Where ? How ?? Tell me.

Hi, As to whether protein will help with energy, I found I needed some carbs, too. I have tinkered to find the right type and amount. For instance, cereals, even with protein alongside give me that wired up feeling followed by a crash. Lately I've been trying a half navel orange and it feels just right. This week, I'm adding more food overall with the goal of getting through a busy work day without worrying if lunch is a little late. It feels fine so far & sustains me very well from 5a until 11a.

protein shake 94 cal, 2 net carb 2 fat 18 protein (in strong coffee)
tofu wrap with salad veggies. olive oil ~210 cal ~5 net carbs 4 fat 21 protein
1/2 navel orange (3oz) 39 cal 8 net carb 1 protein

grand total cal 334; net carbs 15; fat 6; protein 40 (numbers approximate)

Oatmeal with a couple of tablespoons of greek yogurt and a handful of berries is one of my go to breakfasts especially when I know that I need to stay full till lunch. The protein keeps me from feeling the hungries and with the protein, 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal it doesn't spike my blood sugar. I add the yogurt after the oatmeal is cooked in water, adds a yummy creaminess.

^^this!

I also am one to have protein for breakfast, and it takes me through to about noon. Problem is that I don't go to lunch until 1:00. That's ok!! I have about an hour of being a little hungry. I usually drink some water and just deal with it.

As Locke says, it won't kill you!! Something I've had to learn!!!

Your meals don't really sound like 1500 calories unless it's comprised of a huge piece of chicken swimming in oil, veggies drowning in butter, and the biggest bowl of cereal we've ever seen.

What does a 1500 calorie day look like is a really good link to think of a few ideas for your meals.

I am pretty petite, so my calories stay a little under 1000, but I choose certain types of foods in order to be satisfied. If I was hungry, I'd veer from my plan all the time. If you're interested, we have a volumetrics thread with more details on how some of us cut our calories without hunger.

During the week I routinely eat either oats or grits with 1 or 2 poached eggs, so carb/protein combo, if you're getting hungry between breakfast and lunch maybe you could bring a snack, like a hard boiled egg or an ounce of cheese, or nuts to carry you through.

Unless you really aren't allowed to eat at your job, there's no reason not to have a snack in between. I think it's a law some places that you have to get a break after 2 hours. Maybe getting up for a little walk.

Best of luck to you, keep trying different things, you'll find what works for you, sometimes it takes some time, but this is for life, so don't feel rushed, take your time and figure it out, great job reaching out for help

Yep about 1/4 tsp. and look how much weight i've lost since the beginning of January.

this is the first time i've eaten cornflakes on a diet. I just didn't want to eat rolled oats any more!. In my lifetime i've eaten a whole farm of oats and its become boring. Ok!

The cereal the OP is talking about is loaded up with sugar already. Cornflakes while less than perfect is not the same type of food.

Secondly, cereals like cornflakes have added vitamins so on the whole i can't agree that they are bad foods. Just maybe not perfect foods. But i would dis-recommend eating anything like fruit loops or cocopops which has piles of refined sugar.

I don't have corn flakes very often, but when I do I also add about a half-teaspoon of sugar (and milk, of course). It used to be one of my favourites growing up -- I found it a lot tastier than frosted flakes, which were too sugary -- and I enjoy revisiting that taste every few months.

For all the talk about protein being satiating, I've never found that eating more of it makes me less hungry. Whether I've had mainly carbs/fat or mainly protein/fat for breakfast, I'm equally hungry by lunchtime.

F.

I'm not knocking sugar or any food. You can think of corn flakes however you wish to, however if you think it's healthier than raisin bran you're kidding yourself. Thankfully I'm not in a low carb mindset so I can see this objectively, and I like to indulge in a bowl of cereal when I fancy it. A while ago when I was trying to eliminate added sugars from our pantry I did some cereal research. Again, nothing wrong with sugar but they tend to put it in things you don't expect it like cereals, condiments, anything labeled low-fat, canned beans, etc. If I want to eat sugar I want to eat it where it counts, in my cake lol! I don't need sugar in my black beans or in my ketchup, know what I'm saying? So I was looking for some cereal that I could sprinkle on my yogurt and some I could eat occassionally when my cereal craving kicked in. I went down the cereal aisle, which is as long as a football field in America, and checked the labels on all the cereals. I didn't bother with the ones that were geared towards kids and were obviously full of sugars and colorings. I checked the ones that were specifically marketed as "all natural" and "whole grain" you know, the ones that were marketed to make you think it's healthy.

I found TWO cereals that did not contain added sugars. Grape Nuts and Shredded Wheat. That's it, not a single one other than those 2.

Erewhon Corn Flakes don't contain any sugar but if you're talking about kellogg's the first five ingredients are : MILLEDCORN, SUGAR, MALT FLAVORING, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SALT

That's 3 kinds of sweetener in the top 4 ingredients. Tit for tat, raisin bran has a higher fiber count so depending on what your criteria for "good for you" means it might be a better choice, especially if the brand of raisin bran you choose uses real raisins, not sugar coated ones.

I am inclined to agree with those who suggest increasing your protein

It sounds to me like you just need to tweak things till you find what works the best for you!

It seems a few people are focusing on your Raisin bran for breakfast more than your actual question! and while Raisin bran isn't the worst thing for you, there have got to be some "better" (lower cal/more filling) things you could try swapping out for instead right? Maybe steel cut oats with fruit and nuts? Eggs?

Try making your portions a bit smaller on your main meals, and give yourself room for snacks to keep you going all day long. Water is also important!

For example this is how it breaks down for me most days:
Breakfast: Between 7-8 (at work) two individual yogurts and 2.5tbsp of holy crap cereal. (220 cal, 8 fat, 22 carbs, 17 protien)

between 930 and 10:30 I'll have a can of flavored tuned (140 cal, 7 fat, 2 carbs, 18 protein)

Lunch at 11:45: today was a BBQ chicken and carrot wrap with shredded cheese and spinach. With a yogurt. (works out to between 500-600 calories ~30 fat, 42 carbs, and 55 protein)

Afternoon snack between 2 and 3 is a luna bar (180 cal, 5 fat, 27 carbs, and 9 protein)

Dinner then is generally chicken breast on a HUGE salad. Filling, but not super high in calories.

If I need a snack later, it'll be a few almonds, yogurt or cheese or sometimes those 100 cal popcorn bags!

this is generally what my day looks like. I'm at about 1700 calories for most days, some days are less, some days (workout days) are slightly more (I often have a smoothie post workout)

IMO - the best way to beat hunger is to be prepared for it. Water first. When you feel hungry. Have a BIG drink of water and do something else for a minute. You might just forget all about being hungry. Then having good things to snack on when those hunger pangs strike means that you don't have to suffer, or hit up the vending machine for a bag of chips or chocolate bar to get you through till lunch.

Good luck to you, just remember that this whole journey is extremely personal and is going to completely and totally different for each person

Find the thing that works for you and do it!

I agree with everything time2lose said!

What does the hunger feel like? You're going to be hungry sometimes if you maintain a deficit for a long time, because no matter how you put it losing weight is a process of starving your body and making it burn its own fat - that said, high protein/fiber/fat can make that hunger feel like less of a gnawing sensation.

Every body works differently of course so your mileage may vary, but if I eat cereal or pasta or something, I get a crash a few hours after eating and feel like I'm literally going to die if I don't eat carbs again RIGHT NOW, a 10/10 desperation for more kind of feeling that causes great anxiety to sit with and ride out. If I'm hungry but not also experiencing a crash, I will crave meat and "real food" and the sensation is only 4/10 and I can ignore it for a while.

I think an important part of changing our eating habits is learning to recognize real honest-to-goodness HUNGER.

Sometimes we think we're hungry because our blood sugar is crashing. You probably aren't actually hungry...your body is just sending out a red alert that something is wrong. To bring this under control you have to get off the blood sugar roller coaster - your blood sugar elevates, your body overproduces insulin in response, the excess insulin causes your blood sugar to crash, you eat something that quickly raises your blood sugar, your body overproduces insulin in response, etc. etc. Stabilizing your blood sugar stops the body from sending out those red alerts.

Other times we think we're hungry because we've got the grumble-bellies. This can happen for multiple reasons, none of which really mean we're hungry. Your stomach may, in fact, be empty but you probably still have enough fuel in your system.

Or we could just want food because it's meal time, or because something sounds tasty, or because we're bored or stressed or whatever.

Now, real hunger? It's a very distinct feeling of being empty.....empty like a car running out of gas....empty to your very core. You just do NOT enough fuel and you need food. And, in my experience, when you're really in tune with your body and really on track with healthy eating, getting to this point doesn't send you on wild binge of overeating or making a trip to the donut shop. You just fill up your tank with a light healthy meal and continue on with your day.

HTH!

Oh, and I totally agree with the posters that encourage eating protein for breakfast. If I don't eat a protein-rich meal within an hour of waking I'm a wreck for the whole entire day.

This is totally me.

Great advice from everyone about whether it's true hunger you are experiencing or otherwise. However, as some mentioned, what you're eating doesn't sound like it totals up to 1500 cals so I suspect that's part of the reason, if not the main reason, for your hunger.

Completely beside the point, but when I was in kindergarten (mid 80's) we had to bring in our favorite cereal box fronts for a HUGE wall sized graph.

I was the ONLY student who brought in shredded wheat, lol.

The funnier thing is that grapenuts was my favorite from the moment I tasted it a year or two later.

Very, very true comments about hunger. It was a tough but very good lesson learned when I first started fasting as part of my diet. It's actually crazy how easily hunger can go away if you're patient! So hopefully a combo of changing what you eat and learning to be patient with hunger will help.