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

Check out the Glucose Goddess on Facebook. Her page is full of tips on reducing peaks and troughs in blood sugar levels, and therefore hunger pangs.

Eating breakfast will be making you hungry for the rest of the day, even if it's a light breakfast, intermittent fasting is wonderful for weight loss and once you get used to it you won't feel hungry until it's time for your 6h of eating but it takes a couple of weeks to adjust. Eat lots of eggs and stay away from refined sugars because they make you hungrier. If you can't do without breakfast make it eggs, then eat your carby and sugary foods at the end of the day so you're asleep when you're craving more.

I didn't read the whole thread, but protein is key. I am trying to find my balance for better eating habits. The medical team I'm working with say to aim for 30 grams of protien and no .ire than 30 grams of carbs (though you don't have to eat the full 30 for carbs). It's been an eye opener. Just looking at labels has opened up my eyes. I aim for the 30g of protein and find I'm not hungry, the cravings for carbs has gone down, etc., and I'm starting to lose weight. My calorie intake is around 1600 a day.

Have you tried lower carb, higher protein instead of low cal? Food with a lot of simple carbs like granola bars and pasta give you a sugar rush, after which there is a withdrawal when your blood sugar goes down. It can cause cravings and the feeling of never getting enough food to satisfy you.
Lentil or chickpea pasta are better choices and taste good. Save the sweet stuff like granola bars for an occasional treat.

Hunger is not really about calories but about volume of food. E.G. you could have a small but high calorie supermarket sandwich that won’t fill you up versus a giant homemade salad that you will struggle to finish for fewer calories. As someone said above, meals should be mainly vegetables and save the best for last (usually meat) while eating. You can still enjoy things like pasta and be full by making a vegetable-heavy sauce and reducing the pasta by 50% but massively increasing the amount of sauce. You might have to start making more packed lunches and making dinner from scratch (easier if you make extra dinner and have it for lunch). It might also be worth following some fitness influencers on social media who show what they eat, the meals are usually protein heavy but with swaps that mean they eat a bigger volume of food than you’d expect

Also - make sure you are getting enough sleep. Being tired makes you eat more and less likely to do exercise

Eat a lot more veg. Eat the veg before your other food, when you're really hungry. Then by the time you get to your pasta you won't have space for a huge portion. Three quarters of every meal should be veg. Limited carb. Don't skimp on fat and protein.

If plain veg is too boring put some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on it.

Drink.more water before meals

Cut out refined sugar (cereal bars, granola ) or limit to one sweet thing a day. A chopped banana or raisins or dates or other dried fruit can provide the sweetness in a much more healthy way

Don't eat after 6 pm or if really hungry eat only fruit

the egg comments amused me - when I was about 18 I did an egg and wine crash diet - one of those 3 day or 5 day things.
Breakfast - boiled egg, glass of wine
lunch, 2 boiled eggs, 2 glasses wine
supper I think more boiled eggs, rest of bottle, steak tartare (I didn't eat meat, so substituted tuna).

Don't remember feeling hungry or depressed :)

I find porridge which is low in sugar helps, as you say it is hard. Counting calories doesn't work for me, I find counting the number of grams of fat I eat and sticking to less than the daily recommended intake works better.

reduce carbs - the sandwich, crisps, pasta aren't helping - nor the cereal bar.

This is exactly what I did. Early lunch, coffee with milk only for breakfast! I also ate somethings that were very low calorie but took a long time to eat, ie, homemade popcorn or rice cakes because I am a snacker.

I also exercised to add calories, ie, I did not eat them all back but would add a conservative amount.

When I was watching calories this was a day for me at about 1400 calories…

eggs and meat are the key. Sorry for the reference but forget about girly diet foods. Most of them a sugary crap.

I’d eat beef jerky, eggs, grilled chicken, steak and veggies

honestly a typical day for me would look something like this.

coffee
Breakfast: American biscuit, egg, cheese, bacon sandwich + fried potatoes + apple juice (small juice box) ~ 650 cal (from a fast food restaurant)
Lunch: deli meat or a large salad ~200
Dinner: nuts, cheese, and crackers or peanut butter and toast ~250
cocktail ~200
tea + small dessert something ~100

Clearly the cocktail is the height of nutrition… but hey if I am going to stick with it it had to be realistic 🤣

As PP stated. Eggs eggs eggs.

Keep the sweet stuff for the end of the meal, as a dessert not a snack.

I make 5 seed crackers as well... bloody love them!

And drink lots of water.

Im currently trying to do 1200. Day on an app. Breakfast am having fruit & greek yogurt or scrambled egg. , mushrooms, toms etc.Lunch sandwich or salad with fruit. Crustless quiche Dinner salad and chicken. But i have had odd takeaway and then just lower cal lunch/ breakfast. Some days i have gone over then next day been a little under. The app set me at 1200 , which I did think was a little low as I have 4stone to loose , so i don’t stress if I go a little over.
but its not easy thinking of meals,

Boiled eggs. They fill you up

Boiled eggs OP. They're cheap and 2/3 can fill you up enormous amounts
This

Green veg digest slowly so keep you feeling full for longer.

The protein and fat give satiety.

granola bar - a poor choice for breakfast.
granola, Greek yoghurt and berries - too much carbs & sugar
hearty soup for about 300 calories which filled me up at the time - lots of volume but probably lots of carbs
Pasta - more carbs

Up the leafy veg & protein, don't avoid fat altogether, cut down on the carbs.

Boiled eggs OP. They're cheap and 2/3 can fill you up enormous amounts

Can I ask is that maintenance calories and training? are you training for something? Sounds really impressive.

I find what's worked for me so far is:

porridge for breakfast (the sachets are great)

fruit and cheese for lunch

and I make a big salad which lasts a few days, so I don't have to think about what to make for dinner : lettuce / mixed leaves / sugarsnap peas / mangetout / peppers (any/all colours) / onion / finely sliced cabbage (red and/or white) / grated carrot and add whatever I fancy to it along the way - broccoli, boiled egg, asparagus etc.
I toss it in grated parmesan and have it with roasted or marinated cooked chicken, steak, ham, fish , etc whatever you fancy.
It sounds boring, but surprisingly isn't!

I find that not having to think too much about what to eat, and then having to prepare and cook it, helps enormously - because it's there in the fridge already 3/4 prepared.

There's room there also for sweet things / snacks afterwards - I love a cornetto or some chocolate, a packet of crisps or a couple of biscuits. And I can have a couple of (much-needed! 😂) glasses of vodka and tonic too

I seem to have just fallen into this way of eating at the minute (mainly cos I really just couldn't be bothered with cooking and meal-planning) and surprisingly I find it really works.

You'll have had lots of recommendations for eating more protein, fibre and veg already - so, combine those and you get beans, which can be an excellent replacemnt for pasta, rice or potatoes. Tonight we had a salmon harissa traybake, which is a tin of cannellini or butter beans and a punnet of cherry toms, tossed in a spoonful of olive oil, on a baking tray with fish coated in a mix of Greek yogurt and harissa. Served with green veg such as spinach or brocolli it's really filling and healthy.

Apart from that, doing 16:8 is a good way to limit calories...I don't have breakfast, just a milky coffee mid morning, that does me fine till lunch.

Because I'm small and 63 though, the only way I can get a calorie deficit while eating reasonably is to also do consistent exercise, ideally an 8km walk per day (hard to fit into most people's schedules)

Start the day with a high protein and high fat breakfast eg scrambled egg with chorizo. Will fill you up for the day so you will be satisfied with a small lunch and smaller dinner.

It sounds as though you enjoy good and the attachment is to the process of eating.

As someone else said, try intermittent fasting

The majority of people who are overweight eat more than they need to but feel they eat healthily

Hello! I agree with the above you are not eating enough protein - aim for 100g per day. Also drink 2-3 litres a day (a lot of hunger is thirst). No food after 7pm.

I can do 1300 calories a day and not be hungry. See below as example of what I had today:
Breakfast - Lean with Lilly daily greens + 40g porridge oats, 180ml protein milk
Lunch - M&S tuna shake a salad
Dinner - Quorn sausages, peas and carrots
Snacks - Arla protein yoghurt, tangerine, pickled beetroot, quorn ham slices, teas

Would highly recommend Rob Swaine’s Shred in 7 if you want some help with it all. I was a similar weight to you and lost 2.5 stone on his shreds. I learnt so much and feeling much better.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

You have my sympathies op. I’m larger now but before I had a baby I was constantly hungry. And slim!!!! I realise now how hard it is to lose it once it’s on.. terrible terrible advice but I used to smoke and drink a lot of coffee. And exercise a lot. Wouldn’t recommend those methods now! Deffo drink lots of water. I find having a banana when I start to get hungry helps. And also just keeping busy and trying not to notice the fact I am starving Marvin!! Lots of luck to you! x

Everyone's mentioned protein already so:
Water
Water
Water

And you need to retrain your body's response to hunger cues. I had this, I saw hunger as something that needed to be rectified immediately. I also wanted to drink more water. So, if I got those hunger pangs, I'd drink a pint of water and wait half an hour. If I was still hungry, I'd eat a snack. But a lot of the time the hunger receeded into an acceptable level where I could recognise that I wasn't 'hungry' I was just 'not full' or 'wanting to habit eat' because of time of day/boredom/saw something I fancied etc.
It's really changed things for me. You have to STEEL it out for a bit though!
I also personally don't demonise bread or pasta, I just reduce the portion and up the protein.