How to eat in a calorie deficit and not be bloody starving!!

I thought about that, but I work in an office from 7.30am till around 5pm and there aren't any cooking facilities bar a kettle and microwave.

I'm absolutely fine with not eating until midday, I just really miss the cup of tea with milk in the mornings.

Trouble is that everything you buy thats packaged says adults NEED 2000 cals a day
The packaging states a recommended daily intake. That will be for the average adult, not for e.g. a sedentary 47 yr old 5'2" woman or whatever.

It doesn't say adults NEED it.

We need to be able to understand what food labelling means.
The 5-a-day is far too low too.

Way more protein. You’re choosing quite ‘empty’ foods to fill your calorie allowance, none of which will fill you up.

Tin of tuna has about 25g protein in it. Mix it with 100g Greek yoghurt (excellent substitute for mayo!) and stick it in a sweet potato jacket for lunch, and you’ve got yourself a 35g+ protein meal for about 340 calories which will keep you full until dinner.

Trouble is that everything you buy thats packaged says adults NEED 2000 cals a day

Seriously Im 60 this year and have only just learned that needed calories are different for everyone. And as I get leaner and fitter the calories I "need" get less and less

Even when someone feels they are making healthy choices, they are looking at the traffic lights on a sandwich, they are picking what they percieve to be the healthiest, they are choosing their sides to be within their 2000 cals a day, not realising thats a pile of crap.

I seriously ate very little (I ate a lot of carbs though ) and got fat. Oh I kept to the 2000 recommended calories - and got fat. Because I believed that was what I should be doing. Its only now , as Ive tackled the weight, that I have learned better

I do walk a tight line, as my weight drops, my maintaining/loss calories drop and to keep them at a level where Im not feeling hunger all day, or reaching for food, I have to up the exercise.

So right now my needed maintenance calories are 1340, not a lot , so I have to gain a few hundred via exercise and that does take a bit of effort ( well actually quite a bit )

I posted this the other day. I am trying to eat about 1000 calories a day and have started eating a BIG bowl of vegetables (whole bag of spinach/whole head of broccoli type thing) with some soy sauce or miso, when I get home from work at about 6. This keeps me full and I can then have a smaller dinner at about 8 than I would have done.

Hi @flossie232

I’ve been in a calorie deficit for 8 weeks and have lost 2 stone.

I find it easier to do it along with fasting. So I skip breakfast and lunch and eat around 4.30pm

My favourite meal is 1/2 pack of M&S classic breaded chicken fillets in a toasted brioche bun, with M&S pineapple spicy chutney and a teeny bit of grated cheddar. I add cucumber for crunch. This is served with 100g of sweet potato fries; 70g (4-5) onion rings and a garden salad.
Dessert is an M&S chocolate tiffin or a pineapple tart.

Then I don’t eat until the next day.

I also drink about 2 pints of squash with 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar added to it.

It’s delicious, filling and has worked for me. I’m not saying it’s overall healthy though. Just effective for losing weight.

For you.

IF does not suit everyone.

Low carb. Cheese, yoghurt and berries, eggs

I'm not saying this is the case but i thought it maybe worth a mention, when i was trying to lose weight i was starving all the time it turns out i was type 2 diabetic. I know several people who are type 2 and i refused the medication because the side effects are bloody awful and did the fast 800. It sounds brutal doing 8 weeks on 800 calories a day but it was (as dramatic as it sounds) life changing. My bloods are now normal after a week or so i wasn't starving all the time, my skin was better, i slept better and i had more energy. after 12 weeks i switched to 5:2 the recipes from the books are really nice as well.

Veg, veg and veg! Seriously, you can ‘spend’ your calories on a massive, stomach-filling meal if you include enough veg. Have green veg plus a green salad with your meals.

Forks Over Knives has some good recipes (you can add low fat animal protein if you want). The Engine 2 diet is also good. If you want to go it alone, plan your meals around non-carby veg then add protein, healthy fats and some brown carbs. You should be able to make filling meals and stay within your calories target.

As said, protein. Instead of hearty soup, chicken curry with chick peas, packed with veg and no carbs rice. Poached eggs for breakfast, or omelette. Use no carbs pasta with bolognaise, with lots of veg and red lentils. Snack on cooked chicken, babybel light cheese etc. IF doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can have a morning coffee, then just clear drinks until you eat.

Cereal bars are upf and not good for you at all.

Try a mushroom omelette for breakfast porridge with berries or a kipper.

Cut out carbs as much as you can.

Dinner, try a fish recipe, or slices of beef with onion gravy and veg.

Do a spag bol sauce and eat an omelette filled with the sauce.

A mixed salad with salmon.

You are much better off having a good breakfast and fasting at the end of the day for your health.

Not if it makes it harder to stick to though. For many people (like me), there's not much time in the morning before work and they would not want to forego sitting down for a proper evening meal with their family. Aside from the social aspect, the last thing I'd want to do was give my teenage dc that skipping a main meal was a good idea.

Fill you plate up with loads of veg, it fills a lot of volume and is low calorie.

Yeah I would do intermittent fasting- drink shit loads of water until about midday, you'll find the hunger passes if you're hydrated (I actually do have milk in my tea and coffee so I'm not properly fasting). I've been having fruit and Greek yogurt with honey for lunch then a normal meal for dinner but just make sure I don't eat after about 5:30. My weight has been coming off nicely surprisingly 🤞🏻

I dont know how people manage with IF or OMAD, I need to be eating every couple of hours

Once I get used to it, it feels perfectly normal (16:8 IF, not OMAD - I couldn't do that!).

This is great, very much a healthy and very effective approach, high fibre, high natural foods, etc. So nice to read!

Can you exercise too OP? A lot of my PT clients struggle badly with diet alone, partly because of hunger. Working out more, means they can eat more too and still lose weight. Also, exercise controls leptin which is a hormone that can make you more hungry. It's generally 4 times more effective to lose bodyfat if you combine diet with exercise, as opposed to diet only.

Lots of great advice.... it's inspiring me - thanks to everyone!

100lbs? That's amazing! Well done 👏

Less carbs works for me. For breakfast I have 0% fat yogurt with strawberries, for lunch I have a salad - sweet chilli chicken, cucumber, tomato's, 30g cheese and some light mayo with some sweet chilli rice crackers then I have a smaller portion of what I'd normally have for my tea. This usually leaves me with enough calories left to have a small treat after my tea and stops me from being hungry/craving sweet things. I am currently due on though, proper hungry and craving anything and everything sweet!!

I dont know how people manage with IF or OMAD, I need to be eating every couple of hours....plenty of food too!
I just stick with whole plant foods mostly though as its really hard to physically over eat fruit and vegetables! Im kinda eating from 9am to 9pm, pretty sure my calorie deficit is only a couple of hundred calories as well.
But its working for me, managed to lose 100Ibs without ever feeling hungry or deprived. Im aiming for long term sustainability though and being hungry or really restricting myself just wont work for me long term.

You are much better off having a good breakfast and fasting at the end of the day for your health. Dr Satchin Panda has interesting research on the benefits of working with your body's natural circadian rhythm.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/24BjEcfOzEsNTpYVXWDsR6?si=8QX-JbhdQK2WL2AawWQYWQ

I wanted to get onboard with IF, and I did for a couple of weeks, but I really missed my cup of tea in the mornings. I tried taking it black, but it really wasn't the same Sad I only take a splash of milk - no sugar.

I definitely need a couple of mugs of proper tea in the morning. I did the Zoe thing with a CGM, the tea (with a decent amount of skimmed milk) had negligible impact on my blood sugar so I decided to be pragmatic rather than purist.

I wanted to get onboard with IF, and I did for a couple of weeks, but I really missed my cup of tea in the mornings. I tried taking it black, but it really wasn't the same Sad I only take a splash of milk - no sugar.

I feel the same about a proper cup of tea with milk in the morning, but I decided that making that small sacrifice to enable IF is still preferable to and far easier than having to constantly restrict what I can eat.