Tips for controlling your appetite???
joowelz
Posts: 172 Member
Well, despite having bought a treadmill and jogging 5x a week for the past month, i have effectively gained weight. While my target calorie goal is 1,700 per day, i tend to go over daily and consume closer to 1,950.
How do you curb your desire to eat? Is there something you do to keep your appetite under control?
A friend suggested it’s just habit. I tend to agree with her. I have formed a habit of eating after dinner. It would be hard to eat less. I dont want to feel hungry or deprived. But i am also tired of being overweight.
How do you curb your desire to eat? Is there something you do to keep your appetite under control?
A friend suggested it’s just habit. I tend to agree with her. I have formed a habit of eating after dinner. It would be hard to eat less. I dont want to feel hungry or deprived. But i am also tired of being overweight.
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Replies
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Save calories from earlier in the day when I'm busier and less likely to want to snack, so I CAN snack later in the evening. I like working with my habits; I'm lazy.6
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In December, for a medical condition, I started eating less fat and saturated fat, and increased fiber. I love fat, but don't find it especially satiating. I found when I moved those calories to higher fiber foods, I was able to stay full on less calories. I do snack at night, but less now, plus less during the day.
Other people do find fat satiating.
Still others find eating more protein helpful.7 -
Find something else to do after dinner. I go for a little stroll after dinner and when I return I brew a pot of tea.6
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Keeping busy (I like fixing and making things myself, including making food!) and making sure I eat regular proper balanced meals for the most part, with planned snacks in between. They say the devil makes work for idle hands and in my case the "devil" shovels food in my gob if I'm not occupying myself.9
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If you are feeling genuine hunger pangs in the evening then it could be worth looking at your daily meal plans and seeing if you can add/switch in some more protein heavy options to keep you feeling full. A lot of the time though I find it's not my appetite I need to control, it's my bad habits - especially when it comes to evening snacking. I won't actually be hungry but I'll still feel the need to 'munch' on something either because it's habit, or I'm bored, stressed etc.
I think it's a lot about finding what works for you. You could try juggling your daily allowance, so you might have a lower cal breakfast/lunch, leaving more evening cals left over, combined with looking at more healthy snacking options.
Or you could look at ways to try and break the snacking habits themselves. I find distraction is the best thing, doing something that keeps either my brain or my hands busy makes me much less likely to head to the kitchen. For me, these include going for a quick walk, painting my nails, doing some sketching/doodling, trying some knitting etc. but I'm sure you can find other ideas.
Personally, I try the distraction options first and if I'm still craving something then I have a variety of fairly low cal options.4 -
Controlling this I think rely depends from person to person. What I have worked on doing is eating frequently during the day meals approx 300 calories.
Choosing foods that have a low caloric density can be helpful. You can have several bowl if veggies for the same caloric price if having a subway sandwhich.
I find smoothies are helpful, mixing fruits and veggies. You can create a large smoothie with it only being 300 calories.
I personally am a chocoholic, I love candy bars my sweet tooth it always on. One way I found to help with this is getting hard candies I can suck on. They last a lot longer than some chocolate bars and I can usually have a few for under 100 calories.
Long story short is I recommend looking at your existing diet and finding ways to hack with several minor modifications so you can eat just as much while still hitting your calorie goals. Often times it comes down to just being smart about how you substitute foods in your existing diet. It's possible to do it in such a way that over time you barely notice the difference!5 -
This is going to sound facetious, but ... learn to be hungry. It's an easily acquired skill, actually. Hunger pangs mostly pass in 10-15 minutes if you ignore them, but many of us larger folk never get to discover that truth because we reach for food as soon as we feel a little hungry. Set yourself a goal of just not eating a single molecule between meals or after dinner. Just try it out, see how it goes. You may find it is actually not very hard, and once you get a week of success under your belt with it, you'll realize how easy it is to not let hunger dominate your life.
I discovered this by happenstance when I started doing IF in May 2019. Wife and I did the noon to 8 pm thing. I can't even describe how hungry and obsessed with food I was between 8 pm and going to sleep. Then two weeks later it was all over. I now NEVER eat before noon, after 7:30 pm, or between meals. I discovered how easy it is to just be a little hungry once in a while and not respond, and my body responded by not bothering to send those hunger signals anymore - either that or I've gotten so proficient at ignoring them I don't even notice anymore.
You can try to fine-tune things with macros, or buy low-calorie snacks, there are a million things you can try to deal with this at the margins, but you could attack it head on by retraining your mind to accept and accommodate hunger pangs and ignore them. Much easier, in the end. One hard-core week of NO as in zero snacking outside meals may end up being an epiphany.17 -
Figure out what kind of food keeps you full. Are you a volume eater? Then maybe a bit pile of salad or low calorie veggies. Is it fatty food? Eat more of that. More protein? More fibre? Maybe run a diary where you not only weight and track your food but also take notes on when you get hungry again, then make variations of that to see if you feel more or less hungry.5
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protein.. hard boiled egg whites.. water packed tuna.. baked chicken breast... lean beef.. all work great for me. .
coffee.. curbs my appetite
taking notes of foods I've eaten that lead to cravings and leave me hungry right after eating.5 -
Caffeine.4
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I do best when I eat several small snack/meals spread out between breakfast and lunch, then a larger dinner. And drink a glass of water. Just happened to me yesterday where I was feeling really hungry for lunch around 9am, so I drank some water instead of reaching for another snack. Bam, hunger disappeared until actual lunch time. Of course, that only works if I'm not actually ready for food but it's a good indicator.
And yes, it sounds like you're not hungry after dinner, but used to the habit. You can either embrace it and save a few extra calories for that late night snack, or fight it by giving yourself a different habit (go for a short walk, meditate, check facebook, whatever will distract you really).2 -
Save some calories for a night time snack.
A lot of night time eating can be purely habit or boredom I find - last summer I started using IF (16:8) to keep my calories in check - I've gotten used to not eating anything at all after 7pm apart from drinking tea or water. It wasn't easy for the first few weeks but now I don't even think of snacking I'm so used to it. It made me realize a lot of my eating was out of habit rather than because I was actually hungry.3 -
Here's what I said in your other thread:cmriverside wrote: »How did you come up with 1600?
I ate at about that level and lost about 50 pounds from 190 to 140...but I'm female, 5'7" and was in my fifties and retired when I did that. PLUS I ate 300-500 more calories on the FIVE days a week I exercised.
And yeah, hunger is involved in weight loss. It's a lot easier if I get some exercise at least five days a week...1900-2000 calories is a lot easier and that's what I ate when I got an hour exercise.
I also had to cut back on things that were higher calorie and carbs like wheat and sugar. I limited myself to one serving per day of things like bread or pasta. I stopped eating any other wheat-based things because they are hard to stop eating and left me wanting more AND that's what I was eating mostly. Cereal. Waffles. Crackers and cheese. Toast. Pretzels...the list is long. I just limited myself to two slices of bread OR one serving of pasta. That's all I could really "afford" on lowered calories.
They have little nutritional value and are high calorie and leave me wanting more/still hungry.
I ate a lot more vegetables and lean protein. High volume, good nutrition and that's what I needed.
I didn't reset my macros nor try to eat lower carb, but that's the way I ended up in order to stay within calories and get enough protein and fat. I ended up (on 1600 calories) at about 100-125g carbs a day. Probably 60ish-75 grams fat or more, the rest protein. That's where I found a comfortable area of satiety that I could stick to.
But yeah, hunger is part of weight loss unless you do a lot of exercise...which can be its own little problem.
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A couple of things to unpack here..
First, as everyone said above, if you can make smaller meals or meals that are less calorie dense during the day, you can save more room for calories in the evenings.
It also helps to find what is satiating to you. Are you a volume eater? For very few calories, I can eat something and warm up and entire bag of steamed broccoli to go with my meal. It has very few calories, but since we also eat with our eyes, it's visually satisfying. If I add a serving of lowfat cottage cheese in, too, I get even more and it's a nice extra hit of protein as a low calorie side! Despite what people are saying above, I honestly never can recall having to sit around and be hungry while losing weight. Usually that "hunger" was mental.
That leads me to the next point..think about why you are wanting to eat so much in the evenings. What is the true reason for the snacking? Are you truly hungry, or is something else? Do you sit around and think about things in the evening, for instance, and find yourself emotional eating for comfort? Are you eating because it's there and something to do? Eating out of boredom is definitely a thing, especially moreso now since people have been confined at home for long periods of time. Is it an ingrained habit to snack while watching TV? If you can nail down the reason, and it's something other than hunger, then you can act accordingly to address the issue. Maybe you just need a hobby or something to distract you in the evenings, or strategies for breaking a TV habit. I've learned that if lay on the couch to watch TV, my cats will both pile on me and fall asleep. They're so peaceful that I'd feel guilty waking them up, so thats pretty effective as a snacking deterrent for me. 😂🥰4 -
Accepting that part of it is mental is a big part of it, I think.
For the last couple of weeks I allowed myself to get into a routine of eating much more than I needed. I 'felt' like I needed that amount. Yet yesterday, I had a dental appointment in morning. I don't eat/drink before the dental appointment - and it so it was 9:30 before I had anything. I didn't feel hungry - because I had a reason to not eat earlier. And then my mouth was a little tender, so I started with a 140 cal/30g protein 'shake', followed a little later by a light lunch of chicken noodle soup (150 cals) and a normal dinner.
If you know you like to eat in the evening, plan some calories for then. And perhaps don't eat in the morning. Unlearn the hype that breakfast is the 'most important meal'. If you don't want much for breakfast, that is one way to save calories.3 -
I have a schedule, and I eat to that schedule. To figure out the schedule, decide when you want to eat (I realized snacking is unhelpful for me and tend to make me feel unsatisfied, so I decided I would eat only at meals, but then I get larger meals). If evening snacking is important to you, save cals for an evening snack.
Much of the time when I was losing, I ate at 7 (right after working out), noon, and then around 9, since I worked to at least 7 every day, had a 45+ min commute, and then had to cook. I would often get snacky at work around 4-5, but I would remind myself of my delicious planned dinner and that it wasn't that far away (and maybe have some herbal tea if I really wanted something), and it was fine. I don't think a few hours of anticipating a meal is actually a big deal, so long as you know the meal will be satisfying.3 -
Often times when we feel the urge to eat, your friend is correct, tis out of habit or something emotional. Eg. If you saw your parents eating after dinner, perhaps this could be the reason why you like to eat after dinner. You can trace this habit by asking your self question???
When humans r hungry, oft-times, tis not food they crave but water 💦 I believe we confuse water thirst for food hunger coz mass media is constantly feeding us food images
When you rise in the AM, chug a few glasses of H2O, drink H2O during the day and before a meal. We are ~ 60% H2O, the brain & heart are ~ 73% water, and the lungs ~ 83% water.
If you feel the urge to eat after dinner, tis a habit which you can change. To change a habit requires 3 parts and the routine can be changed:
CUE: feel like eating after dinner
ROUTINE: eat after dinner
REWARD: feel great 🥳
You don’t want to deprive your self coz fighting against Will Power is a losing battle, therefore change your routine:
Eg.
1. Walk after dinner with a friend
2. Do something you love 💕 to trigger a dopamine rush
3. I personally drink Mint Tea after dinner as it’s soothing and has a digestive effect
4. What can you do to change your routine?
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I play Animal Crossing NH to take my mind off it!1
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I’m rarely if ever hungry .... but regarding appetite - I can eat anytime. Being home more since the pandemic — I’ve had to find ways to stop browsing the fridge lol
So I drink more water or tea and keep telling myself .. I’m not hungry. I just like to eat. Being mindful of why I am doing it has helped as well.
Ps - I do also agree it has a lot to do with habit.1 -
Sometimes it is habit...at least it is for me, I like to eat in the evenings. Sometimes I find that if I haven't had enough protein early in the day I'm much hungrier later in the day, especially if I've had a good work out. Try a protein shake during the day - relatively low calorie and it keeps me from craving food later.
Have you looked at the ratio of carbs/protein/fats? Everyone is different in what ratio works for them but that information could provide some insight for you (e.g. hungrier on days when you a higher percentage of carbs).
Finally, while I'm trying to lose 10% of my body weight, I try to remember it's not all about the scale. Is your body changing - is it more toned and do you look and feel better?1 -
I always save "sweets" to eat after dinner to wind down, but they are super low calorie. After dinner and my dessert, I will have 6 pieces of sugarless gum (the Orbit chicklet type) which is 15 calories and then I have an herbal tea with a pack of Splenda in it (I count the Splenda as 4 calories). If it's during the day I might have a can of diet soda which I don't always have, or sugarless gum. These help.3
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Much like puppy above me, I'll use a flavored tea (earl grey, or if it's night time I'll do a decaf like sleepy time or other herbal), but also sugar free jello ♡ It feels like you're eating sweets at 10 calories a cup! Fulfills my sweet tooth and nearly 100% guilt free.3
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iFartMagic wrote: »Much like puppy above me, I'll use a flavored tea (earl grey, or if it's night time I'll do a decaf like sleepy time or other herbal), but also sugar free jello ♡ It feels like you're eating sweets at 10 calories a cup! Fulfills my sweet tooth and nearly 100% guilt free.
Yes! I will have a sugar free jello as an extra sweet treat at the end of the day a lot. Those 10 calories go a long way mentally!1 -
Sometimes it is habit...at least it is for me, I like to eat in the evenings. Sometimes I find that if I haven't had enough protein early in the day I'm much hungrier later in the day, especially if I've had a good work out. Try a protein shake during the day - relatively low calorie and it keeps me from craving food later.
Have you looked at the ratio of carbs/protein/fats? Everyone is different in what ratio works for them but that information could provide some insight for you (e.g. hungrier on days when you a higher percentage of carbs).
Finally, while I'm trying to lose 10% of my body weight, I try to remember it's not all about the scale. Is your body changing - is it more toned and do you look and feel better?
Thanks! This is very true for me too. The last three i have significantly upped my protein intake and have been able to comfortably stay under 1640 calories. Problem is it is monotonous and i dont always feel like eating animal flesh, even though it does help satiate me.0 -
Sometimes it is habit...at least it is for me, I like to eat in the evenings. Sometimes I find that if I haven't had enough protein early in the day I'm much hungrier later in the day, especially if I've had a good work out. Try a protein shake during the day - relatively low calorie and it keeps me from craving food later.
Have you looked at the ratio of carbs/protein/fats? Everyone is different in what ratio works for them but that information could provide some insight for you (e.g. hungrier on days when you a higher percentage of carbs).
Finally, while I'm trying to lose 10% of my body weight, I try to remember it's not all about the scale. Is your body changing - is it more toned and do you look and feel better?
Thanks! This is very true for me too. The last three i have significantly upped my protein intake and have been able to comfortably stay under 1640 calories. Problem is it is monotonous and i dont always feel like eating animal flesh, even though it does help satiate me.
Greek yogurt
Cottage cheese (particularly good culture - 19 grams per 5.5 ounces)
Protein oatmeal (Kodiak cakes)
Eggs/egg whites
I don't like most meat. There are other things.4 -
wunderkindking wrote: »Sometimes it is habit...at least it is for me, I like to eat in the evenings. Sometimes I find that if I haven't had enough protein early in the day I'm much hungrier later in the day, especially if I've had a good work out. Try a protein shake during the day - relatively low calorie and it keeps me from craving food later.
Have you looked at the ratio of carbs/protein/fats? Everyone is different in what ratio works for them but that information could provide some insight for you (e.g. hungrier on days when you a higher percentage of carbs).
Finally, while I'm trying to lose 10% of my body weight, I try to remember it's not all about the scale. Is your body changing - is it more toned and do you look and feel better?
Thanks! This is very true for me too. The last three i have significantly upped my protein intake and have been able to comfortably stay under 1640 calories. Problem is it is monotonous and i dont always feel like eating animal flesh, even though it does help satiate me.
Greek yogurt
Cottage cheese (particularly good culture - 19 grams per 5.5 ounces)
Protein oatmeal (Kodiak cakes)
Eggs/egg whites
I don't like most meat. There are other things.
^^This, along with tofu, beans,and some grains like quinoa, and protein bars/cookie butters.
I'm not completely vegetarian, but I'd say I'm about 95% there. Protein doesn't necessarily have to equal meat.
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