I'm Starving on phase 1!!

  • Today is my fourth day on SBD Phase 1 and i've been absolutely STARVING the entire time. my menu is as such:

    breakfast: fried eggs with tomato or yogurt
    Snack: yogurt
    Lunch: salad with cheese and taco meat or salad with ham, cheese and egg.
    snack: pickles wrapped in ham
    supper:hamburger patty with swiss, green beans and fried mushrooms and onions or Chicken breast with broccoli and cheddar.
    dessert:fudgesicle

    I'm about to give up since my stomach is constantly growling. I've lost 5 pounds already so i don't want to quit but it's going to be a long 2 weeks if i'm starving the entire time. ...and i'm afraid i'll have a major binge on junk if i keep this up. Any help would be greatly apprecitated!!!
    thanks!!
  • Well eat girl! Seriously. Eat. We get unlimited lean protein, try adding some veggies with substance in your salads. Try the SB muffin, nuts. Do you eat salad dressing on your salad? Do you use any good fats at each meal? The good fats will help you stay satiated.
  • Looks like you have your dairy in there. The other often-recommended addition is beans. On Phase 1 I would often just randomly eat a bowl of beans. Or have refried beans with some melted cheese and salsa.

    Also like hpnodat said, nuts and nut butters help a lot. I usually limit myself to the one serving per day since they are high-calorie but honestly in Phase 1 I go over sometimes. Like a serving of nuts as a snack and maybe later celery with natural peanut butter (though that would be like 1.5 servings since I don't eat 2 Tablespoons of pb at a time).

    You could make your yogurt snack go further by making it into a smoothie - add whatever combination you want from Phase 1 items (nut butter, spinach/kale/etc, protein powder, cocoa powder, Torani sugar free syrups).

    My very filling go-to snack is hummus with raw veggies.

    Make sure your veggie servings are huge! When I eat broccoli at dinner it is probably 2 cups and I eat salad out of a giant mixing bowl

    I hope you figure out how to not be hungry! It is a hard adjustment at first - depending on how you were eating before - but if it's any consolation, I have found it gets much better after the first few days.
  • Nuts, beans, more veggies, larger protein portions & always get you 2 Tbs. good fats per day. You should not be hungry!
  • I was also hungry on PH1. If you are hungry, eat more. I definitely agree with adding beans and lots more veggies. And nuts too... but be careful with the portion size.

    I found the first several days HARD. But it gets easier and is so worth it.
  • Is there a certain time of day you feel more hungry? Like maybe your breakfast isn't big enough so you are starving throughout the morning/afternoon? Sometimes I would make my version "huevos rancheros" where I would have fried or scrambled eggs with sauteed spinach and refried beans. Then you top the whole thing with hot sauce and lf shredded cheese (and salsa if you can find/make a SB friendly one).
    Or if it's later in the day try adding a smoothie or "shake" to your lunch- milk or milk substitute, yogurt, natural peanut butter, cocoa, sf flavor syrup or other sweetener, lots of ice... to bulk it up try adding chia seeds (found at most health food stores or at amazon.com) and/or psyllium husk fiber (plain sf metamucil) and/or sugar free protein powder (which comes in flavors like chocolate!).
    It is definitely hard in the beginning because you are afraid to eat too much or fall off plan. But once you start to get creative (check out the recipe section) it becomes so easy! Good luck!
  • I agree with all of the above, in the book Dr. A specifically says keep eating until you are full. Ideally your snacks are even slightly pre-empting your hunger! Your menu looks pretty good to me (though the suggestions above are great too), but maybe upping quantity will help. When I do phase 1, sometimes I have 2 snacks in between meals - as in, 4 to 5 snacks a day in addition to 3 meals! SBD is not about being hungry - so eat more!
  • I typically have a bigger meal & mostly protein for breakfast like this morning I made a 2 egg feta cheese and spinach omelet cooked with 1/2 tbsp evoo with thinly sliced top round steak sauteed in 1/2 tbsp evoo. This meal keeps me incredibly satisfied for a long time.
  • Thank you for all the advice. I tried a "salad" which had basically all the ingredients I put in the 7 layer dip i make for parties and the refried beans really helped keep me full thru the rest of my work day. I just thought it was strange that after eating a decent steak and a bunch of grilled veggies that my stomach was still growling. I did try the SBD muffin too, that was a great breakfast idea but kind of dry. i'm hoping i can make it atleast 7 more days! thanks again for all the advice. I'll keep trying )
  • I wanted to pop in here, because I had the same experience. Mine was my own stubborness, though. I knew I *should* just eat more veggies or beans, I just didn't want to, so I let myself starve for a few days. Then, those veggies started tasting better and better. I never had noticed how sweet bell peppers could taste until phase 1!
    A go-to snack for me was sliced bell peppers with laughing cow cheese- really yummy and filling.
    Oh- also, if I was extra hungry, a cup of some favorite hot tea with stevia and nonfat milk/nonfat coconut milk would help. (Still does- have a cup beside me right now.)
    Anyway....just wanted to encourage you to stick with it! It's worth it!