room in my calories (and also helps my mental health) has helped alot.

Also don't be hard on yourself if you go over some days, just log it and move on and don't feel you have to punish yourself the next day, I've also started looking at my deficit in the terms of a weekly deficit of around 2000 calories (roughly 300 below maintenance a day), some days I maintain, some days I'm over, some days I net 900 cals because of working out hard, as long as I have a reasonable deficit on average for the week it's all good. x

It gets better over time. It took about 3 weeks for me to stop being ravenously hungry. I used to absolutely stuff myself and when I stopped doing that, my stomach argued with me. I've learned that hunger and cravings are 2 different things. I actually like the feeling of being stuffed, so I bank my calories throughout the week and get to eat a big meal on Friday. Being hungry is a part of weight loss but it gets a lot more manageable.

For me eating on a "3 meals a day" schedule, leaves me feeling hungry most of the day. What I have found works better is eating 5-6 times a day. Just as I start feeling hungry, bam! 200-400 calories. That's one thing that has worked for me. It might be something to fiddle with in your habits to see what fits you personally.

Increasing fat intake also helps me on those days where I just can't seem to eat enough. Fat stimulates the hormone and brain activity that makes you feel satiated/satisfied for longer periods of time. Avocado, sauteed veggies with a little extra butter, fatty fish, a little bit of fatty meat, etc. Maybe increasing your fat macro percentage here and there would help?

Then there are those days where nothing seems to be fitting the bill. Those days I just eat over my calorie goal, then start fresh the next day. We don't gain actual fat weight from indulging once in awhile. Only when we over indulge everyday.

Yes, because I eventually understood more about my hunger, what foods help, what foods don't, how to manage meal timing...etc. I also understood my mental triggers, where not eating the foods I love in the way I love them gives me "faux hunger" that feels physical but is largely mental (no zucchini noodles for me when I want pasta). There are times when I still feel hungry all day, but they're mostly hormonal. I do experience hunger before meals, but that's normal. For the most parts I've managed to learn a lot in the past few years and I'm able to avoid unjustified hunger most of the time. I also experience hunger when I allow myself to feel hungry on purpose, like when saving calories for a social situation or a higher calorie meal I've been wanting for a while. This kind of hunger is purposeful, tolerable, and even kind of pleasant.

I know that, personally, I need a lot of food, so a lot of vegetables and volume fillers (air and water) are a must. I also need starches for every meal, so bread, rice, potatoes, grains, beans, pasta...etc usually play the starring role in my meals. I save most of my calories by limiting fat to a level that just good enough to taste good (because fat is not satiating for me) and by not drinking my calories most of the time. Some people do better on the exact opposite diet.

You need to experiment and see which foods/macros/combinations make you feel good (these are individual so other than telling you our personal experience we can't give you real answers). There is also the fact that you can earn more calories by being more active. Unfortunately, you may not be able to avoid hungary 100% of the time, and that's okay, but being hungry all time is NOT okay and you need to do something about it.

Oh and eat soup, they're the most filling food in my opinion.

SezxyStef wrote: »

I sometimes wonder if people actually know the difference between hunger and appetite?

Hunger is not a requirement for weight loss...I think that is one of the reasons people often fail.

Too few calories and too little protein to help keep you feeling fuller longer and the fats for satiety that lots feel are "bad"...this is what causes the problem

I mean to say you are "ravenous" or "hungry all the time" seems well...not a good thing.

Lots of people really don't know how they are supposed to feel and/or have issues with mental hunger. You can't say it's just about eating too little or not in a satiating way, although they may need to experiment to see what's satisfying for them too, of course.

For some it IS understanding that a little hunger is fine, not something to panic over, and something that will go away if you wait it out usually. For others it's more the mind reacting in an extreme way to any restriction or craving or a trained response to stress/emotion or all kinds of things.

Yea this was true for me. Transitioning from a high calorie bulk to a deficit (even with a week maintenance in between) I found myself very hungry starting out.. both psychological and stomach growling, headache hungry. Over time though, it gets better. Playing around with macros helps too. I think also for some of those who are lean trying to get leaner it is especially difficult because there is legitimate hunger there despite having sufficient protein and fibre and a small deficit. But you get used to it to some degree.

For me its less physical (stomach growling) hunger and more "I want to eat", which is how I got fat in the first place. That can be difficult, but I keep fruits and veggies around and try to leave wiggle room for snacks in my daily plan.

For me it was ramping down the frequency. I first started out eating 3 meals plus 4+ low-cal snacks a day if I could fit it. Now, I can eat slightly larger, more protein filled meals with minimal snacks a day and be satisfied. I found adequate/regular sleep patterns plus scheduled meal times really helps with the cravings. For example, it took 2 weeks to retrain myself to be less hungry after work because I workout from 6-7ish and don't eat dinner until around 9. I can't workout on a heavy stomach, and my 3pm snack doesn't hold over enough in replacement for what I body thought should be meal time. Around 200 calories of a small protein shake works wonders now and no longer do I get hit with Snackzilla.

SezxyStef wrote: »

I sometimes wonder if people actually know the difference between hunger and appetite?

Hunger is not a requirement for weight loss...I think that is one of the reasons people often fail.

Too few calories and too little protein to help keep you feeling fuller longer and the fats for satiety that lots feel are "bad"...this is what causes the problem

I mean to say you are "ravenous" or "hungry all the time" seems well...not a good thing.

For me, I was never truly hungry because I always ate before I felt it. I get hungry now and eat when it happens. I'm not hungry all the time. The "ravenously hungry" was only for a few weeks while my body got used to such a large drop in calories. I could easily eat a large pizza to myself and then follow it up with some brownies. This was after a 1,000 calorie breakfast. Going from that to 1,300-1,500 daily made me STARVE in the beginning.

Hunger is absolutely a part of weight loss because we aren't eating at the levels we used to. If I continued to eat without ever feeling hungry, I definitely wouldn't lose anything. I start to get hungry at lunch time, so I eat. I'm good until dinner time and then get hungry again, so I eat. It took a bit to recognize the difference between hunger and cravings. Also a struggle to learn it's okay to get hungry. I'm not going to die if I don't eat in the next 30 seconds.

I find exercise helps me control really bad "hunger" cravings particularly moderate intensity (brisk walking, gardening, stationary bike)
I also use peppermint tea and miso soup to control those hunger pangs.
Good luck

The body takes a while (it is different depending on the person) to adjust to new calorie intake levels; When you are used to just eating whatever whenever then start restricting yourself, your mind and stomach tend to say 'hey, wait a sec ... I normally eat more by now, so lets feel hungry". There is a very big difference between those little hunger 'pangs' and true Hunger - I have, in the past, been in a situation where I was barely eating enough to survive (not through an ED, but due to being on the cusp of nowhere to live and having no money to actually buy food - only charity from a person I was renting from kept me going). That type of hunger is pervasive - a feeling of almost 'hollowness' in your stomach and a feeling of weakness, no matter how little you do. And then, when you finally eat, finding that it disappears so fast you don't remember eating. The pangs from changing your diet go away with time and, as long as you maintain a 'healthy' (varies depending on body type, weight, metabolism, etc) intake you will (as hard to believe as it may seem when the feelings hit) be fine. If you are within your goals for intake then 'wean' yourself off the cravings with small snacks now and then (something low cal and filling or at least something crunchy to tell your brain 'hey, im eating').

Note that it is different for everyone - if you start feeling weak then stoke the furnace, don't let losing weight cause you to ignore the body's danger signals.