Its been about a month since I have been on the site. I hope everyone is doing well I have been exercising every morning (with the exception of Saturdays) for the past two weeks and I am feeling amazing! I have not had any soda or fast food since May 5th (so it will be 2 weeks on Tues) so on one hand I feel extremely proud of my efforts but on the other hand I can not get my portions under control its awful. I have switched to mostly organic, low fat, and low calorie foods, but I eat so much of it! I am not sure Im doing myself any good For the first week chewing gum and drinking more water helped a lot! but this last week was dreadful, I felt like I was starving constantly!! Any Ideas?

Although most people (as I do) find that a higher protein diet helps with hunger, I've also noticed on lower fat days I can feel less satisfied with my meals. Now, it could just be that the foods I pick those days aren't as filling, but I've heard that fat also helps with feeling satiated. I know when counting calories the fastest way to cut them is to cut out fat, but you might consider working in a little more fat into your diet.

Also, it is possible that you're taking in too few calories. I should have probably started with that.

I would start to journal your food every day on a website like fitday that calculates the calories, fat, etc. for you. I am not counting calories on my program but I eat a specific type of food at each meal, like lunch is 6oz raw veggies, 6oz cooked veggies and 4 oz protein. Some days I was feeling fine and others I was feeling very weak like I needed to eat more. I started to journal what I ate and realized that some of the veggies I was eating were mostly water and hardly any calories and those days I had significantly less calories even though I ate the same amount of food.

So even though it feels like your eating a lot, if you are still feeling very hungry, you may not be eating enough. The journal will help with that. You're also burning off some of what you eat by all the exercise you're getting.

I was terrible at controlling my portions until I started weighing EVERYTHING. I also write down what I will eat for each meal the whole week, at the beginning of the week. That helps me so much!

I believe Anne touched upon a good point - not eating enough. That was the reason I found myself starving sometimes, not from lack of protein. As well, keeping a food journal is the best way to know whether you're eating too much or too little of anything - it's amazing to clearly see how much is consumed during the day - a real eye opener. But it really helps to know where you're at and where you're going.

Good luck to you...
Dani

I want to echo the above suggestions. High protein, some fat, and adequate calories. There is no need to go hungry. At our weights we can eat a lot of calories and still lose weight. I cannot stick to any eating plan if I am hungry. It only leads to binges. If I feel hungry, I eat, even if it means going over my allotted calories for the day.

Thank you all sooo much I just bought my journal half an hour ago! Im ready to track what is going on