[Thenewanjie]

Hello all you WeightWatchers! I have just joined, and am on my 3rd day and I am so hungry!!!! I was wondering if anyone had any tips for coping, or if it eventually gets better...I sure hope so! Any advice would be great. Thanks!

[Itryharder]

here's some quick advice--are you sure you're eating 5 servings of fruit and veggies and drinking the water. If you are , don't worry--this will pass. Good luck!

[Thenewanjie]

Well, I am probably getting like 4 servings of the fruits and veggies. I am just not really sure how to count them, though today I KNOW I must have had 5. I am drinking the water, which is easy because I live in Arizona and you need it here. But it just seems like the hunger pangs are gnawing away at me! Thanks for the encouragement, hopefully I will get used to it soon and can stop thinking about eating all the time. I have stuck to it so far, and it has been 3 days, so only 3 more full days until the weigh in. Wish me luck!

[Kelly_S]

Post us some of your journals and maybe we can help you. What point range are you in? How are you spending your points? Make sure you are getting in some fats and protein. Without seeing what you are eating I/we can't help you much.

[Thenewanjie]

I will post yesterdays and today's journals, as well as the planned one for tomorrow:
pont range 24-31 points
Yesterday:
Bfast: Frozen berry waffle with 1 T. syrup and 1 banana: 5 points
Lunch: tuna salad (tuna and a bunch of veggies w. ff mayo)on wheat, 1/2 c. cottage cheese, carrots, baked Lays: 7 points
Dinner: Spinach and chicken pasta, salad w/ ff dressing, 1/2 c. skim milk:12 points
Snacks: 1/2 c. low fat ice cream, carrots, 1 low-carb bar: 6 points


Today:
Bfast: 1 toasted english muffin with 1 fried egg, orange: 5 points
Lunch: mixed greens and spinach, tomatoes, and goat cheese with italian dressing, 5 saltines: 4 points
Dinner: 2 Beef and bean enchiladas, frozen mixed veggies, sugar free banana pudding; 15 points
Snacks: 1 slim fast bar, 5 saltines, carrots, 1/2 c. skim milk: 6 points

I seem to be getting hungry in between lunch and dinner, and frankly, the carrots are not doing much for me. Any siggestions on ways to improve my menu?

[trixiepup]

maybe you should add in a protein snack somewhere.

for some reason, carrots made me really hungry, fruits and veggies too. having meat or cheese helped me a lot.

maybe stick in a snack of air popped popcorn in the afternoon? you can use butter spray if you want, so it stays pretty low in points.

you may also want to try to spread out your points a bit more; have a less point dense dinner, and have another snack in the afternoon.

[Thenewanjie]

Thanks, trixiepup!
I will try your suggestions, I actually read somewhere that carrots trigger the appetite and are not a good snack for curbing hunger. Popcorn or meat and cheese just might do the trick, though...
How do i make a less dense dinner? Any suggestions? I am so used to making huge dinners that I do not know really what to make, except soup, and we can't have that all the time.

[trixiepup]

hmmm.

stir frys with rice can be good.
pasta tossed with veggies.
maybe use tofu or texurized veggie protein, or boca burgers.
you can get un sausage at whole foods taht is actually good. i think it is 0/1 points per serving. that fried with spaghetti sauce is good.
are you using lean meats? that helps too...

adding salads of some form to the meal are good...bean salads, lettucey type ones, etc.

a vegetarian cookbook may help you. or cooking light magazine.

if you can lessen the meat amounts in the meals and replace it wiht veggies or lower calorie/fiber rich foods, that'll help a lot, i think. you'll also feel fuller, too.

pureeing veggies into soups is a good way to get cream soup without the cream. can work with kids too. heh.

[Thenewanjie]

Thank you SO much, those are some awesome ideas. I think tomorrow I am going to make brown Minute Rice and stir veggies into it. I will try them all and hopefully it will help me! Just redid my menu for tomorrow and added 3 oz. of brie, a slice of turkey ,adn saltine crackers as a snack and still have 4 points to spare.... I can make this work! Thanks again...

[JeanneMc]

Don't forget the WW veggie soup--that saved me many a time! You can have it with your dinner, or as a mid-day snack, or anytime you need a little something to fill you up.

Jeanne

[kulku]

I can relate. I am on my 5th day and go to bed with stomach pains from being so hungry. I have joined WW before and lost what I wanted to but then gained it back so I'm trying it again.
Hopefully, this will help me stay focused, knowing that others are hungry also.

[JeanneMc]

You don't have to be hungry for this to work!! I never would have lost any weight if I was hungry all the time (I'm a lifetime member). That's the beauty of the points system! If you're out of points for the day and you're still hungry, uou can always eat zero point veggies! Besides, there are so many low-point options out there, I think if you're starving you're just not taking advantage of them and using your points wisely.

Jeanne

[Lyontamer]

My suggestion would be to add more protein -- especially earlier in the day. I have found that light peanut butter on wheat toast holds me much better than other bfast foods. (My light PB is 2 pts for 1T). It is hard for me to have a high carb dinner -- like pasta -- and not be hungry all evening (not to mention I have little will-power to stick with only one serving of pasta!). In the afternoons I try to fit in a salad w/FF vinagrette (sp?). I sometimes add 2 T of bleu cheese crumbles (mmmmm) for a 1 pt salad.

Also, our leader discussed the difference between being "full" and being "satisfied," and I'm paying attention to that as I eat this week. I'm finding that I do confuse wanting to be full with being hungry. Many times, I'm not really starving, but just wanting to feel stuffed!

One last suggestion...if you are a coffee drinker...I like to brew 1/2 a pot of caf. free flavored coffee (hazelnut cream, mmmm) after dinner. It is relaxing to have the cup of coffee, and the hearty flavor keeps me from craving snacks as much. Good luck! Holly

[Thenewanjie]

Thanks for those suggestions, I think that the veggie soup, adding more protein, and the coffee is the way to go. I can probably drink the caffeine free coffe all day and just make a large pot of the WW veggie soup to eat whenever I want to, and that will also help me to get in my 5 servings of veggies. Next week will be much better for me, though I am still losing even though I lost control today and had extra cheese and crackers and an extra Slim Fast Bar. (Oops!) Thank you for the support and awesome ideas, good luck to everyone!

[lauralea]

more Prot.
peanut butter? also when I started I found that I was ALWAYS thinking about food!!
that just made it worse, I refuse to starve, & I refuse to eat things that tast like cardboard!!
carrot sticks are ok if you want carrotts, but...
snacky food saver for me is microwaved popcorn!!
& english muffins with peanut butter & a little jelly...