Still hungry?....
mrBLOB84
Posts: 33 Member
Anyone else staying within there calorie count but still extremely hungry? I feel as if I am famished all the time/day? Any tips on how to control this?
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Replies
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Eat. (?)
Male? Female?
How many calories a day are you eating? How much weight do you need to lose to get into a healthy weight range?
Are you eating plenty of vegetables and protein? Hitting your protein, fat, and fiber Goals?7 -
Protein absolutely, vegetables not so good, fat and fiber are on point0
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300 lbs shooting for around 250 lbs 36 m. Protein shake for breakfast, 1 sandwich for lunch and usually chicken of some sort for dinner....1
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Around 2,250 calories for the day0
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A shake for breakfast is something that did not work for me. Eat something more filling for breakfast.8
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Is your weight loss reflecting 2250 intake, faster, or slower? Sounds like you're aiming for 2lbs a week? How tall are you? Is 250 within normal weight range for you in which case your deficit is (too) aggressive, or just a first goal to see how things go in which case it may be more appropriate.
Are you eating enough veggies, fruits... filler items?
While I will now eat the occasional sandwich, when I first started to count calories during weight loss, at that time, I didn't find sandwiches particularly filling for me. So there might be done optimization you can do by evaluating the food you ate vs the calories vs how satisfied and satiated you ended up.
That said, if you are losing at 2lbs a week or faster, I would first look at the appropriateness of your deficit size5 -
Yesterday I felt so hungry leading up to dinner, I knew I'd blow it if I wasn't careful. Since I'd eaten eggs at breakfast, I ended up making oatmeal for supper, (1 c dry = 300 cal), sweetened it with 1/2 apple finely minced, and some brown sugar. All under 500 calories. I had to force myself to eat all of it because it was a lot and it is filling. I wasn't hungry again until today at lunch time. My mom used to swear that a bowl of oats would stick to the ribs and shut off hunger, maybe she was right.8
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How long have you been doing this? If you’re used to overeating, eating at a deficit can be pretty grim for a while. In my experience it gets better after the first few weeks.
It helps to have some very low calorie snacks for those times when you are out of calories but just need to eat something. I like black coffee with vanilla extract, sliced and salted radishes, green salads with a dash of lemon juice, and pickles. For sweet cravings I have just a little block of very good quality dark chocolate.
Another trick is to go work out for a bit, then have a more substantial snack.
If nothing helps, try lowering your deficit for a while. Even eating at maintenance is better than losing it because you can’t handle being hungry all the time.10 -
I plan my calories for 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, because I know I need to eat every few hours or I’ll get hungry. I try to supplement meals and snacks with vegetables as much as I can bc it adds volume to a meal, and I am a volume eater, but just knowing I have a snack coming up on the horizon helps.
Otherwise, diet soda, pickles, kimchi, coffee with 1oz milk and sugar free chocolate torani syrup, sugar free jello - I have my “under 15 calorie” snacks just in case I still feel hungry.5 -
Thanks for the tips and Suggestions everyone. Helpful stuff. Thanks again everyone who had imput!2
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Thanks for the tips and Suggestions everyone. Helpful stuff. Thanks again everyone who had imput!
What kind of sandwich? If all you are eating is a shake a sandwich and a chicken dish for so many calories it must be very small volume. You could be eating a lot more if you switch to lower calorie high volume foods and feel MUCH fuller. That is what works for me. If you could open your diary we would get a better idea of what you are actually eating and give more suggestions.5 -
Have you started recently? If so it can take a while to adjust to eating less than you're used to, especially if you were overeating before.
Also though, it does depend what you're actually eating and what your calories are set to. Some people have them set too low thinking that will help them lose weight faster, but then it's impossible to stick to and so they don't.
For a sedentary woman the absolute minimum should be around 1200-1300 and for a man no less than 1500-1600.
1200 is actually very hard to stick to though. I'm female, lightly active, and have mine set on 1500. I lose weight pretty consistently on that without feeling too hungry.
Eating more protein also helps you stay full and foods which are high in volume but low in calories (like grapes, carrot sticks with houmous, etc). They fill your stomach without taking up a load of your calorie allowance.0 -
One more tip -
If you think about it, even if you're eating just a tiny bit less than you were before, that's an improvement and you might see some loss.
How many calories do you think you were having per day before you started this?
Say it was 3,000 and you say you're currently set to 2,250. Try increasing it to 2,500 whilst your body gets used to this. It will be a gentler transition and you will still probably lose weight because it's less than you were eating previously. Just do it gradually like that and don't be too harsh with yourself.3 -
Protein absolutely, vegetables not so good, fat and fiber are on point300 lbs shooting for around 250 lbs 36 m. Protein shake for breakfast, 1 sandwich for lunch and usually chicken of some sort for dinner....Around 2,250 calories for the day
Something here doesn’t quite add up for me, anyway. You’ve said your fibre is ‘on point’ but you also say you probably don’t eat enough vegetables and from your, admittedly vague, description of your meals I don’t see where the fibre is coming from? Fibre is one of the things that will help keep you full for longer.7 -
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Is your weight loss reflecting 2250 intake, faster, or slower? Sounds like you're aiming for 2lbs a week? How tall are you? Is 250 within normal weight range for you in which case your deficit is (too) aggressive, or just a first goal to see how things go in which case it may be more appropriate.
Are you eating enough veggies, fruits... filler items?
While I will now eat the occasional sandwich, when I first started to count calories during weight loss, at that time, I didn't find sandwiches particularly filling for me. So there might be done optimization you can do by evaluating the food you ate vs the calories vs how satisfied and satiated you ended up.
That said, if you are losing at 2lbs a week or faster, I would first look at the appropriateness of your deficit size
For someone to in the overweight range at 250 lbs they have to be 6'5" or more. Now if someone is extremely well muscled they could be fine on bodyfat at 250 lbs but we are talking NFL linebacker well muscled.
Without further information, 2 pounds a week is fine for someone at 300 pounds.0 -
calorie counting is hard when you are just starting out. i experienced strong cravings and general laziness on my first MONTH of calorie counting. but i kept at it. when i finally got used to it, i added workouts and decreased calories. sometimes you are just thirsty. drink a glass or two of water and wait 10 to 20 minutes to kick in. usually the hungry/thirsty signs stop also spread out your calories throughout the day. i dont crave anymore, but i find it easier to work through the day if i spread my calories out. i have 3 meals and i snack between those meals. helped with the cravings before, helps with my stamina now.3
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gionrogado wrote: »calorie counting is hard when you are just starting out. i experienced strong cravings and general laziness on my first MONTH of calorie counting. but i kept at it. when i finally got used to it, i added workouts and decreased calories. sometimes you are just thirsty. drink a glass or two of water and wait 10 to 20 minutes to kick in. usually the hungry/thirsty signs stop also spread out your calories throughout the day. i dont crave anymore, but i find it easier to work through the day if i spread my calories out. i have 3 meals and i snack between those meals. helped with the cravings before, helps with my stamina now.
I do this sometimes in the little space before dinner and it's really helpful! I did this yesterday, in fact, and by the time I got ready to eat I wasn't skarfing down my food in two seconds. Instead, since I wasn't feeling so hungry I was able to slow down a bit and enjoy it.1 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Without further information, 2 pounds a week is fine for someone at 300 pounds.
You're absolutely right.... without further information.
Such as that they're struggling because they're here posting that they're hungry.
So is 2lbs a week good for them if it leads them to quiting?
What if aiming for 2lbs a week is leading them to 3 or 4lbs a week (which is entirely possible for a 300lb person who proves more active than they think they are while truly eating 2250), and the 3 or 4 lbs a week, in turn, is making things hard enough that they are ready to give up?
Weight management ends when you give up on managing your weight. If you remain willing to intervene.... you're still in the game.
I found MFP when I was ready to give up on weight loss at about 240lbs.
Because I was making things too hard. Thinking I had to eat as little as possible and "exercise" as hard as possible to lose weight.
Also, not understanding that weight management was about the balance of calories kept leading me to what I believed to be "healthy diet choices" that in reality were both sub optimal for me at the time, and much less healthy in reality than the type and quantities of food I now eat 7 years later.
I never would have gotten to maintaining a >120lb weight loss for several years had I not switched focus to developing sustainability instead of primarily concentrating on fastest possible weight loss.10 -
Around 2,250 calories for the day
A protein shake for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and some chicken for dinner doesn't sound like 2,250 calories. I eat around 2300-2500 calories per day to lose about 1 Lb per week, and it's quite a bit more food than that...unless of course these are very big portions or something.
This actually seems low on everything...2 -
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Dinner is by far the biggest meal for me. I add all my food into my diary and go off that. Hitting the gym about 2 days a week. That’s all my body can handle right now being so out of shape. Get sore for a couple days then go back. Have lost 9.2 pounds in about 3 weeks0
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Correction 9.2 pounds in 5 days. Hope that is healthy0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Around 2,250 calories for the day
A protein shake for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and some chicken for dinner doesn't sound like 2,250 calories. I eat around 2300-2500 calories per day to lose about 1 Lb per week, and it's quite a bit more food than that...unless of course these are very big portions or something.
This actually seems low on everything...
@cwolfman13 at first I agreed with your post, but now EDIT I see his diary is open so I posted it and he is eating 2400 calories and it looks legit.
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Actually, I retract my last comment.
@mrBLOB84 I looked at your diary and your calories do add up to 2401 for yesterday, so sorry.
After looking at your diary below, here's some suggestions that MAY help.
Fat and protein is more satiating than carbs. So, I would recommend replacing those 300 calories in bread on your sandwich with more Turkey and maybe even more mayo or cheese.
Instead of a protein shake, why not eat a huge 3 or 4 egg omelette with cheese and any veggie you like.
You can also bump up your calorie intake until you get to the point where you aren't losing weight as fast as you are now, if you carry a lot of muscle or you are working out hard it's possible you need a higher calorie intake. The general recommendation for rate of weight loss is .5% to 1% of your body weight per week, so that's about 3 lbs per week on the higher end for your weight.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Around 2,250 calories for the day
A protein shake for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and some chicken for dinner doesn't sound like 2,250 calories. I eat around 2300-2500 calories per day to lose about 1 Lb per week, and it's quite a bit more food than that...unless of course these are very big portions or something.
This actually seems low on everything...
Agreed, something's off here. Two scoops of whey protein is around 240 cal, a 1/2 lb chicken breast is 374, and a sandwich of 500-700? for a grand total of ~1300 cal/day tops. My day happened to be exactly 2250 yesterday and it was way more food than that.0 -
I feel like the actual logging is squishy enough here that we can't be sure how many calories OP is eating. There's a mixture of things like "slices" and ounces in logging. Is it off enough to cause issues? Who knows, but I'd want a firmer grasp of what I was actually eating before I began making adjustments for calorie count and for satiety.0
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Honestly reading this I think the biggest problem for ME would be that even I would be kind of hungry on this. It's (more than) enough calories for me but it's still a protein shake, a sandwich, a pot pie, and a beef stick.
Heck yes, I could put that down and wind up hungry.
The fruit is blended, the vegetables are basically garnishes.
Replace the protein shake with a bowl of protein oatmeal (with water or unsweetened almond milk - or use regular oatmeal and throw your protein powder into them) and stick the banana and strawberries on top of it. Turn the turkey sandwich into a giant salad and sub the mustard and mayo for dressing of your choice. Eat some chicken and vegetables with those slices of bread you didn't eat at lunch - or save them for a snack to eat with your beef stick (eat as toast, add some low sugar jam). Or, you know, turn that snack into those two slices of bread you didn't eat with your sandwich (because it's now a salad) and make a new sandwich for later in the day.
You're just really low on volume and fiber.
Then you'd be at the same calories but eating about 3X the VOLUME of food.
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(And for what it's worth not criticizing. That's exactly the way I used to eat and exactly why I ended up here. I was the QUEEN of calorie dense, low volume food. Took me months to shuffle things around into being satisfied with my food rather than starved and miserable.)1
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Correction 9.2 pounds in 5 days. Hope that is healthy
So after seeing the post and screenshot by @FitAgainBy55 it looks like you are maybe on track? IDK...how long have you been at this? 9.2 Lbs in five days is quite a bit...but at 300 Lbs may be ok and if this is all pretty new (assuming it is), you would also likely be experiencing a significant drop in water weight and inherent waste in your system.
That said, given your stats and rate of loss, it would appear that you could eat more or a bit more if rapid weightloss continues over the coming couple of weeks. Conversely, I'd say most of us when starting out were used to eating whenever and how much ever we wanted. I for one never really let myself be hungry when I was bigger...I just ate whenever I felt like it, and structuring your eating and your calories is likely going to effect physical hunger as well as the psychological component that comes with restriction.
I ultimately learned that it was ok to be a little hungry (not ravenously starving), particularly a bit before it was meal time...and that in fact, that's actually normal. As days and weeks went on, I also learned to identify actual hunger vs. perceived hunger out of boredom or stress or just plain habit.
Ultimately, this is all a learning experience...and kind of an experiment of trial and error to determine what foods keep you satisfied...whether or not meal timing makes any difference...or eating smaller meals throughout the day vs 3 squares, etc.1
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