Too Hungry to Stay Within Points!!!
 

I can't believe I'm about to quit WW already for the same reason I have quit every other diet. I'M HUNGRY! I guess I have a big appetite, because regardless of spreading out meals/snacks, and including fruits/vegetables, I am out of points and still HUNGRY, and it's NOT going away.

I guess dieting never is comfortable, though I've heard SO many people on SO many plans say that it IS comfortable, and that they're NOT hungry.

What do I do? How do I do this without having stomach pangs that are severe enough to make me miserable and unable to function well?

P.S. This is HUNGER, not CRAVINGS!

I don't do WW but I have in the past. Before they changed their system, I was able to do it, but once I tried after they changed it and I was feeling SOOOO hungry! Right now, I do calorie counting and I love it because I can adjust my calories however I see fit. I also like to give myself a range. Hope I didn't offend anyone....to each their own and WW is great, but it's important to choose what works for you.

There are tons of free foods out there that you can eat, so don't hesitate to use them when needed!!

Two things that I found have helped me with my hunger: First, making sure I get plenty of protien at each and every meal. If I skimp protien at any meal, I am dying by the end of the day and my hunger levels are way up. I also find that I have to take a multi-vitamin every single day. If I don't, I wind up craving stuff. I also make sure to take extra vitamin B.

Hang in there. How long have you been on the program? I have been back on for about 6 weeks and have found that my appetite has gone way down and I am just not wanting the portion sizes that I did before. It took a few weeks for things to even out, but it is really obvious that my "stomach has shrunk". Smaller portion sizes and definitely more filling now.

Protein is SO key!!! I eat protein at every meal and it works wonders! And keep in mind you can have tons of fruit and veggies!!

The best thing would be to see a few days of tracking, let us know what your daily points are, what your activity is like (and when), and what times of day you are having problems with hunger.

You can tweak your daily points up a couple of points too if you feel you need to, and hopefully will still let you lose weight. But it would be easier to see what your average eating is like right now first to know if that's necessary.

General stuff in the meantime:
As other folks have said, protein is awesome for keeping you full so make sure you are getting enough of that.

Throw more vegetables liberally in with everything. Like today I had a kashi sweet and sour chicken for lunch and steamed a half cup of broccoli and mixed it in, it really bulked it up a lot. Spinach is a great thing that works mixed in with a lot of things - soups, omelets, etc. I even put some in my protein smoothies sometimes. The list goes on!

0 point things that help fill up in a pinch that I like are sugar free jello and benefiber cherry pomegranate drink mixes - it mixes into a bottle of water for a sugar free drink and has 3g of fiber in it, I don't know I find myself pretty full after I drink it. But these are once in a while things, there's definitely an overlying problem somewhere to figure out if hunger is going on constantly.

If everything else looks good, it could be an issue worth looking into with the doc. I get the same thing when I am watching what I eat no matter what the plan - I don't know if it's what I'm eating, eating less, or what, but I experience a lot more inexplicable hunger (or what felt like hunger) which actually turned out to be stomach acid problems.

Are you spending half of your points on a chocolate bar ? The purpose of weight watcher is to let YOU make your own choices. If you spend your points wisely, there's no way you'd be hungry.

Fiber is supposed to fill you up as well :)

Are you eating the right things or spending your points on 100-calorie packs, too many refined carbs and other junk? Protein keeps you feeling full the longest and you should be having some with every meal and snack. Next is fat so be sure you are getting your healthy oils in. Exercise also helps control hunger. Are you getting in all the 9 GHGs every day? You should never be hungry if you concentrate on Power Foods.

What are you actually eating? It would be helpful to see a daily menu or two to see if there is something in there that you can change. How you use your points does matter and make sure you are using them all, every day, and use your weeklies if needed, too.

Also, make sure you're not thirsty. I realize now that ravenous feeling I get is actually that I need something to drink, not that I want any food.

Yes, please post some menus so we can help you! I make sure to include a vegetable or a fruit with every meal or snack. That really helps to ensure I get the recommended daily # while also keeping me full.

I have been doing WW (off and on) for about 7 years now and I have to say, Points Plus is the longest I have consistently stayed 100% on-program before falling off track. The free fruits/vegetables really help to fill me up and curb those hunger pangs that I often felt on the older programs when my points were maxed out...thus leading me to binge. (Of course, you do have to be mindful of all the extra fruits you are consuming. Losses may be a little slower, but hey an apple is better than a cheeseburger right?)

"Hunger" can very much be a mental thing. If you are consuming all your pts for the day, I really doubt you are physically hungry. There have been many many many times in the past where I felt the same...to the point where I (very dramatically) told myself that I'd simply just die if I didn't have something more to eat! But I'd resist, goto sleep, and whatdoyaknow..the next morning I felt fine and realized how incredibly silly and theatrical I was about that hunger which I thought was so unfathomable. Just tell yourself, get through today sticking to the program. Your body and mental state will adjust.

I don't really know much about points plus, but I know that it isn't all that different from calorie counting. While you can spend all of your points on whatever you want, you need to choose wisely to make sure that you are eating meals that fill you up and keep you feeling full.

Like I said I don't know much about points plus, but let's look at meals with relatively the same volume of food, from the same place.

The Cheesecake Factory has some wild portions, so let's use them especially since they have their new lower calorie menu with equally delicious food.

This is my favorite meal: The Tuscan Chicken. It's a lot of food and the menu lists it at 590 calories, MyFitnessPal says 585. Either way it's not that much and it's all chicken and veggies pretty much. Yum!
http://i43.tinypic.com/166zvqr.jpg


Here's another meal that I've seen brought out on the same plate as the above so it's probably around the same amount of food, maybe just a little more. The Fettucini With Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes has 1,830 calories according to MyFitnessPal.
http://i39.tinypic.com/23jl992.jpg


Same amount of food, VERY DIFFERENT in terms of calories. I would also bet that the Tuscan Chicken would keep you fuller longer than the Fettucini. WHAT you eat is sometimes very important when it comes to hunger. I can eat 1200 calories and be satisfied for the day if they're made up of things like the Tuscan Chicken.

Explore WHAT you're eating and see if you are spending your points on things that are leaving you hungry.

power foods! Eat them! :)

I can understand it.
Today morning I am very vey hungry.
BF
4 egg white
1 cheese single
1/2 cup strawberries, 1/2 kiwi, 1/8th Apple
green tea.
still I was very hungry
so had 2 glasses of water, but stomach was churning.
This doesn't appen normally.
Then after 2 hours
had
1% milk 8oz
1 whole wheet bread slice, 4 cashew nuts and 4 almonds
It is 12 noon and boy, I am starving.
I do not know what is wrong today.
Does any one experience it?
PL let me know what to do.
Today it is raining, cannot even go out for walk.

maybe some of it is boredom from being stuck inside? :)

However, I would bulk it up with vegetables... for example, the egg whites... why not saute some spinach or whatever veggies you like? It adds more bulk and helps you towards your good health guidelines goal for veggie and for healthy oil. And the wheat bread slice.. plain? nothing on it? No wonder that wasn't satisfying! Maybe a smear of hummus or avocado and a slice of tomato?

My advice is to not be afraid of healthy fats and add fruits and vegetables anywhere you can.

Well of course you're hungry if your breakfast is only 3 or 4 points. I love using egg whites and I make an awesome breakfast burrito by throwing in veggies like spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, and tomatoes and 1 link of morning star breakfast sausage and just a bit of low-fat cheese. It's super filling and you can always skip the tortilla and just make it a scramble.

Breakfast is very very important and I always make a point of using quite a lot of points on breakfast. It keeps me full and satisfied so I can have a smaller lunch and the points balance out that way.

I have to agree - eat more at Breakfast. I find that if I don't "spend" 5-7 points at breakfast I am hungry all day long. Also, Try Egg Beaters instead of egg whites - 1/2 c egg beaters is 1 pt and equals 2 eggs. I stuff this with spinach, mushrooms and a bit of cheese + fruit and toast for a great breakfast!

Steel cut oats have been a lifesaver for me, breakfast-wise. Very filling, and goes great with all kinds of fruit added in. I make a big pot once a week and reheat with a bit of milk and fruit for a quick and easy weekday breakfast.

Thanks immensely for all of the advice. The protein suggestion really stood out. I am vegetarian and guessing that my protein may be low causing me to get all of my energy from the carbs in fruits and vegetables in a rapid state.

As a vegetarian, my sources of proteins are eggs, dairy, beans, soy and nuts, but I'm nearly fond of any of these things as I am the carbs like rice, potatoes and pasta---one of the reasons I chose WW since these are allowed foods.

So, I will try increasing my protein with each meal and see if this decreases my hunger.

This is all great advice. I'm having the opposite problem. I haven't used all of my points in one day yet. Well, scratch that, I had a mini binge on Friday because I only lost 1.5 pounds. But because I'm not eating the foods I'd really like to eat, I'm struggling to use all of my points. Is it bad to not eat all of your points?

I'm a vegetarian too :) So I definitely know what you're talking about with regards to protein sources. Because we don't eat meat, we sometimes have to work just a little bit harder to make sure we do get our protein. I eat eggs with breakfast and have a hard boiled one with dinner. Depending on how much of the carbs you're eating, your points won't last nearly as long since that stuff is high in points. Have just a little bit of rice but bulk it up by throwing in beans and veggies.

Two of my favorite food blogs are Skinny Taste and the Happy Herbivore.

Skinny Taste isn't strictly veg friendly, but she does have an entire section of Vegetarian recipes and many of them are adaptable. The best part, though, is that she does list the WW points (if you make a non-veg recipe veg you might have to redo the points just to be sure). the Happy Herbivore is plant based/vegan, so all of the recipes are things we can eat and they are super yummy. With these, you will have to put them into the recipe builder to get the points, but it might give you ideas on ways to get more protein.

This explains a lot... the simple carbs make me even hungrier! Even brown rice as opposed to white rice will help a lot for satiety. Also have you tried high-protein grains like quinoa? Really easy to prepare and very versatile. That really fills me up too.

I often find that a big bowl of steamed veggies with every meal helps me to feel full. That and a glass of water makes my stomach feel really full.

Beans are a huge help. I'm not a vegetarian but I try to keep my meat intake to dinner only most of the time, so beans, and eggs are my protein sources most of the time.

You might want to check out the recipe section on the southbeach diet board. The focus there is the glycemic index of things, but calories count too. So it can be a great source of recipes that'll keep you full, but aren't high in calories and fat like an atkins/low carb diet might be.

I am a vegetarian too, and I have had major hunger with WW. I have gone over the points.

My nutritionist has told me that all obesity, in her opinion, is a form of malnutrition. There is some nutrient missing and the body is sending hunger signals to compensate.

What if that is what is going on here for us? I am practically a vegan, and one yogurt a day is my only dairy.

This thread is so informative. I really appreciate the intelligence and thoughtfulness of the women on this thread who have brainstormed and come up with solutions. You didn't just help OP, you helped me as well.

Your protein analysis would also explain why I was not hungry on my high protein medically supervised diet that I went on the first month of my diet journey. My nutrional needs were met. Now, I am eating three times as many calories, and I am so hungry that all I think about is food!

Volumetrics eating is an awesome way to stay really satisfied and get a lot of nutrients in. I've been known to make obscenely large meals that are low in calories/points, just because they're bulked up so much with non-starchy vegetables.

For example, you mentioned pasta. I'll take my 2oz portion of pasta (sometimes even cut it down to 1oz), saute onions, an array of colored peppers, sliced mushrooms, and spinach and mix it into my pasta and add tomato sauce. It's a huge bowl of food that sometimes I can't even finish because I've added so many veggies.

Peeling zucchini and/or yellow squash into ribbons and mixing it 50:50 with fettuccine and making an "alfredo" sauce is another favorite pasta dish. I even add in asparagus and peas for more bulk, nutrients, and general deliciousness. You can also mix your pasta 50:50 with spaghetti squash or just eat the spaghetti squash instead of pasta.

My Asian noodle bowls and stir fry meals are mainly veggies. I'll use mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, and usually a frozen stir fry mix too. A little bit of oyster/hoisin/sriracha or whatever you like, and you have a great meal.

I shred zucchini and/or squash into my burritos and enchiladas so that it's mostly veggie, and the beans are a smaller component of them. Usually my rice and beans are filled with all kinds of peppers.

Cauliflower is great to add into everything. I make my dal half cauliflower, mix it with potatoes in baked potato soup or mashed potatoes, or I'll make mac and cheese with cauliflower puree mixed in or just mix a little pasta, a lot of broccoli and cauliflower to give it more nutrition.

I love eating soup - and I'm a thick soup kind of woman - so I use pureed veggies in my soups. I love broccoli soup, carrot soup, and tomato soup, and I puree them all. I make chili with about every vegetable under the sun. It's not vegetarian, but it can EASILY be tweaked.

Be creative! Whenever you're making something, think of how many vegetables you can add into it to make it more nutritious. It will fill you up!:D

I love doing this, too! I always keep lots of veggies around and throw them in whenever I can. It's amazing how satisfied you can get this way. I, too, have sometimes been unable to finish a meal because of all the veggies :) (But that's okay, leftovers are always awesome!)

Great volumetrics insights and ideas, Munchy!

I am always adding tons of veggies when I eat so that I stay on plan better. I do not eat pork or red meat but I do eat poultry and eggs.

For morning I do and apple diced and cooked with a little water and cinnamon in the microwave, once it's tender I sprinkle raw uncooked oats on top with 1 packet of equal. I think that is 3 pp and it's because of the oatmeal.

That keeps me full until lunch and I usually have a bagel thin with a tbsp of my egg salad that equals 5 pp total including the bagel thin. I also have a serving of fresh fruit with that.

For dinner I will usually have some turkey or chicken and tons of veggies, sometimes steamed and sometimes raw. I use tons of spices because you can change up the taste of anything with a different spice every day!

I drink tons of water and if I want to snack it's veggies and hummus, sometimes if I want to blow some points I have left over I'll have a spoon of sugar free peanut butter.

great post, this is so me lately. I am SO HUNGRY!

I would not be able to make it on the breakfast you had either. Takes those egg whites and fill them up with all the 0 point veggies. I would eat the toast with them and more then likely have my first glass of milk also. Then I only need a piece of fruit perhaps to get me to lunch...sometimes I am not hungry until lunch. I am also a big oatmeal eater, fills me up and keeps me full...with one slice of toast and some blueberries on top, my glass of milk. Not sure of you points for the day, but mine are 27, and I don't normally go over those.

I also am a quantity, not quality, eater....which is probably why I have a weight problem in the first place :( I love bulking food up with veggies!

What about watermelon?! Its delishouse and it fills you up a lot!! You can also try to have some smoothies during the day, maybe blend that 8 oz of milk with a banana or a peach, it will help you stay full untill lunch time!

Being hungry is never really a problem for me. The key is filling up on fruits and veggies. The problem with me is not tracking at all. Its kinda like self sabotage.