Jesus, I can't take this much longer. I'm not even on a diet, I just try to incorporate better foods into my life and have little of the bag I used to eat. But no matter what I've done so far (eating every three hours, eating hearty meals)I always feel like I'm starving. I mean, I get this painful feeling of hunger and bad headaches. This is so not cool. I'm seriously in a bind here. Maybe I have a condition I don't know about yet or maybe my stomach has stretched out due to years of my abuse of food that it's elasticity can't bounce back?

What do you eat and how much? Do you drink a lot of water? How long have you been doing things differently for? It takes some time to get used to smaller portions.

I am sorry you are not feeling well. Can you tell us what you are eating? Are you calorie counting or on another specific plan?

Off the bat, I would say, drink more water. A load of it. Secondly, I would advise checking Www.freedieting.com for a height/ weight calorie advisemet to make sure you are eating the correct calories. Make sure you are eating protien. That will help with hunger.

The first few weeks of eating better all I could think about was food, all the time! It was so dang frustrating!!!!

Eventually I found a food combination that helped keep me fuller longer. Fiber, fat, and protein. Until my stomach became use to my new eating I ate a lot of chicken and spinach salads. Eventually I cut out the salad dressing and started using cottage cheese on my salads for more protein.

You're right, it's not easy, but it does get easier. You just have to want it.

Yeah, that was my question too. There are some foods that will give you more nutritional "bang for your buck" and some that people find make them hungrier.

There are also ways to incorporate more vegetables right into your meals to eat a lot of volume with little extra calories, which will fill you up.

I second the suggestion to check how many calories you should be eating. If you're getting headaches and feeling hungry all the time, your body could be telling you that it isn't getting enough food to function properly.

Some other suggestions (take 'em or leave 'em):

- Are you ingesting a lot of aspartame? Aspartame gives me headaches and makes my stomach feel empty. I stopped eating diet soda, sugar-free yogurt, etc. and now I feel a lot better.

- Are you getting enough fat in your diet? What about protein?

- Are you typically a big sugar and simple carb eater? I am addicted to sugar. I have to avoid it or I go nuts and binge on white bread and baked sweets. When I come off of sugar it feels really awful (horrible headaches, intense cravings), but once I stick with it for a few weeks I feel a lot better. I try to only eat whole grains and things low on the glycemic index. Whole grains fill me up faster, and I don't get wild blood sugar swings that trigger the headaches and hunger pangs.

I'd suggest to either journal what you eat or get a calorie counting app or website. You might think you're eating healthy, but until you see EVERY little thing that goes into your mouth, on paper, it makes a difference.

As someone else stated, I'd stay away from carbs. Don't cut them out but slow down on them. Often times they leave us starving and also make you feel "heavy" and "slow". Just a thought.

It sounds like carb withdrawal to me. Have you gone from a large amount of carbs to low carb?

Sorry for the late reply guys. Lets see, recently I have only been eating rice and veggies, muscle milk, broccoli, stone ground bread, fruits and more veggies, grilled chicken. You know, stuff like that. I can't really afford too much because of a shortage of money recently. When I save up a bit more, I'll buy more brown rice and beans and stuff.

I believe so since for the last three days I haven't gotten to eat much. But I've always had his problem and finally decided to seek help. It just got worse over those three days.

Protein is your friend, because it takes hours longer to digest. Not so much, the rice or bread. Also, like you're doing, lots of veggies for bulk. I'm in NYC too. We're lucky because we have all those produce stands on the street that sell fruit & veggies very cheaply.

Oh yeah!! You are sooo going through carb withdrawl!! No doubt in my mind. Headaches, irritability, empty feeling in your stomach, and so on. I went through the same thing! No worries though....you'll get through it!! I'm going to be quitting smoking on Friday, and I've tried before and wasn't able to get through the withdrawl period....WE CAN DO IT! You are strong and getting through the initial part of this is the tough. But these new eating habits will pay off! Stay strong and good luck chick!

That looks very low fat to me. I know it is counter-intuitive, but fasting and eating a ton of fat when I do eat has completely undone my insane appetite. If I'm eating carbs, I just want to eat all day long in large quantities. The diet that you're eating looks very... 80s to me. I think that does work for some people, but it absolutely does not work for me. My metabolism is too damaged, probably from years of carb addiction.

Power through it, huh? Carb withdrawal. I'll speak to my PCP about that.

Where do I get these vast amount of protein? Besides the usual. Oh and can I drink glucera and muscle milk for its protein?