first day and starving!

Drinking lots of water is the key for me. I've herd people say that often times you confuse hunger with thirst.

It took me about a week to adjust. Adjusting wasn't a ton of fun, but it's not terrible if you don't dwell on it.

It also took me a week to adjust after falling off the wagon. But, when I did, I still managed to eat slightly below what I would eat if I were maintaining instead of losing!

I think eating less does take a bit of getting used to - and you need to experiment to see what foods keep you full.
Most people say that protein fills them up - but for me, I need some carbs in there too or I'm still hungry. There is no right or wrong here, its' all experimenting.
Don't feel you have to eat less than the calories MFP has suggested - that amount already includes a deficit so you can eat everyone of those cals plus the cals you burn exercing and you still have your deficit to allow you to lose weight.
If you find that this amount is still too little for you after a week or two, you might need to adjust your goals to make the deficit slightly smaller - for me, 1450 net cals (ie. 1450 plus exercise cals) is as low as I can go, or I get REALLY grumpy!

I would urge you to make sure you eat the highest fiber foods you can find and pair them with protein and fat. A little fat is very helpful to satisfying hunger and the protein and fiber combination will help sustain that satiety much longer than a meal that is not complete i.e. carb only or carb/veg, or carb/protein (no fat) etc.

Try and get carb/fat/protein at each meal and snack and lots of fiber and lots of water.

It gets easier. Don't go for calorie dense food. For example, say you're aiming for ~ 300cals for lunch. This could be one single serve size pack of original flavoured potato crisps (230cals for the Smiths brand) and a banana. I would be hungry approx 13 seconds after eating this for lunch. Alternatively, you could have half a baked chicken breast, a big green salad and a small dinner roll for the same cals... this would keep you full wayyy longer.

Your body will adjust. I find a protein snack helps with hunger. If you like cottage cheese at all try that :flowerforyou: Good luck!

Sorry to hear about your hunger pains! I have sooo been there.

First few months I just couldn't break the 'cycle' and kept eating my usual aamounts of food.

It took me ages of 'I'll start tomorrow' to get real.

But now that I've been 'good' for a few weeks I'm finding it easier, this site helped me by understanding just how high in calories some things were - and how hard it is to exercise things off, now I'm able to eat enough to stay satisfied and lose weight too.

It is a difficult process - but it does get easier.

If you stick with it.

*kisses*

Today was my first day of counting my calories and limiting them. My goal is 1490 and I came up under that including eating the calories I lost from working out. I just ate dinner not long ago and I'm SO HUNGRY! Before this I was probably consuming around 3000, because I have obsessive eating issues. Has anyone else had this? And please tell me my body will adjust soon and I won't feel like I haven't eaten in days even though I ate like an hour ago.

It will adjust hun. I started 2 weeks ago, the first couple of days it felt like you describe here. I was hungry even though I had ate my 1200 calories, my stomach talked to my while I was trying to sleep, but I ignored it. But it gets better within the first week, at least it did for me. Now I have a hard time getting my 1200 calories because I choose the "healthier" food, the low-calorie food, when I can. And by the end of the day I'm full! I try to keep my meals around 300-400 cals max / meal, I only eat 3 times / day though.

Try eat food that makes you full. Like egg. And when you have cravings, eat fruit or berries or maybe even a small snack/food that is equal to what you wanted to eat from the beginning in cals. That will keep you full longer too.

I loved those mini twix and mini milkyway chocolate pieces. but one piece is between 80-100 calories. Then I rather take a finncrisp with a slice of cheese or a banana instead. The craving goes away because I get full in other ways.

And as mentioned above... WATER! After I forced myself to drink 8 glasses of water for 1 week, the cravings disappeared. They weren't as strong or often as they were before. If I had only drank 4 glasses during the day (which was basically the first 3-4 days) I did not allow myself to go to sleep until I poured myself another 5 glasses and emptied them. It's painful in the beginning, but as you feel the hunger go day by day, you get encourage to continue all of it

So keep it up! I've lost 2.5 inches in 2 weeks and 2 pounds, and I thought I would never be able to loose either weight or inches. If so many here can do it by sticking to their given calories, you can too! I believe in you! Train more/harder if you want to eat more :P But give it the week ... then it should be better

Good luck and add me if you want to!

Find low calorie meals that are satifying, and drink tea! I feel when I am organized and plan ahead, i prepare meals that I am more excited to eat and have way better nutrition.

Okay, so by now you are probably overwhelmed with advice. The only advice I will give you now is to look for a forum thread from a few weeks ago on what you wish you had known as a newbie on MFP. There will be less mumbo-jumbo there.

Lots of green veggies!!!!

Low in cals, filling.

Oh, and coffee. Yeah, coffee.

Checkout this great Youtube blog and they also have a 'group' on here. I've recently increased my caloric intake from what MFP said (1260), to 1581 min. up to 2000 depending on exercise. I have lost...so doing well so far! Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/user/EatMore2WeighLess?feature=mhee

Group on here is: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

happy journey

Can you list what you ate - as a lot of previous people have said it may be what you are eating that is the issue. This way we could give you more specific advice.

I only started dieting last week and I am trying to stick to about 1200-1300 calories (less than the 1440 they tell me) as I want to lose weight faster. I am not experiencing any huge hunger pains and sometimes feel I am just eating as I think I should.

I am also exercising a lot on top of this but I am using these calories as a bonus.

I understand if you don't want to list the foods though.

To give you an idea (and I admit this may not be the healthiest) but a standard day for me is:

Breakfast - protein shake with banana

Lunch - soup

Dinner - 2 sushi hand rolls, glass of red wine

Snacks - Apple, Museli Bar with chocolate chips, diet coke, water

This puts me on approx 1250 calories

I am going salsa dancing tonight so that will be between 400-800 calories as well.

I think eating less does take a bit of getting used to - and you need to experiment to see what foods keep you full.
Most people say that protein fills them up - but for me, I need some carbs in there too or I'm still hungry. There is no right or wrong here, its' all experimenting.
Don't feel you have to eat less than the calories MFP has suggested - that amount already includes a deficit so you can eat everyone of those cals plus the cals you burn exercing and you still have your deficit to allow you to lose weight.
If you find that this amount is still too little for you after a week or two, you might need to adjust your goals to make the deficit slightly smaller - for me, 1450 net cals (ie. 1450 plus exercise cals) is as low as I can go, or I get REALLY grumpy!

I agree with this. What works for one person, may or may not work for another. Success in weight loss means learning what works best for YOU -- not what works for me, your co-worker, mom, brother, husband, etc. YOU. Does it take some time to figure it out? Absolutely.

Also, keep in mind that MFP's numbers are a place to start. They are not set in stone. I find this website sometimes restricts calories too much. For me, the maintenance calories they recommend are too low for me when I'm actively losing weight. I learned this by simply playing around with numbers. I've learned that I can push my body as high as 3000+ calories a day (yes, a day and yes, this is NET calories) and I'll still maintain my weight. It is all about learning your body.


Good Luck!