Counting calories & hungry

laura16cir
laura16cir Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I feel like whenever I eat the amount of calories that should fill me up, I'm still hungry. Is it just out of habit? Does anyone else relate to this?

Replies

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    If you are using a food scale to weigh your food, logging accurately, and notice this, it may be due to several things.

    1. Is your weekly weight loss target too ambitious? What is your target and how much do you weigh? A target more than 1% of your body weight is too ambitious.
    2. Is your dietary intake itself unable to satiate you?


    How long have you been logging?
  • witchaywoman81
    witchaywoman81 Posts: 280 Member
    laura16cir wrote: »
    I feel like whenever I eat the amount of calories that should fill me up, I'm still hungry. Is it just out of habit? Does anyone else relate to this?

    How much do you weigh, how much do you have to lose, and what did you pick as the number to lose each week? It’s more than possible you’ve chosen too steep of a deficit and would have an easier time losing if you let yourself eat a bit more.
  • jasonpoihegatama
    jasonpoihegatama Posts: 496 Member
    laura16cir wrote: »
    I feel like whenever I eat the amount of calories that should fill me up, I'm still hungry. Is it just out of habit? Does anyone else relate to this?

    If you had been consuming 3000 cals and you now consuming 2200 cals most likely you will feel hungry due to habit. Maybe you can take your calorie intake down slow 3000 - 2700 - 2500 -2200 ?
  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
    elliebath52 wrote: »
    Re assess your calorie allowance on a different BMI calorie calculator as the one on mfp is very stingy and too low at the beginning.

    In the UK the best bmi checker is the national health service "NHS Bmi Calculator".

    https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/

    Start eating towards the top of your recommended calorie range and reduce as you go. In my case I had 30 lbs to lose and was able to start on 1700 cals for 1-2 lbs steady loss. As I got smaller I reduced to 1500 /1400/1300. If we start off too low we just plateau and give up..

    You should not feel hungry especially if you increase the healthy fats like cream ,greek yoghurt, cheese , eggs but reduce carbs. It really does work I and many of us have proved it. I lost 33 lbs in 1 year and have since maintained for 3 years. ( My nephew did the same lost 108 lbs and maintained 2 yrs now.)
    You can too. Best wishes.

    The calorie goal MFP spits out is based on a different model than most other calculators. It is based on NEAT, which is your base, non-exercise calorie expenditure and then you add exercise in.

    You aren't going to plateau from eating too few calories. You lose too fast from eating too few calories.

    If lowering carbs and increasing fat works for you that is great. Some people do not find fat satiating at all. It's all very individual.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,228 Member
    laura16cir wrote: »
    I feel like whenever I eat the amount of calories that should fill me up, I'm still hungry. Is it just out of habit? Does anyone else relate to this?

    As part of starting a weight-loss routine, many people find they need to experiment with what they're eating, and when they're eating it, to find the best satiation. Different people find different things filling, and different eating schedules satisfying.

    Use your food diary: Notice days when you feel more hungry, or less hungry than usual, and think about what may've made the difference. Hunger/cravings could be food, but it could also be boredom, stress, lack of sleep, social triggers, emotional triggers, hydration, habit, or other non-food factors. If the problem isn't food, food isn't the solution.

    If it is a food issue, see what you learn from your experiences, and experiment. Some common things that some people find filling are protein foods (meat, dairy, fish, etc.), fats (nuts, cheese, oils, etc.), volume foods (usually high fiber/low cal veggies, but there are others). For some people, individual foods make a difference, this varies greatly, but sometimes these are complex carbs such as oatmeal, baked potatoes, or whole grains. It's not universal, but some people find it hard to feel full if their eating is mostly highly-processed, not very nutrient-dense foods.

    Based on reading here, some people find a certain level of hunger to be a routine part of weight loss. Some people don't find that true at all. I'm in the latter camp: After a couple of weeks of adaptation at the start, when I was also getting my personal satiation dialed in, I was rarely hungry during many months of losing weight, and if I was, it was usually getting close to meal time, so not a big deal. On the truly rare occasion when it wasn't almost meal time (if I was out running errands and it would be a while until I got home to eat later than usual, say), I would fit in a small snack of something satiating. That would tide me over fine.
  • Salixiana
    Salixiana Posts: 37 Member
    I expect and tolerate a certain amount of hunger while eating at a deficit -- and I eat lots of fat, protein, and nutrient-dense foods.

    It appears that some people don't feel hungry while losing weight, but that's probably just individual physiology.

    It makes sense: Your body doesn't know that you're only going to eat at a deficit until you reach your goal weight. If you maintained the same percentage of deficit forever, you'd starve to death. So of course our bodies prod us a bit while we're in weight loss mode.

    I try to think of (mild) hunger as evidence that I'm doing the right thing.

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