Hey everyone!

So we all know the first-week-of-diet-misery and how hard it can be waiting for our stomachs to adjust to being fed less food than they have in a long time. This post is for those who want to vent about how much it stinks and those who have great tips to get through that challenging first week!

Right now I am visualizing my stomach shrinking whenever I have a craving, I see it shrinking AROUND the cravings until there's no room for them anymore because my stomach can only hold a healthy amount of nutritious food! No more space for junk!

I have also been drinking more water and eating more vegetables to fill up with less calories.

So, what are you all doing?

Hi I'm on the first week. I'm veggie so have up'd veggie intake and lowered bread and sides that go with dishes. I struggle to not have a pudding. So low fat yoghurt, sugar free jelly or fruit are my go to puddings now. Also cut out sweets / snacks during the day... I know it will get easier but the mental game is still going at the moment.

Good luck!

You will hate me saying this, but I've yet to feel hungry or deprived. Yes, I had emotional cravings for sweets, but I used tapping, essential oils, reiki, and other things to relieve that. It's all at my blog below.have lost 100 pounds in last 9 months. Both my own and Jon Gabriel's visualizations on theta brainwave music has helped a lot as well.

For me, it was a combination of working out in the evenings (for some reason, working out suppresses my appetite?) and going to bed earlier than my usual, since I usually only get hungry at night.

Also, try eating foods with low calorie density (veggies) where you can eat a LOT but not add a lot of calories. You can also try upping your water intake, because that can do a lot to suppressing appetite.

I cut out carbs except for non-starchy veggies to help curb cravings, and I set down my fork (or handful of food) after every single bite, paid attention to what I was eating, and took a drink of water before taking another bite. Water is VERY filling! Unfortunately, I am not a fan of plain water so I flavor it with Mio water enhancer, but Mio has artificial sweetener so it's best to drink plain water if you like it that way.

You don't have to be hungry to lose weight, and I think the stomach shrinking thing is an old wive's tale.

I deal with my hunger by eating food, I don't plan on going hungry and having been through several diets that caused hunger I can assure you it leads to nothing but weight gain.

Eat often... veggie snacks to prevent hunger. Drink tons of water and if you're super busy it kinda helps. When we start a diet the only thing we think about is what we can't eat. If you're super busy then you've got other things besides food on your mind. This isn't to say it totally solves the issues of the beginning of change but it helps a bit, I think

I had to relearn what hunger actually felt like. I had gotten so used to eating whenever I thought about food that when I stopped that behavior I thought I was hungry all the time. I fasted for one day and I learned what true hunger felt like compared with mental hunger. That helped me to realize that more often than not I just assumed I was hungry because I wanted to eat as opposed to wanting to eat because I'm hungry. Now I've come to realize that I very rarely feel actual hunger and when I have a busy day I sometimes forget to eat. I haven't binged in nearly a month and I also haven't felt deprived at all.

The threat of death from my multiple health problems has kept me in line this first week. Every time I got a craving I reminded myself that if I give in I am basically committing suicide. Also I am on a high protein diet and that helps to stop me getting hungry

I managed to get through my first week binge free, in fact I didn't overeat at all. Things that helped me were remembering why I wanted to lose weight whenever I had the urge to eat, having snacks that contained protein, drinking water if I found hunger too uncomfortable and keeping myself busy. Hope these tips help someone.

What also helped a lot, is when I wanted to binge or eat something not on my plan, I would come on this website and go through the goals and mini goals photo albums. It gave me inspiration seeing REAL people losing REAL weight

I didn't. I failed, tried again, failed, tried again.

I think that determination got me through. Knowing that I'd be less hungry if I just ignored it for a little while helped. Mostly, though, I knew I had to suck it up and deal with it. I'd also remind myself that people suffered much more than I did and reminded myself to quit being a big baby. Beating yourself up might not work for you, though!

The first week is the hardest. After that, the hunger settles down and you can focus more on eating healthy foods when you're hungry and not on the cravings.

Hang in there!

I don't think what you're feeling is actual hunger, unless you are eating extremely low calorie. If you are really hungry, then eating a plate of steamed broccoli will satisfy your hunger. But if it just has to be pizza, then that's cravings, not real hunger.

To be honest I've never felt hunger, hunger.

What worked for me though is drinking more water and herbal tea and eating larger meals less often. Grazing and eating all day caused me to think about food constantly because I was never satisfied. My meals carry me over for hours until the next one, then I stop eating until the next day.

Also, making sure I was getting enough protein, carbs, healthy fats and fiber each day really helped me as well.

Good luck!

Drink lots of water. Add up natural juices to your veggies as well.

You may also try doing the diet with a someone else. You'll keep each other accountable to a more healthy lifestyle.