I used to have the same problem, until I got in to the habit of "reversing" my meals. I have a big breakfast, a moderate lunch, and a very small dinner. And, like you, I hate "breakfast" foods, so I have dinner or lunch foods. Just because most people have pancakes, bacon or what-have-you for breakfast doesn't mean you have to.

And if you're still hungry, try vegetables. There are some veggies you can eat mountains of without gaining a pound. I'll eat entire bowls of corn, myself.. Weird, I know, but it works for me.

Echoing the thought - PROTEIN for breakfast -- eggs/low-fat cheese/ANYTHING. This will control your hunger for the rest of the day. At least it has in my experience...

A thought on the smoothies- soy milk would probably work. I use the plain light Silk (I forget the points value) because it is usually in something else I'm having anyway so I never miss the calories. Plus, it looks more like milk, if that make sense.

yes I've thought about soy milk in the past but never got around to trying it. I am able to eat rice cheese and rice ice cream without a problem, which satisfies my cravings but I have to be careful with the rice ice cream because even though it's rice, it doesn't mean it's low in calories or fat!

Ugh, speaking of dairy, I thought I could handle a lean cuisine brick oven style pizza but it is NOT sitting well in my tummy at the moment. Which stinks because I LOVE LOVE LOVE pizza (I swear I would marry it if it were legal!), and I thought the LC pizzas would be a good compromise. Nope..too much dairy. Oh well.

Inoxia- you mentioned reversing your meals - great idea! When we visit my in-laws, they always want to go out for breakfast and I notice that if I eat a big breakfast, I'm really not hungry for the rest of the day until about supper time. Hmmm... they may be on to something...

I looked in my freezer and I have a bag of mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries) that I think I'll use for a smoothie tomorrow. Right now I'll just add the whey protein and water - sounds gross but I don't think I can handle yogurt or milk right now!

For me, the only thing that curbs my hunger is more calories, doesn't really matter where they come from. There are a lot of calorie need calculators with lots of different answers. On fiday, I get 2000 calories at 140 lbs when choosing the seated work category. A lot of people say that is a bit high for them, but still you weigh a lot more than me so I would think your starting point would be a lot higher calories. Plus you say your burning 400 calories a day exercising. That's a lot! I would think you'd want your daily calorie deficit to be around 500 to 700, so if you need 2000 and you burn another 400, your up to 2400 calories, so a reasonable deficit would bring you to between 1700 and 1900. I just think if your constantly starving, you wont keep this up and you'll go back to eating the same way you did before. The number of calories you were typically eating before is also relevant in determining your deficit starting point and must have been way more than what you're eating now.

That makes sense, Claudia - thanks for the explanation! This hunger thing has me really confused. I was at about 700 calories for the day going in to dinner and ate at Chipotle - regular chicken burrito without the cheese and salsa. The Chipotle nutrition puts it at about 1,000 calories (which is a LOT for one meal!) but that would bring me to about 1700 calories for the day. I ate about an hour and a half ago and have been drinking water, but I still feel hungry!

Also, I am SURE the calories I was eating before I started counting calories was a lot more than what I eat now. I really wasn't aware of what I was putting in my mouth and how quickly the calories added up. Also when I tried to cook "healthy," I always ended up adding lots of butter. Yeahhhh, not so healthy!

I just keep thinking, if I'm this hungry, something must not be right - like maybe I am not eating enough.

I'm the same way, as I don't like breakfast foods at all. I started eating Kashi for breakfast at 7am or so and start getting hungry around 11am. There are also Kashi bars which are very good! Can you eat those things?

I suggest a protein shake though, if all else fails. Have a piece of fruit on the side as well, so you at least feel like you are eating something!

Hey 2Fat4myJeans, people have given you some really good ideas! I'd just add that there comes a time in weight-loss life when you just sometimes do feel hungry. It helps to have protein (as some have said) and to space your calories out throughout the day. Make sure you have some healthy, lower-calorie options for snack, and take them with you if you go out shopping or some such--that way you have a good alternative with you.

Of the brick oven style LC pizzas, the mushroom one is the only one I like. The others... well, not so much.

Jay

I just wanted to say that thank you for saying something about spark people, I have been playing with it for an hour now... I got a more accurate count than fitday, its hassel free and I dont have to have a ton of *new* foods gathered around the computer to enter my food content.. WOO HOO thank you