Somedays my stomach feels like a bottomless pit! i try to satisfy it with healthy things, like fruit and lowfat greek yogurt and cereal and skim milk but no matter how much i eat i feel hungry. It happens about a week and a half before my period usually.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I worked for 5 hours today and didn't get a break to grab a snack so my body went haywire?

I'm not surprised, those things don't sound very filling!

Why not have some baked chicken with steamed veggies and whole wheat rice? Very small portions of that are SUPER filling, thats my ultimate I-feel-starving-and-need-to-feel-full-now! meal.

Hungry days do, in fact, happen. Sometimes I eat more (I figure my body is saying "Hey! I'm hungry!" for a reason), but I do establish a cutoff on those truly "I can't get full no matter what I eat" days.

I try to eat a meal with a good balance of protein, fiber, and a bit of healthy fat. It helps, usually.

Yeah, I have hungry days too. Some days I'm perfectly happy at or below my planned calories. Some days I'm just hungrier. I think that's normal.

I would say that when you're hungry, try to avoid things like cereal and fruit - the sugars and carbs might set off more hunger feelings. When I have "hungry" days I try to add more protein or fiber in the form of veggies to my diet. For me, anything with carbs/sugar in it winds up not satisfying my hunger.

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I've been hungry since the weather started getting cooler here.

I feel like my body wants to store fat for the winter-like animals do--but I don't want or need to - lol!!

Right now I'm chewing gum and drinking hot tea.

I hope that satisfies me for awhile.

Good luck

I've been working hard to avoid hunger...I find when I don't it becomes a trigger and I go from not eating to gorging.

One of the things that helps is making sure I have some protein in every (okay almost every) meal.

Soup is also a good filler.

When I really have the "feed me" urges I try to keep some nuts or fruit on hand. Today I knew I couldn't eat dinner until late, I made myself go for a late lunch, a large bowl of wonton soup. Filling, enough meat to provide protein and very satisfying. (Not to mention that lunch cost $6 including tip, which for a lunch out is great.)

You know the pattern, try to planfully adapt your eating during those periods.

Good luck

You're probably looking for more carbs to keep the furnace going. My husband turns into a carb-eating machine when the temp drops below 50 (and, of course, he doesn't gain an ounce).

Anyway, as far as feeling ravenous, it happens. I usually try to minimize the "bulk" of what I take in while maximizing the "amount". So I'll snack on strips of pepper, or little skim-milk mozzarella balls, with a little bit of fat and fiber to fill up.

I had to reply to this post because I saw your name... I'm a Scorpio born in '86 too! When's your bday? Mine was last Saturday (the 25th)

Anyway, I have those days too! They suck. I really like making 1 cup of hashbrowns with 3-4 egg whites, 1 cup baby spinach chopped up, red and green onions, some red and green peppers and just scrambble it all together. It has a ton of volume! Plus, the hashbrowns fulfill that crunchy carb need, the protein helps with satiety, and the spinach and all that just makes it bigger and adds fiber to make you start to feel full. It's only like 160 calories tops, so sometimes I'll just keep making those until I feel better!

Besides, sometimes I have days when I don't want any food! I like to think they balance each other out, ya know?

Scorpio, I have that problem too--bottomless pit before TOM. I don't have any advice. You might want to try to add a few black olives or a small handful of almonds--maybe a small portion of avacado.

I agree about soup feeling "heavy" even if its a very lowfat kind. I am addicted to the Campbells Crab soup--you can eat the whole can for 120 calories and that is a BIG can. I usually put parmasean on top. Of course, it's high in sodium though.

HealthP-I do those egg scrambles too with just egg whites and whatever veggies I had on hand and some of the diet cheese. Sometimes I will put salsa on too. I love it!

mmm... I've never thought about adding salsa! I'm gonna do that next time, thanks! Isn't it amazing how much it covers your plate but is still so low calorie/healthy? I used to put ff cheese on top... sometimes I'd split up a couple thin slices of lunch meat ham too.

My birthday was the 25th too!

Thanks for the advice ladies. Sometimes it gets hard to take good care of yourself, but its well worth it!

I'm having one of those days also. I usually figure I can add 100-200 calories per day if I really need to - usually in the form of protein/fat combo as that seems to be the most satisfying to me. A small can of tuna in olive oil, cheese stick or kipper snack usually shores up my hunger.