Normal to be so hungry?

Regarding being hungry: As you get your foods entered into your database, you will learn to mix and match them to meet your goal.

If you eat the recommended calories AND snacks - (the six meal a day works best for me) AND drink the recommended amount of water, and do your exercises - you should not be getting hungry all the time. I am 5'8" and 182, and if I stick to this plan, I don't usually get hungry.

Your other issue may be WHAT you are eating. Stay away from sugar! If you haven't gotten yourself off sugar yet, do that first. Sugar makes you hungrier. And hungry for more bad things.
IF you are on the 1200 calorie a day plan, you are going to really have to watch every bite on "non-exercise" days. The more you exercise, the more you get to eat. VERY Motivating !

~Fruit - you really only have room calorie wise for two small servings of fruit daily. They are packed with carbs and calories - same with juice. One four ounce portion eats up alot of calories and carbs.

~Dairy - not much room for cheese, either. I love cheese. I only have room for 1-2 lowfat string cheeses and 1 tsp of parm on days I don't exercise. I did find a very low cal/low fat cheese "Laughing Cow" low fat swiss cheese spread - it's soft like cream cheese. Yogurt - about 1/4 Cup NON-fat-Plain a day.

~Grains - Whole grains only. Brown rice only. These foods stick with you and keep you feeling good longer. They are carbs that release energy slowly -therefore giving you sustained energy.

~Veggies - for the most part - EAT lots. Cut down your oils by having avocado. 1Tbl dressing per 2-3 cups salad. Add parmesan, fresh ground pepper, and Balsamic vinegar for flavor.

~Meat - lean meat only. Chicken, turkey, fish, lean pork. Beef needs to be a once-a-week thing. About 3 ounces daily is all I can squeeze in. (the size of a deck of cards)

~Nuts - Almonds=good. Cashews, Walnuts = Bad. But good for you. Work them in when you can.

~Put "Mrs. Dash" or your favorite no-salt spice mix on EVERYTHING. Spicy/hot spicy foods help raise your metabolism due to their "heat".

You will find your way. It takes a couple weeks at least to get the foods you like (and that are good for your plan) entered into the database. Be gentle with yourself and you WILL figure this out.

~Cheryl

I was always hungry when I started to watch my portions.

Your body does get used to it so just give it time.

Drink water before every meal so it can fill you up a bit.

Try planning out your meals and snacks every morning if you can, enter them in your food diary and you might have some calories left over for an evening snack/dessert.

Fruits and veggies are great for snacking.

If you want more calories, go out for a walk or jog in place while watching tv.

Hi sugarlove,
I think we all go through the hunger pangs at the beginning but over a week maybe you'll notice a difference. It is the portion control which got to me, or lack of. Really monitoring what you eat in the food diary is great. Once I started really paying attention to what i ate I realised that I was probably eating at least twice as much per portion as I should have been! Scary!! My husband laughs at me when I weigh and measure everything but I have to because otherwise I'd be way over eating. The food diary is a great tool..use it! I waitress too and so that is good exercise on my "rest" days. When you add cardio exercise to your diary, put in walking at about 3-3.5 mph which I think is about right and add how many minutes you think you walk for. On days when I waitress I use those days for weight training rather than the treadmill....see how that works for you. Of course working as a waitress is probably the hardest job to have when starting a diet!! ;-)