Absutely starving all the time, where am I going wrong??

[WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo]

So I've finally decided to do something about my weight, it's spiralled out of control. I've done this before through SW but put it all back on.

I'm following basic, healthy eating and I am ravenous.

Here's what I've had over the last couple of days.

Friday

Large fruit salad (( melon, strawberry, banana, apple)) couple of spoons of full fat Greek yogurt. Flax seed and a drizzle of honey.

Lunch was home made carrot, and lentil soup. With 4 nairns oat cakes.

Dinner

Lentil mousakka (( I make the topping using a tub of philedelphia, splash of milk and handful of chedder)) with a large, green salad, olives etc and cherry tomatoes

Saturday

Two scrambled eggs on wholemeal toast

Lunch

Huge Greek salad with chicken breast

Dinner

Homemade beef and chorizo burgers topped with cheese. Potato wedges and salad

Today I've had

Breakfast

2 egg mushroom and spinach omelet with a sprinkle of cheese. Handful of spinach and cherry tomatoes on the side.

Lunch was homemade leek and potato soup with around a 1/4 bag of kale shoved in for good measure (( 1 large leek, 2 medium potatoes and an onion between me and my partner)) Around 4 oat cakes.

Snacks I'm just having fruit, I darent buy nuts as I end up necking the whole bag. I have around 4 cups of tea a day and plenty of water. (( at least 4 pints a day as I make a point of having one with each meal))

What the hell am I doing wrong? Portions are good, I'm not one for going hungry is it my body rebelling at not getting a packet of yum yum a few times a week as a scooby snack?

[tiredanddangerous]

On first glance I would say that you need to increase your protein. Try chopped veggies with hummus as a snack instead of fruit and have something protein based with your soup rather tab oat cakes.

Have you worked out how many calories you're consuming? If your portions are too small you will be hungry.

[CodenameVillanelle]

Are you calorie counting? You need to do that so you can plan in snacks for when you get hungry.

[pawpawpawpaw]

Can you up your veg? The time I was the most successful losing weight was when I ate loads of green veg, carrots and cherry tomatoes as snacks. I cut carbs like potatoes and bread and I'd have a whole head of broccoli with dinner to fill me up.
I think it's also normal to have a period of adjustment at the beginning.

[WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo]

Portions definitely aren't small. If anything they're on the large side.

(( the burgers for example were made with a 500g pack of mince, 1/4 chorizo pulped in, full fat cheese on top and a medium sized potato each cut into wedges. Between 3 of us)) the salad was a bag of mixed watercress, rocket and spinach. Approx 3 cherry tomatoes each, cucumber, olives, and red onion. Brioche bun

Is there not protein in eggs?

I'm ravenous all the time, nothing is grazing the sides. :(

[ElspethFlashman]

I don't really understand the science behind it but basically you get ravenous when you have dips.

The only diet (literally) that has controlled by hunger is 16:8. After a while you don't get that mad hunger because you're not having spikes and dips.

[Shedtheload]

More protein and larger portions I would guess. Eggs for breakfast is a good idea. Your soup meals are a bit light on calories and lack protein though.

How tall are you, how much do you weigh and how much activity do you do daily? You need to work out what your total daily energy expenditure is and then eat around 500 calories less than that.

[[AUTO]d3jqakcn9qlt2]

Protein and portion sizes. If you're making things like vegetable soup, shove loads of veges in!

[WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo]

pawpaw I eat loads of veg. Mainly raw veg, I'm not a fan of cooked veg unless it's in a soup or in something. But will eat broccoli and peas cooked

Tonight we're having chicken breast, red pepper, mushrooms, onions made in a cream sauce using creme fraiche. A bit of cheese. With brown rice and broccoli

I've just had a banana and I'm starving already.

[cariadlet]

Drinking lots of water can help too. I've done a week of intermittent fasting (16 - 8) and have gone from 3 (generally healthy and sensible) main meals plus lots of (very unhealthy) snacking and grazing to 2 meals a day and no snacking.



Because it's been hot and because I've been exercising more, I've naturally started to drink a lot more and the water seems to be filling me up.

[cariadlet]

Ignore that. I'd missed the end of the op; hadn't realised that you're already drinking lots.

[WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo]

And what I'm making tonight will be 1 large chicken breast each, 1 pepper, loads of mushrooms and a large, cup of rice ((180g measuring cup)) head of broccoli between 3 of us.

[NannyR]

I'd cut out the fruit snacks, fruit is healthy with regards to vitamins and fibre but it's very sugary and could cause blood sugar spikes. Nuts would be a better option if you definitely need a snack, but I would also increase your fat and protein at meals so you stay feeling fuller for longer and don't need to snack between meals.

[anxietrist]

I also recommend intermittent fasting! It's the only thing that has worked for me. The book - fast, feast, repeat is great. Also the fb group delay don't deny uk. It's so good to finally have the freedom from thinking about food all the time.

[trilbydoll]

The Internet informs me that if you drink 500ml of water it stretches your stomach enough to think you're full, albeit not for very long.

I'm on day 4 of a very low calorie diet and the only thing I've found to work is distraction. So I went to my parents yesterday and chatting to them I managed to forget how hungry I was. In the evening I'm watching TV and painting a set of shelves.

I'm also eating 1 single piece of popcorn a few times a day, if I go past the snack cupboard and noone is looking

[Mide7]

If you’re eating less then you’re used to some amount hungry is only natural I think.

Obviously things like more protein and high volume low calorie food helps.

[lockdownfeelings]

It's fat. You're missing on having enough of good fat to keep you full. Your current diet is carb rich which makes you go hungry quicker because it digest really fast. Protein and fat takes the long to digest so you need to increase those and decrease the carbs. Finer helps on the spikes as well, but be careful because too much finer will make you go to the loo a lot 😬
Good fats you can include are olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, nut butters.
Try adding mashed avocado to your eggs and toast for breakfast, or eating that banana with a tea spoon of peanut butter

[TorysSuckRevokeArticle50]

Download My Fitness Pal and input all your food and drinks for a few days then look at the nutritional breakdown.

I always find that carbs fill an immediate need but ultimately make me hungrier. If I have pasta for example I'll feel really full as soon as I'm done but within 2 hours I'm ravenous. If I have scrambled egg I don't feel as full immediately after eating but can go a lot longer between meals without getting a rumbling belly and watery mouth.

Without knowing quantity/exact recipe it's hard to analyse your meals but you have a lot of carbs in fruit, try to have more berries and less tropical fruits, you also have limited fats from what I can see. Good fats are important, they help to regulate your insulin levels.

[WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo]

I'm around 5ft 9 and massively overweight. Over 20 stone easily.

I've always been fairly active and could / can walk miles easily but a bad bout of depression has given me a wake up call. Barely leaving the house or sofa for months has left me very unfit and getting out of breath climbing the stairs..... Dp and ds are both very active and I can barely keep up.

I'm chipping away at food and gradually building in exercise but every other day. So haven't done much today but yesterday I walked around 6 miles with 3, strenuous bits that had me out of breath and sweating.

Wednesday I walked around 10 miles with some fairly steep parts that had me flopping about on deaths door (( and resulted in some random bloke muttering look at the state of that)) felt like muttering back the state of this is doing her best now fuck off. But I'm not quite there yet, I'll eat the likes of that for breakfast in a few months (( literally the rate I'm going))

Thursday ds was poorly so stayed home.

And tomorrow we have a walk out planned. Probably around 5 miles all in.

[lockdownfeelings]

Fiber NOT finer!!

[CodenameVillanelle]

ARE YOU COUNTING CALORIES THOUGH

sorry for shouting but we have no idea how much you're actually eating and if you're 20 stone then you need a lot to maintain weight and shouldn't be restricting too low.

[WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo]

I'm going to have a look at my fitness pal. I've never been sure of how it works before. Do I have to weigh stuff?

[WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo]

codename no not counting calories.

Just trying to be sensible, so not eating a pack of donuts as a snack and keeping protein up(( chicken/ eggs)) and fats. Mainly through cheese tbh. I like olive oil on salads too. I have a spray bottle for that.

Nuts I darent buy, anything like that is my downfall

[TorysSuckRevokeArticle50]

It's best to weigh for the first few days just so you know what a portion really looks like and have an accurate picture. Obviously for things like pots of coleslaw/cream cheese where there's 200g in the pot and you use half you can give a reasonably accurate guesstimate. Pasta/lentils are harder to gauge by eye.

[purplecorkheart]

Bear in mind most fruits are basically 80/90% water.

[Goongoon]

Work out your TDEE
Take off 3,500 kcals (if given weekly TDEE) or 500kcals a day. This should help you lose at least 0.5kg a week.
Up your steps gradually, but there’s no reason you couldn’t aim for 15K a day if you up it a few thousands steps every few days.
16:8 will make it easier to consume fewer calories and the fasting will help blood sugar, reducing spikes and you’ll be less likely to go hungry.