How can I eat less naturally?
lilharumaki
Posts: 112 Member
Hi guys!! Sailor Moon is so relatable lol, it’s been very hard so far but I just have to keep on going!!
My calorie goal is currently at 1450, but I am finding it SO hard not to go over... especially because yesterday my roomies made me cake for my birthday and I went over, and today I ate dinner but my roomie shared his Korean food with me and I went over again. >.> Is there a way I can naturally suppress my appetite so I can eat less and feel full? I feel like I’m always hungry. Thank you!
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Replies
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Try some low calorie dense foods. They will fill you up and keep you full longer. Black coffee can help suppress hunger. Sugar triggers hunger as well. Don't drink calories. Liquids don't fill you up as much as actual food. My meals are less than 500 calories with a lot of veggies to keep me full. I eat 1600 calories per day and the only time I really get hungry is at dinner time. I also run 5 miles per day and that is way more food than I can eat sometimes. Good luck!7
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Thank you so much!! Great advice
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Are you exercising at all? If you aren’t you should start something simple, then eat your exercise calories back.
Also, special occasions are hard so you can go a smidge over and forgive yourself. The problem is when you are going over more days than not for “reasons”.6 -
Are you exercising at all? If you aren’t you should start something simple, then eat your exercise calories back.
Also, special occasions are hard so you can go a smidge over and forgive yourself. The problem is when you are going over more days than not for “reasons”.
Thank you!! Yes, I train in martial arts or cross train about 3-4x per week. I’m on my feet a lot too because I’m a med student doing my clinicals!!1 -
Learn to say no thanks, if you are offered something you don't want.
But how to get more food quantity? More vegetables, lean meat and smaller portions of higher calorie foods.7 -
lilmakiroll wrote: »Are you exercising at all? If you aren’t you should start something simple, then eat your exercise calories back.
Also, special occasions are hard so you can go a smidge over and forgive yourself. The problem is when you are going over more days than not for “reasons”.
Thank you!! Yes, I train in martial arts or cross train about 3-4x per week. I’m on my feet a lot too because I’m a med student doing my clinicals!!
What is your height, weight, and age? For most people with a job on their doing regular vigorous exercise, 1450 is far too little.6 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »lilmakiroll wrote: »Are you exercising at all? If you aren’t you should start something simple, then eat your exercise calories back.
Also, special occasions are hard so you can go a smidge over and forgive yourself. The problem is when you are going over more days than not for “reasons”.
Thank you!! Yes, I train in martial arts or cross train about 3-4x per week. I’m on my feet a lot too because I’m a med student doing my clinicals!!
What is your height, weight, and age? For most people with a job on their doing regular vigorous exercise, 1450 is far too little.
I am short, 5’1, and ~158. I am 25!0 -
Sounds like you're not eating back those exercise calories. Consider eating back at least half of them, unless you've marked your activity as 'very active.'6
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Mithridites wrote: »Sounds like you're not eating back those exercise calories. Consider eating back at least half of them, unless you've marked your activity as 'very active.'
Thank you!! I’ll keep this in mind!0 -
Veggies help you feel full and protein helps you feel satiated.0
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Maybe the reason you can't stick with 1450 is that it's too low, especially if you aren't eating back any exercise calories.6
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1450 NET sounds about right to me.
I don't think it is too low.
I am 3 in taller than OP, And was same starting weight.
Admittedly older but that wouldn't change the equation by that much.
And MFP had me on 1460 to lose 1/2 lb per week as lightly active.
I found this did equate to the weight loss rate predicted.4 -
Search for the Volume Eaters thread. It’s full of suggestions for filling, large plates of food. It was very helpful to me.
For me, lots of protein is filling. Chicken breast, pork tenderloin, tuna are all “calorie cheap” protein. Last night I ate a pound of boiled shrimp, at well under 400 calories. (Woot!)
Others report fats fill them up.
You have to experiment with what works for you.
Sometimes, what you identify as hunger pangs is actually dehydration. Drinking a glass of water can relieve that gnawy feeling.
I learned quickly I can’t keep junk food in the house. My husband was wonderful about hiding his until I learned to control myself (and you will, eventually). He also buys snacks I’m totally uninterested in.
Train yourself to accept fewer and smaller treats, and learn to love replacement treats (fruit, popcorn, yogurt). After a while you’ll look forward to them. For me, cutting out the shite-ton of sugar I ate every day was like a palate cleanser. Other foods that I thought were bland and unexciting became delicious.
I had to give up my sniffy ideas about sugar-free foods being bad for me. I mean, which was worse for me? The thousands of calories of junk food I devoured every day or a few grams of sugar free syrups or pudding mix?
Learn to shop the perimeter of the grocery store. I seldom go down an aisle these days, unless it’s to pick up a staple.
Talk with your roommate and tell them you’d appreciate their support. There’s ways to bake a cake and cut the calories tremendously, btw.
And most of all, learn patience, adopt openness to learn things you probably aren’t in med school, and give yourself the grace to screw it up once in a while and know the sky hasn’t fallen.5 -
And BTW, “naturally” ain’t gonna happen. Naturally is what got every last MFP’er to where we were when we registered here in (dare I say it?) desperation.
Your new mantra needs to be “consider the food, then weigh and log”.15 -
I don’t think anyone else can tell you how to do it. We can tell you how we do it, and you can try what you think will work for you. It comes down to how much you really want it. For me, it’s not letting one overindulgence become a daily issue. Most people will have lapses, and that’s ok. We just have to try to limit the bumps.
BTW, hope you had a happy birthday 🎂3 -
missysippy930 wrote: »I don’t think anyone else can tell you how to do it. We can tell you how we do it, and you can try what you think will work for you. It comes down to how much you really want it. For me, it’s not letting one overindulgence become a daily issue. Most people will have lapses, and that’s ok. We just have to try to limit the bumps.
BTW, hope you had a happy birthday 🎂
Thank you so much, it was a very happy one and I am looking forward to what 25 has to bring for me!! I appreciate all the advice, I’m going to try to take it in stride and use it. I might also seek the help of a nutritionist or therapist because I have a long-standing history of body dysmorphic disorder and I used to abuse laxatives for weight loss, so I am a bit scared of falling back into those pitfalls. I am doing much better now so I am excited to give weight loss a try again! I feel like I have been around this weight for 10 years, it’s where I usually naturally end up, but I have always dreamed of being thinner so I am going to try to make it a reality!7 -
If your'e trying to shrink how much you eat in a meal, I'd recommend eating slower, and setting down the fork every once in a while to take a sip of water, it really helps to allow your body to actually digest the food and let you know when you've eaten enough. Like the other people in this conversation said, it's better to eat foods like fruits and vegetables since they have low calories but will still fill you up.
I'm also addicted to eating ice too so that's what I do when I get hungry.2 -
jungkooksdonut17 wrote: »If your'e trying to shrink how much you eat in a meal, I'd recommend eating slower, and setting down the fork every once in a while to take a sip of water, it really helps to allow your body to actually digest the food and let you know when you've eaten enough. Like the other people in this conversation said, it's better to eat foods like fruits and vegetables since they have low calories but will still fill you up.
I'm also addicted to eating ice too so that's what I do when I get hungry.
Omg I also love eating ice, I always have since I was a kid 😂0 -
I will fail EVERY TIME if i try to remove the foods I love. I use portion control to still eat my pizza and cookies and ice cream when I want them. I also exercise more so that I can eat more. Whatever works for you to consume fewer calories than needed will result in weight loss.6
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A belated Happy Birthday!
If you can, try using smaller plates. It's psychological, but helps.
As alluded to above, it may be worth re-looking at your Guided Set Up under Goals.
Is your activity level accurate for your day-to-day activity?
Are you logging your deliberate exercise on top of that? (you should be, and you should also be eating a fair percentage of those calories too, which is why they get added on to your goal numbers per day)
What rate of loss do you have set? If it's 2lb a week, perhaps consider reducing the rate of loss to something more manageable that will give you a little more to eat each day.
You're far more likely to stick to the weight loss, long term, if it's sustainable.
Something else that may also help is looking at the weekly average figures via the app. One or two days, a little over your daily goal, may actually not be such a big impact when spread over the week. Many of us use this as an indicator of how we're doing. Although I try to eat to my goals each day, some will be under and some will be over - but my weekly average is usually pretty close to where I want it to be.2 -
Hunt for you own food. Guaranteed you eat less naturally.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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You know the problem with eating less naturally, it lacks any real direction. People need direction and a road map to get where they're going. That's what MFP is all about for me.
The ability to just listen to your body is another superpower. It's all very vague if you don't know how to go about it.
Be mindful. Intuitive Eating. Just follow your hunger cues. All of these lack any real direction.
There are people who need to be coaxed and encouraged to eat but that's a completely different thing. Those working on a major weight loss goal need some real direction.
Do you know how many people are still standing, maintaining their dream weight at the 5 year mark, the percentages are slim. I'm not going to tell you because there's no sense in raining on anyone's parade.
If weight struggles have been dogging you around for a decade or more, you need direction. They don't go away when to get to the other side of all of this. The focus and consistency that got you there must remain the same to keep you there.
The first time. I crashed and burned.
You know why. Because I believed all of that happy horsesheet that counting calories and the scale doesn't matter. This is only true for people who've never had any weight issues in their entire lifetime. Some of those people might even fall in with those that need to be reminded to eat. Ooo, you always have to look closely behind the curtain.
I ate it all back the first time with intuitive eating and following my hunger cues. They led me astray and I returned to the scene of every eating excursion I'd ever been on. I was like a squirrel that remembered where every pine cone was stored. I intuitively knew where to go but it got me nowhere good.
I had to start all over. Been maintaining now for 1.5 years and I'm still following directions. My hunger cues still don't care about my dream weight. I lost touch with my hunger cues the minute I started that first diet. I might've been a contender for weight maintenance had I not started down that road in the first place.
Don't start none. Won't be none.7 -
Looks like ya gotta throw your roommate into mount doom. Seems like the source really.3
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Looks like ya gotta throw your roommate into mount doom. Seems like the source really.
Not sure if this is supposed to be a joke.
But her roommate offering her some Korean food and making a cake for her birthday is not the source - we all face variations on that and need to learn how to say No and/or to have small portions that fit into our calorie allowance.
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Right, so I've looked at your diary before, I've looked at your previous posts and I'm going to be a little bit brutish here than I was last time.
No one is going to lose the weight for you. It's not your roomate's fault you ate some of their food. It's not your friends' fault you ate too much cake. It's yours. Take responsibility for your mouth.
Now, your calorie goal is massively unrealistic. You're going over by around 500-700kcals almost every day. There's no point setting a goal if you're not even close to hitting it. Be less aggressive with your goals and then hit them. Looking over your days it looks like classic binge and restrict cycle.
Looking back at your diary further, your baseline calorie goal seems to change almost every single week, why is that? (yes I am accounting for added exercise). Even with it up and down all over the place you hit your target most days. Now you're just all over the place. Were you hungry every day then? I mean, your logging isn't very good at all (sorry harsh truth), so I'm assuming you weren't losing weight and decided to cut it further, but there's no point cutting it further if you're not going to stick to it.
You want to feel fuller? Most people find vegetables and fibre filling. Your diary is full of sandwiches and bagles, buns and baked good, but there's so little actual vegetables in it. I don't mean a pre-prepared salad, I mean actual vegetables; carrots, broccoli, peas, corn, asparagus, green beans, cabbage, peppers, onions etc. Vegetables are bulky, and generally have a low calorie density.11 -
Right, so I've looked at your diary before, I've looked at your previous posts and I'm going to be a little bit brutish here than I was last time.
No one is going to lose the weight for you. It's not your roomate's fault you ate some of their food. It's not your friends' fault you ate too much cake. It's yours. Take responsibility for your mouth.
Now, your calorie goal is massively unrealistic. You're going over by around 500-700kcals almost every day. There's no point setting a goal if you're not even close to hitting it. Be less aggressive with your goals and then hit them. Looking over your days it looks like classic binge and restrict cycle.
Looking back at your diary further, your baseline calorie goal seems to change almost every single week, why is that? (yes I am accounting for added exercise). Even with it up and down all over the place you hit your target most days. Now you're just all over the place. Were you hungry every day then? I mean, your logging isn't very good at all (sorry harsh truth), so I'm assuming you weren't losing weight and decided to cut it further, but there's no point cutting it further if you're not going to stick to it.
You want to feel fuller? Most people find vegetables and fibre filling. Your diary is full of sandwiches and bagles, buns and baked good, but there's so little actual vegetables in it. I don't mean a pre-prepared salad, I mean actual vegetables; carrots, broccoli, peas, corn, asparagus, green beans, cabbage, peppers, onions etc. Vegetables are bulky, and generally have a low calorie density.
To be fair, if the OP hates vegetables, that won’t work for them. There are VERY few veggies that I eat, but I try to add them in (at least during the work week) to help with my nervous eating habits.
That said, you can have all the baked goods you want IF you stay within a deficit. I know I don’t have 6 hrs a day in which to burn enough calories to be able to eat all the baked goods that I want though, so I’m assuming the OP doesn’t either.
Yes, it is personal responsibility and yes, only YOU can control what YOU eat. Personally, I struggle with the veggies as I eat like a 5 year old... SO I need to find some workarounds in order to stick to a calorie deficit.
I am super envious of the people who actually enjoy eating veggies and wish I could be more like them. 😊4 -
Dogmom1978 wrote: »
I am super envious of the people who actually enjoy eating veggies and wish I could be more like them. 😊
Just want to let you know that I went from eating zero vegetables (like, picking onion and tomato pieces of out bolognese) to being a vegetable loving vegetarian (I don’t eat pretend-meat products but do eat things like tofu and seitan) over the last 12 years.
It is possible to learn to love veggies, but it’s something I had to commit to and make a priority. I didn’t just wake up one morning and not gag at the thought of a raw tomato (I still only eat that in specific conditions).
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Wow what a loaded question here. As previously mentioned, find meals you love that are loaded with veggies. I personally do well with chilis, sheet pan dinners, and wraps where the wrap is collard greens
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@Diatonic12
>>>> I was like a squirrel that remembered where every pine cone was stored.<<<
😂😂😂😂
The mental image makes me laugh maniacally. Ain’t that the truth!5 -
Right, so I've looked at your diary before, I've looked at your previous posts and I'm going to be a little bit brutish here than I was last time.
No one is going to lose the weight for you. It's not your roomate's fault you ate some of their food. It's not your friends' fault you ate too much cake. It's yours. Take responsibility for your mouth.
Now, your calorie goal is massively unrealistic. You're going over by around 500-700kcals almost every day. There's no point setting a goal if you're not even close to hitting it. Be less aggressive with your goals and then hit them. Looking over your days it looks like classic binge and restrict cycle.
Looking back at your diary further, your baseline calorie goal seems to change almost every single week, why is that? (yes I am accounting for added exercise). Even with it up and down all over the place you hit your target most days. Now you're just all over the place. Were you hungry every day then? I mean, your logging isn't very good at all (sorry harsh truth), so I'm assuming you weren't losing weight and decided to cut it further, but there's no point cutting it further if you're not going to stick to it.
You want to feel fuller? Most people find vegetables and fibre filling. Your diary is full of sandwiches and bagles, buns and baked good, but there's so little actual vegetables in it. I don't mean a pre-prepared salad, I mean actual vegetables; carrots, broccoli, peas, corn, asparagus, green beans, cabbage, peppers, onions etc. Vegetables are bulky, and generally have a low calorie density.
I apologize with the roommate part in my original post- I wasn’t trying to say it was their fault. I know that ultimately what I eat is my responsibility. I was just bringing up what had happened the last two days to inspire me making this post.
And I know my logging hasn’t been very good or consistent thus far. I am new at this, and it has been a struggle. I have also been so busy with medical school that I have gotten lazy on pre-preparing my meals and often buy things while at work, so I need to get better at that too.
I do like vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, and kale. It’s more I guess a battle of making sure I have these available to me so that I can make better choices when I am at work and when I come home.
I’m sorry if I angered you in any way, but I appreciate you taking the time to answer post. I know that I’m not very good at this yet. I am trying to undo years of disordered eating and I am doing the best I can, and that’s all I can do.9
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