Hi all Nice to "meet" everyone, I have been reading along for a week and a decided to jump in.

Basically through awful eating habits what was once a little "soft" and "chubby" is now full on, well not good lets just say. I had an Aha moment while looking at myself in the mirror, I feel gross, I look gross, and I am treating my body awfully.

I have been doing well on my new healthy eating plan (I hesitate to call it a diet, because I always knew how I should be eating i was just too lazy) and I have to say, I don't feel all that happy about it.

I am wondering if it takes some time to get the feel good benefits, because at times I just feel grumpy and HUNGRY.

Me Before: Breakfast was A large McDonald's ice coffee 1 or 2 (I know, gross right) bacon egg and cheese bagel. Lunch was something from the mall food court (usually a large pile of chinese or other take away). Dinner was something smothered in cheese/sour cream/etc. Snacks were candy bars, ice cream etc etc.

Me Now: Breakfast is whole wheat bread, a few boiled egg whites and a piece of fruit. Lunch is a 6 inch subway sandwhich, a piece of fruit and carrot sticks (or apple sauce), afternoon snack is EXACTLY one portion of the garden veggie wheat thins, dinner is a lean meat with a huge pile of veggies and brown rice. Snacks are fruit, apple sauce, wheat thin crackers, rice cakes, hummus/tebuleh/etc.

I am definitely getting enough calories, but I am HUNGRY....how long does it take to retrain yourself?

And I know I was so gross before...I cannot believe it. I NEVER ate McD's until after the wedding when I just got so busy with everything. And now here I am much much heavier

The changes you've been making sound great!

First things first, I don't know if you've ever struggled with emotional eating, but it's always best to rule it out in the beginning. My thing was always being "hungry" when actually I was bored/tired. If that sounds like you, then maybe it's not true hunger. However! If you know that's not you, then onto the next step.

Our stomachs do tend to take some time to get used to new food and the amounts of food we're having. So, it might take a few weeks for your stomach to be happy with what you're getting.

Then of course, double check the amount of calories you're getting. (If you don't mind, you could always post your stats & calories at 3FC for others to give recommendations about.) And then double check portion sizes to make sure you're not short-changing yourself. And of course, variety. Some people just get antsy when they eat the same thing everyday. Not sure if that's you, but it's something else to consider.

Patience Keep at it!

I second the double check the calories advice. If you're not getting enough, that could make you feel hungry. If you are getting enough, that's part of the adjustment phase. I finding drinking water helps me feel fuller, as does eating, say an apple.

I second the water thing and wonder about adding a little protein to those snacks. All in all, I like the look of your eating plan very much!

I felt very deprived and hungry for the first two weeks after I made significant healthy changed. Even though I was getting enough calories of the right foods, I was USED to eating whatever and whenever I wanted and I felt pretty pissy and grumpy and hungry!

It did get better, about midway through the 3 week I stopped feeling so hungry and deprived and started feeling pretty "normal".

Thank you for all of the replies guys....its good to know I am not crazy.

As for protien to add to my snacks, I am not too sure what to do. My favorite is egg whites, but I dont want to eat like a dozen of those a day Nuts seem to have a high amount of fat in them, and DH is likely to eat an entire tin as I eat 8 pecans (or whatever) a day. Does anyone have some ideas here.

When I get hungry at work I have been snacking on baby carrots as I figure those cant do too much damage.

I suppose its the switch from like 900 cal at breakfast 1200 at lunch and I dont know how much at dinner to a reasonable 1600 total for the day, balanced and all.

I don't know if I am really "hungry" or I just feel deprived. I really miss my chinese buffet food, and the junk I used to eat. My plan is to let myself have a take away lunch once every 2 weeks. Does that seem reasonable?

While I am really interested in looking weight, my main goal is to just be healthier overall, and I am not the type to be able to just cut it all out of my life.

Can't wait to feel less cranky

Yup. I really do think that's a lot of it. I missed being able to eat, vs. really being hungry.

I think that the plan to allow yourself a takeout lunch now and then is a good one, but I also think you'll find the longer you're eating healthily, the less you'll find you WANT that treat - as time goes on. You'll be surprised at some point when you look at what you used to eat and think "how could I possibly have eaten all of *that*"???

.

I am with Hat Trick. I miss my quantity, too, and I have to tell you that I am hungry most of the time. I started eating healthy probably at the beginning of March, not sure of the exact date, I just made a gradual switch, but most of the time I would just eat, eat, eat.

I have made some really good stir-fry meals at home. Since you like that sort of thing, experiment with it. I try to use ingredients that I would find in real Chinese food, but cut back on the fat. I use bean sprouts ( $.59 a bag in my store) as a major ingredient.

The idea is, you want a diet you can stick to over the long haul. If you like Asian food, try to find a way to have it within your food allowance, so you don't feel deprived.

Also, I think you will learn to enjoy the healthy stuff and that will help you not to feel deprived.

I agree with the others that it sounds like you're feeling deprived rather than hungry. However, it DOES take a long time to get over that (both actual hunger and the psychological kind). I know for me, a real serving of Wheat Thins or whatever carby snack is not enough, so I had to stop buying them. Instead I would try a handful of almonds (nuts have fat, but it's the good kind) for protein and some fruit as a snack. The protein/fiber combo really does make you feel fuller longer.

I'm a big-time emotional eater, and I used to binge until I was sick on carbs. After almost two years of retraining my eating habits, I still daydream about binging sometimes. Sick, right? But I totally do! Lately I have been daydreaming about Oreos, but if I give myself permission to have a serving of Oreos, I remember that I don't even *like* Oreos. I'm just craving the binge, and I can fix that with a workout or just plain old ignoring it until it goes away.

Our bodies are weird. Cravings are weird, and I'm not entirely convinced they will ever go away. I can say now that when I *do* give myself permission to eat sugar, it makes me feel kind of sick just from a normal serving, not even a binge. So that's a great deterrent to going back to bad habits. You just have to suffer through the mental stuff until you get to that place.

It does suck being hungry all the time at the beginning. I just make sure I always have stuff on hand to eat - even if it's not what I want at the time! Those bags of already cut up brocolli florets are great to keep around and dip in low fat dressing. I also love the bags of frozen stir fry veggies. Just cook some of those with some stir fry sauce. Yummy. Of course it's great to have rice with them and more filliing but sometimes I don't feel like messing with it so I just have the veggies. Throw in some frozen precooked shrimp and it's yummy. But yeah, I just mainly try to keep stuff around at work, home, wherever. I carry those little packets of calorie-free mix for my water too so I'll drink more. I bought some unsalted mixed nuts and made little baggies of them and kept in my purse! They really are filling. You just have to figure out what you like and make sure you have plenty of it. I'm so grateful that I love vegetables so it's not hard for me to incorporate them. I love fruit too but I hate to give up calories for it. Grapes are awesome cause you can have a bunch for very little calories.