Hungry Anyone??
 

I've noticed that I just can't seem to eat less than 1850 calories without feeling extremely hungry and irritable. The past few days I really didn't have any cravings and was able to stick with the intended program...UNTIL those hunger pangs kicked in and I had to have a healthy snack. Every 2 hours or so I was hungry and really needed to eat. At this rate I am losing about .5 pounds per week (.643 per week according to fitday); this is probably thanks to the exercise). I am eating only healthy carbs such as veggies and whole grains and approximately 30% of my calories are coming from protein. Most of my snacks are lo carb/high protein foods. Anyone else experiencing constant ACTUAL (not cravings) hunger while eating very healthy?

How much water are you drinking? I've found that many of my "hunger" pangs are actually thirst. For a few days, why not try drinking a glass of water when you feel hungry, and then eating after that if you still need to?

I eat 3 meals a day and 2 snacks and thank goodness I haven't been too hungry, not really hungry at all. I was more so in the beginning but now I'm fine.

I start out the day with a high fiber cereal. Fiber is quite filling and will keep you satified for quite a bit.

My snack is a fat-free, sugar free yogurt, protein is also filling.

For lunch I'm eating more protein with lots of veggies. I prefer cauliflower. You would not believe how unbelivably filling it is. Mucho, mucho filling.

Then another snack.

And then dinner more, protein, very filling and lots of veggies - filling as well.

And I drink lots and lots of water. I stick to about 1100-1300 calories and I must say I'm pretty satisfied. If I'm still hungry I will eat another 100-200 calories. And this is coming from someone who used to call herself the bottomless pit, just a huge, insatiable appetite.

So I think it's very important to eat the "right" calories. I don't know what you are actually eating. But maybe try adding more fiber, protein and water.

I know exactly how you feel and recently posted a similar complaint. I do about the same in calories, eat the frequent small meals, etc. and still find myself hungry.

Keep posting advice ladies!!!

~jess~

Mami: Maybe if you post a sample daily menu, people will be able to make some specific suggestions.

I agree with all the gals on the higher fiber, higher protein and more veggies approach :)

I have a semi-related question, though :o (sorry it strays off topic) ...how do you find your weekly weight loss from Fitday?

Cary, you find this in the reports section of fitday under the "WEIGHT CHANGE" report; you can see your weight loss for the past week, month or 2 months. This is my absolute favorite report, right up there with the NUTRITION report that gives you your prior week's daily average calorie intake.

Thanks for your comments everyone. You all who are able to get by on less than 1800 calories per day, consider yourselves lucky! I do get cravings often, but some days I have no cravings yet I am still very hungry and very cranky (DH: DONT MESS WITH ME RIGHT NOW!). Actually, I went to a weight loss doctor last week to discuss this issue. She is checking my blood sugar or something to see if the insulin is causing this constant hunger. Will report back. The "drinking water when hungry" idea is something I will try tonight, though I'm not too hopeful. Here is an example of my food (yesterday's meals):

9am - whole wheat bagel lightly buttered (on both sides!)
12pm - green salad with grilled chicken, 1/2 a pita
6pm - high protein hot cocoa (80 calories)
7pm - baked chicken breast, legume salad, brocolli, wild rice
9pm - high protein oatmeal
9:30pm (the munchies were starting after I ate that oatmeal) - cranberry muffin (that was a BAD choice), but with 9 grams of fiber

Mind you ladies, that was a good day as when I am home on the weekends, I am just CONSTANTLY snacking on my protein snacks that I ordered off the internet, but still try to stick to 1900 calories, so I might have to skip dinner but the snacks are pretty healthy.

I'm just hoping I can get this hunger thing dealt with as .5 pounds per week is just TOO SLOW!

Okay - this might sound crazy, but the bagel might be the culprit. Starting off the morning with a big carb breakfast can really set me off with the munchies ALL DAY. I don't mean I am on Atkins or anti-carb or anything like that, I just find carby breakfasts make me hungry for the rest of the day.

You also have HUGE GAPS between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and your pre-dinner snack - I would be STARVED! I eat something every 2 hours or so. Here is my menu for yesterday (if it helps):

B - 7:30 am 2 pieces of whole grain toast with natural peanut butter (the extra fat and protein in the peanut butter helps me stay full) (400 calories)

S - 9:30 am plain fat free yogurt with a sliced peach (150 calories)

L - 12:00 small cup of lentil soup (150 calories) , 1/2 turkey sandwich on whole grain with lettuce, tomato, onion and peppers (250 calories)

S - 2:00 - package of raspberries (150 calories)

S - 4:00 - tall non fat latte (120 calories)

S - 6:00 - baby carrots/sugar snap peas (100 calories)

D - 7:30 - 2 egg omelet with spinach, garlic, onions, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, black olives and baby shrimp (300 calories)

Yesterday was around 1600 calories and I wasn't hungry all day :) (Normally I eat 1800 to maintain, but I am making up for a great pie-filled Thanksgiving holiday)

I just want to say that .5 lbs a week is awesome! Any time the scale went down I thought it was a VICTORY!

Glory, some days I will start off the day with a low carb breakfast, but I've noticed that I really can't work that hard in the gym on those days so I had to add the carb breakfast back in. You are correct that I was literally starving (OK, perhaps not literally) when I got home, but I was fine until about 5pm; I actually had to force my salad down at lunch time as I wasn't hungry. There are other days where I will do all my eating of 1900 to 2100 calories (that is a really bad day) by 7pm cuz I was munching all day. Of course once I get started I can't stop until I am so full by the evening that I finally stop to salvage the day. I am one of those "instant gratification" types, so .5 pound per week is just too slow. But I must admit I look a whole lot better lately, I think I added a lot of muscle as well (once you build muscle, even if you haven't worked out in like a year, when you get started again your muscles "remember" and build back up far faster than the time it takes to originally develop the muscle when starting out).

Okay I agree there is a huge gap between 12:00 and 6:00, no wonder you're starving, who wouldn't? Those are the prime hours of the day, when we need our calories the most. And at 6:00 you're having a cocoa? That's basically 7 hours without food. You're basically playing catch-up all night. Maybe a high-protein bar at around 3:00? And then maybe you wouldn't be so munched at night.

I'm also thinking the bagel ain't such a great way to start the day. I also started with a low carb breakfast - an egg white omlette, it didn't work for me. So I switched to a high fiber cereal with skim milk - carbs AND fiber AND protein, just might do the trick for you.

And a half a pound a week really ain't that bad at all, at least it's going downnnnn. Those half pounds will definitely add up.

Rockinrobin, I will try your idea ASAP! Any recommendations for a good high fiber cereal? Preferably organic?

I love Kashi Go Lean Crunch! It tastes so good dry, it's hard for me to keep it in the house. I also have to MEASURE it carefully, it's kind of calorie dense and it's easy for me to eat too much.

I've been hearing a lot about the Kashi Go Lean from the gals here at 3FC and I went to the grocery store this weekend and checked it out. But for me and this is just me personally, don't kill me - it has too many calories. I've got a real lot of weight to take off and after living with this excess weight for soo long, I am more then a bit anxious to get rid of it, so I am trying to cut my calories wherever I can. When I put my mind to something, I'm not exactly the most patient of people. Although I must say it looked yummy. I've been eating Quaker Essentials Cruncy Corn Bran cereal. It has 90 calories for 3/4 cup serving and 5 gms of fiber. I eat about a cup of it, maybe a little more sometimes. With a 1/2 cup skim milk. I find it very satisfying.

But I also agree, trial and error, you have to find what YOU like.

I agree with you, Rockinrobin...Kashi Go Lean does have a lot of calories. I still have it when I'm at home sometimes, but I have to plan for it.

If you're looking for a cereal in the morning with high fiber try All-Bran Buds. I talked about them on another thread (I really don't know where)... But they 12g of fiber, are about 80 calories...but you only get 1/3 cup. I know that sounds small, but honestly...you drink some water with that amount of fiber and you FULL. One of my friends likes to put them in her yogurt, I dunno, I've never tried it. They're also ok sprinkled on top of another cereal, but I like them plain.

Oh, and a suggestion to Mami about snacking and stuff...try more fruit! The day you gave as an example seemed to be lacking in the sweet stuff. It works for meeee. :)

OK, I ordered the Kashi cereal as you all recommended, will arrive tomorrow (in NY we have this online grocery store which delivers the next day). Unfortunately, here we go again tonight. After already eating 1394 calories, I am literally (OK, perhaps again not literally) biting the head off of [poor] DH because I am once again starving. I just had 2 slices of Arnold diet high protein/fiber bread at 40 calories per slice to calm me down, but I'm still hungry. I did work out at the gym pretty hard though, so hopefully there will be some weightloss tomorrow morning. Will let you know when I've tried eating the Kashi, though that smoothie Jill recommended sounds *yummy*.

C U

*Claudia*

Personally, eating two plain pieces of bread when I'm starving would just make me hungrier.

A better snack for me would be string cheese and an apple or a handful of trail mix or hummus with veggie dip. Everyone's body is different of course so your mileage may vary! Plain carbs make me hungrier, carbs + protein seem to fill me up better.

Mami, I agree with Glory, 2 pieces of bread just ain't gonna cut it as far as the hunger factor goes. I eat a no-fat, no sugar 60 calorie yogurt and maybe 5 almonds. It doesn't always fill me right away, but if I wait a mere 10 minutes it really does fill me.

OK fellow FC's, this morning I changed my breakfast to 2 packets of oatmeal (one is high protein), with total protein of 19 grams, plus a high protein cocoa with 15 grams of protein (total calories this morning = 290). My kashi is to arrive today by delivery, and I don't mind the relatively high calorie count because I noticed I have very little energy at the gym if I don't eat enough calories in the morning (which is why I was eating the high calorie bagel). I will let you all know how it goes this evening, my usual starving time. Thanks for your advice :)

What do you use for a protein snack when you aren't crazy about meat and can't have calcium because of an ongoing high blood calcium problem? Aren't nuts rather high in calories to be eating on a daily basis?

I depends on what else you eat and how well you plan. Lest week, I had macadmia nut butter on toast every single day for breakfast. That mac nut butter is even higher in calories than peanut butter, but by planning out my days, I was just fine with my total calories.

Have you tried tofu instead of meat? I haven't had it, but from what I hear, you can use it as meat in a dish, and it will take on the flavor of whatever you cook it with.

Have you tried vegetarian meat products (like MorningStar Farms or Boca products)? I LOVE their meatless "chicken" patties.

Some whole grains are also pretty high in protein. I have whole-wheat couscous and quinoa usually instead of rice, and that packs about 9g protein per serving.

Have you tried any protein powders? The one I have is vanilla flavored, and I mix it with skim milk and a banana in my Magic Bullet, but the directions on the can say to just mix it with water (since you can't have the milk). I haven't tried that yet, but if that's what the directions say, and the powder is vanilla-flavored, I wouldn't think it would be too bad. The kind I have is a soy/whey protein combo, and it has something like 14g protein and 80 calories in 2 scoops (which is 1 serving).

Beans have some protein and fewer calories than nuts. 1 cup of black beans is about 230 calories and 15g protein.

Well I only eat nuts like with my morning yogurt, I like texture and so after I have my smooth yogurt I like the crunchy almonds. Only 5 and not every day. They are high in calories but it's a healthy fat that they have and they are high in protein. And they are filling.

As for high protien not meat, do you mean only red meat? Like a vegetarian thing? Do you eat chicken and fish? Because there's white meat chicken and salmon and other fish. A 3 oz can of tuna in water has only 90 calories and 20 gms of protein. Tofu, veggie burgers and similar products - I eat Morning Star Farms products. Egg whites. Peanut butter, but go easy it TBSP has 100 calories.

Jilly, we were posting at the same exact time. I too love, love, love the Morning Star Farms Chicken patties. That and some veggies is my lunch at least 3 or 4 times a week.

What about chickpeas? Someone had a recipe for taking canned chickpeas and roasting them with some herbs and spices for a snack. Although I wouldn't recommend eating a whole cup of them, 1 cup is 8% calcium and 31% protein (according to fitday).

The internet has loads of high protein snacks to order; they usually have about 10 to 15 grams of protein per serving and maybe 80 to 160 calories. There are protein bars (try crisp n' crunch), my favorite cocoa (I think its by Dietwise), and Fred's muffin's; check out the website ishophere.com, they have a good selection of things.

You've gotten a lot of great suggestions here, Mami! One other thing I might add: be very careful about sugar-free sweeteners - nutrasweet and splenda make me absolutely ravenous!

Here is a sample menu based on what I ate yesterday. I was a little hungry when I got home, but my dinner was in the crockpot, so no big deal.

Breakfast:

Kashi GoLean Oatmeal (very yummy, 150 cal/pack, 7 g fiber, 9 g protein)
Coffee with 2 T International Delight Eggnog flavored creamer 70 cal

snack:

Fruit bar, made from only dried fruit. 140 cal, approx the same amount of fruit as 2 apples

lunch:

sandwich with 2 oz ham, on diet bread 150 ish cal
Trader Joe's ff yoghurt 130 cal
apple 50 ish cal

snack:

100 calorie snack pack, Chex Mix

Dinner:

2 glasses red wine approx 200 cal
3 cups beef barley stew approx 400 cal
coleslaw made with vinaigrette approx 50 cal
slice of bread 120 cal

Snack:

1 candy cane 50 cal

Total: around 1610. I ate at 9:00, 11:00, 12:30, 3:00, 7:00, and 8:30

For cereal, I like Nature's Path Organic Flax Plus. Really tasty and 100 calories for 3/4 c.

I eat meat but it's not my favorite........that would be bread!!!! Most protein powders are fortified with calcium. In fact, I even have to watch the bread labels because some of them now have 30% calcium.