What do you do about being hungry?
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Thanks everyone. I wanted to clarify; I am on my first week, and I've gone over every day. The 67 over calorie day was the closest I've come. I've set a goal for 1lb a week. Which obviously won't happen this week. Theres no way I could continue feeling like I did that day. I dont diet, I've never dieted, so I'm not sure what do about it. Sure I'd like to loose weight, but its secondary to learning how to live a healthy lifestyle.1
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Thanks everyone. I wanted to clarify; I am on my first week, and I've gone over every day. The 67 over calorie day was the closest I've come. I've set a goal for 1lb a week. Which obviously won't happen this week. Theres no way I could continue feeling like I did that day. I dont diet, I've never dieted, so I'm not sure what do about it. Sure I'd like to loose weight, but its secondary to learning how to live a healthy lifestyle.
Protein, fiber and fat are satiating components. But it's a different combo for everyone. I find fat satiating, but many people don't.
1 pound a week is most appropriate if you have 15+ pounds to lose. This website gives you a calorie goal based on "pre-exercise" calories. If you exercise - log it and eat at least 50% of those calories too.
Play around with meal timing. I can easily push my breakfast back a couple hours, but others not so much. You'll get the hang of it.2 -
I see some comments suggesting eating 5 to 6 times per day im guessing most of us are here because we are food addicts and in my opinion eating high frequency meals does nothing for our mental addiction to food. Before starting my lifestyle change i did a 72 hour fast so i could understand what hunger is and break my sugar, carb and coffee cravings. It seems to have worked well as i am no longer craving and mentally feel very strong
Please dont attack me if you disagree or the science is bad im just putting my uneducated thoughts and experience into words6 -
Thanks everyone. I wanted to clarify; I am on my first week, and I've gone over every day. The 67 over calorie day was the closest I've come. I've set a goal for 1lb a week. Which obviously won't happen this week. Theres no way I could continue feeling like I did that day. I dont diet, I've never dieted, so I'm not sure what do about it. Sure I'd like to loose weight, but its secondary to learning how to live a healthy lifestyle.
As others have said, experiment with macro percentages and meal timing to find which helps you best at keeping those hunger pangs at bay. I find eating smaller meals more frequently works best for me but others have more success doing intermittent fasting where they eat all of their food within a 6-8 hour period works better. You won't know what works best for you until you give a few methods a go - the same with your macro percentages. Also, you could try upping your calories by 100 and see if that helps. You are much better to take longer to reach your goals in a sustainable way than being too aggressive for long-term adherence and not reaching your goal at all because it becomes too hard.0 -
What I recommend for new people is to take a week and just log, without trying to change any habits. Log all activity and all food. No judgement, just eat what you usually eat. Then after that week look at your diary and find out which parts of your lifestyle are most easy and effective to change. You may find that you need to avoid certain foods, situations, or activities which lead you to bad choices, you may want to add activity, you may even want to add food.
For example, in my case, drinking soda was associated with eating fatty and salty foods such as fries. When I cut out soda, my craving for fries also went away. But I strongly associated getting a soda with stopping at the convenience store. It felt like a magnet pulling me there the first few times I tried to drive past without stopping. So I changed my route driving home so I didn't pass that store. Trigger gone - and soon the cravings were also gone. I also crave sweets more when I don't eat enough fruit. Eating fruit was healthier and lower calorie for me, and helped me give up sweets. And going out to eat with my mother is hopeless - she's a fan of American style restaurants where it's hard to find low calorie menu choices. So my mother and I go to the movies now and stop afterwards for herbal tea instead of going out to eat.
You may find that it's easy to make small swaps and save a lot of calories once you have identified them, without going hungry.10 -
Maybe drink more water? I know when i am hungry i guzzle down 3 or 4 cups and my hunger pains go away for a couple hours.1
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rheddmobile wrote: »What I recommend for new people is to take a week and just log, without trying to change any habits. Log all activity and all food. No judgement, just eat what you usually eat. Then after that week look at your diary and find out which parts of your lifestyle are most easy and effective to change.
This! I found it useful to start logging for a few weeks 1. To get used to logging and 2. To see which foods I was really just eating because I was bored or craving sugar. Then I didn't want to log those unnecessary calories, so reduced the snacking or I would go for an extra walk to have enough cals for the dinner I want. And then, when MFP set my cal goal at 1200,it only took a short while to realise that wasn't enough, even with exercise cals. So I changed to 1400.
If your main aim is to swap for healthier options, a period of logging will show you what you can swap. And measure everything.
Just to say, I have by no means stopped snacking and still have days I go over cals, but slow&steady works for me, and I rather do that than failing every other day.6 -
Often I just think I’m hungry, usually at night watching tv. If I’m really hungry I will make popcorn or have some carrots or a small salad.
If I just want to eat because I’m programmed to snack, I can either just go to bed and it will pass, or I found that jumping in here on the forum and reading other people’s successes (or failures) helps to keep me out of the kitchen.4 -
I also find it difficult to separate the real hunger from the boredom/fake hunger. I've been trying to go have a cup of fruit or herbal tea (no milk, no sugar). It takes a while to make and drink, and give me some time to see if I'm really still hungry afterwards.1
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I also find it difficult to separate the real hunger from the boredom/fake hunger. I've been trying to go have a cup of fruit or herbal tea (no milk, no sugar). It takes a while to make and drink, and give me some time to see if I'm really still hungry afterwards.
How can you tell the difference?0 -
I also find it difficult to separate the real hunger from the boredom/fake hunger. I've been trying to go have a cup of fruit or herbal tea (no milk, no sugar). It takes a while to make and drink, and give me some time to see if I'm really still hungry afterwards.
How can you tell the difference?
She said... she has a cup of tea, which is time-consuming to make & sip on, and waits to see if the sensation passes or if she is genuinely hungry. Generally, we can be distracted from cravings with some other activity, whereas genuine hunger makes it difficult to ignore.
But as has been said, the first thing to rule out when it comes to hunger is whether a person is eating at a calorie level that is appropriate for their height, weight, and activity level.3 -
I also find it difficult to separate the real hunger from the boredom/fake hunger. I've been trying to go have a cup of fruit or herbal tea (no milk, no sugar). It takes a while to make and drink, and give me some time to see if I'm really still hungry afterwards.
How can you tell the difference?
She said... she has a cup of tea, which is time-consuming to make & sip on, and waits to see if the sensation passes or if she is genuinely hungry. Generally, we can be distracted from cravings with some other activity, whereas genuine hunger makes it difficult to ignore.
But as has been said, the first thing to rule out when it comes to hunger is whether a person is eating at a calorie level that is appropriate for their height, weight, and activity level.
Yeah, start by doing all the things suggested, and by answering the questions:
1. How much weight do you need to lose to be in a healthy weight BMI?
2. How many calories a day do you eat?
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My goal weight is still about 25 pounds higher than the recommended BMI. But I can live with that.
The app says I should be eating 1600 calories, but I seem to be averaging 2,000, except for the one day when I was starving. Hence the post.1 -
Thanks everyone. I wanted to clarify; I am on my first week, and I've gone over every day. The 67 over calorie day was the closest I've come. I've set a goal for 1lb a week. Which obviously won't happen this week. Theres no way I could continue feeling like I did that day. I dont diet, I've never dieted, so I'm not sure what do about it. Sure I'd like to loose weight, but its secondary to learning how to live a healthy lifestyle.
Are you exercising or walking a lot? if so you also need to consider eating back exercise calories (yes even if you just walk around a lot VS "work out at the gym").
how did you set the calorie goal? Maybe re-enter your stats.
another thought if if you are cutting your calories a TON overnight you may need to consier a gradual reduction. Ex: even if MFP recommends say 1300 calories per day (plus your exercise cals) to loose one poud per day, if you were say eating 2000 before that may be too big a drop all at once. In which case a slow reduction in cals is better even to "get used to it".
Also, different people feel different with different macros/ways of eating. I need volume so i eat a ton of natural raw veggies and such to "fill me". And higher protein. VS others prefer more fatty food (but less in quantity).0 -
I agree with Panini - veggies and high fiber/whole grains seem to fill me up and last longer than when I eat bread, chocolate, cookies. Even if it's the same number of calories, I seem to feel hungrier sooner. Not sure how much of this is in my mind!1
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The first couple of weeks tend to be hard. Once you start seeing some progress you will feel more motivated which helps. Myself when hunger hits I tend to look back at what I've been eating. First off you can eat whatever you want within your calories but sometimes it doesn't stick with you as well. I usually find if I've been eating too much starch (flour, sugar, potatoes, corn, flour etc) I am craving more of the same. So I cut back and try to get more fiber (usually veggies) and protein. Sugar especially sets me off. Also sometimes I find I am actually thirsty. Make sure you are getting enough liquid. I use Kool-aid sugarless drops in my water to make it more enjoyable. One other thing that seems to help is going for a walk. For some reason I am often less hungry by the time I return. Hang in there once you get into a routine it will get easier.1
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Try eating more protein, it helps me feel full. It may be a different macro which satisfies you though, for others it may be different. Experiment and see what works best for you.0
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i read yesterday that your mind/body confuses hunger/thirst/fatigue...if you get hungry drink a glas of water...if youre still hungry have a protein shake...1
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