How will I ever lose weight when I’m always fucking starving 😩

[DonnaRix]

I’m not talking slightly peckish. I’m talking proper nauseous, shaky-with-hunger hunger. Comes out of nowhere and hits me like a tonne of bricks.

Im a size 14 and I cannot be a size 14, I am too short. I am mortified with myself. I need to lose the weight. But I just get so ravenous so quickly and I end up cramming carbs in just to fill up.

Please tell me what to do 😩 other than sew my own mouth shut.

Also sleep is your friend.

I have started to go to bed much earlier to read and then fall to sleep earlier.

If I’m reading/sleeping then I physically can’t be eating and it’s amazing how much crap I ate just because I was tired and running on empty so craved carbs, sugar and junk food.

I ate healthier and lost weight simply by getting a decent sleep.

I also go for a walk almost every day.

If I’m out on a walk then I can’t physically eat but it also reduces your hunger pangs and makes you less likely to graze.
It also builds muscle and burns calories so it’s a win win without the effort of going to the gym.

You need to make sure you're sleeping properly, and reducing stress as much as possible as well. When you have poor sleep, you produce more of the hunger hormone and when you're stressed you make poor food choices.

If you're one of the many women with pcos as well which statistically could be a factor, even though you've not said so in your OP, you will have some degree of insulin resistance, and large swings and spikes in insulin will make your blood sugars change rapidly and will cause the nauseating hunger you feel.

My sleep is a DISASTER 👀

Bad sleep patterns are a major obstacle to losing weight. Upping your walking may help that as physically you will be more tired. You need to focus on getting more sleep if you can.

The first thing you need to do is see your GP and get some bloods taken. Check for diabetes, iron levels, vitamins d and b, electrolytes etc. Mumsnet is full of dubious diet advice. See a healthcare professional first of all.

I’m with you, I’m 100% with you! I think if you work from home it’s 10 times harder as you have the freedom to eat what you like. When I was in the office I used to pack myself a boring little snack and lunch and off I went. I didn’t take my purse in so had no way of getting anything else and had to live on that. Of course I’d come home after work and eat the entire fridge to make up for it 🙄

To stave off hunger you need to go low carb low sugar high fat high protein.

Typical working day - Coffee till 11am. Snack of Banana or box of grapes. Lunch is usually a sandwich with ham or chicken and a packet of snack a jacks. Coffee/tea till 5pm, and I’ll maybe make myself like beans on toast or cereal or pasta later on.

I've just put your typical day into MFP and it was just under 1,000 calories, almost 65% carbs and less than 20% protein - no wonder you are hungry all the time!!!!!

Its way too heavy on the carbs and too light on the fat and protein.

This what I ate Friday:

Breakfast - full fat Greek yoghurt with a scoop of strawberry protein powder and a cup of tea (with full fat milk).

Lunch - medium avocado, 2 scrambled eggs and some sliced chicken.

Tea - beef chilli with rice, baby spinach, tender stem broccoli, jalapeños and sour cream.

Snacks - Aldi chocolate protein pudding and a latte made with full fat milk.

That was 1,700 calories and the split was only 20% carbs but 50% fat and 30% protein.

Haven't had time to rtft but this helped me: all meals should be a balance of protein, Wholemeal carb or any non-white carb, and vegetables. For example salmon, fried brocoli, brown rice. Or sweet potato mash, salad, chicken. No processed sugar. Exercise every day intense 20min. No snacks in the house. No alcohol. Use myfitness pal for calories counting. Yes it's boring but it works. I found that I had to experiment with knowing how little I could eat that would still allow me to sleep as I just do not sleep if hungry. One way I did this was to eat little in the day and have a larger evening meal like the suggestions above. Basically try and eat healthily and not too much. Oh I also had a cheat day once a week where I got a takeaway, had sugar etc. Found it easier to maintain that way. Fitness blender on YouTube also have good healthy meal recipes and exercises. Good luck and remember it takes a while to see changes.

Intermittent fasting has really worked for me. I've lost 10kg in 2 months so far. It's really easy and now I've got used to it I also rarely feel hungry in the day. I just have black coffee, water and sugar free squash in the day and a balanced, varied dinner at 5-6pm ish, with lots of variety of veg and grains included, and that's me done for the day. I'm less sluggish and far less tired. Also I'm sleeping better. However, I am not a dietician or medically qualified, just telling you what has worked for me.

I have porridge for breakfast, and I'm always starving by 10 am.

Snack of Banana or box of grapes. = high sugar fruits.

Lunch is usually a sandwich with ham or chicken and a packet of snack a jacks. = mostly carbs with a bit of protein

Coffee/tea till 5pm, and I’ll maybe make myself like beans on toast or cereal or pasta later on. = more carbs

Your blood sugar will be on a rollercoaster. And likely you are developing insulin resistance - this can eventually lead to T2 diabetes.
Try lowering your carbs and adding in a LOT more protein and veggies and good fats.

There's lots of low carb threads on the weight loss chat section here. I started on BIWI bootcamp which was a big help.

The shakey feeling is your body having a blood sugar crash and demanding more fuel. You CAN fix this but you have to go completely zero sugar and cut back on even natural sugars like fruit and juice.

I used to need food every 2-3 hrs or I got dizzy, now when I’ve been sugar free for a few days, I can go 6 hrs without eating!

Do you get thirsty a lot, and perhaps have some diabetics in your family? I’m not saying you’re pre-diabetic but you might be more sensitive to sugar than most people.

Stop thinking calories, start thinking macros, vitamins, nutrients, unprocessed.

Avocados ARE healthy as they contain good fats that we need. And it's a fresh, unprocessed food that is satisfying. Much better than an artificial bag of processed salty crap.

I have a huge appetite too. I get around it by doing low carb. No bread, pasta, rice, potatoes (potatoes are my nemesis tho). I don't miss them really as I make 90 second keto bread with almond flour. I have fish or (occasionally) chicken with loads of veg/salad and a small amount of sauce dressing.

I love yoghurt so I have natural kefir or bio yoghurt. I sweeten with Robinson Vitality Drops - negligible carbs & calories, comes in different flavours, and you only need a tiny bit. I exercise daily at home, mostly weights. Some cardio. Including step-ups on my stairs. I try intermittent fasting sometimes. However I can keep fasting up for 2 weeks then I have a ravenous week so I'm not sure about it. If I'm going out for the day I'll have a big breakfast so I'm not tempted to buy snacks the moment I pass a shop.

After years of trial and error, all the above = the only thing that works for me. It's not hard to follow, don't have to faff around sourcing fancy ingredients, or get up dressed and out to gym. Find what works for you and is easiest OP, there'll be something. There always is.

I also have the dreaded PCOS so all my weight goes to my stomach. Hence I'm low carbing for life. Alongside taking Myo-Inositol supplements, which really help with PCOS symptoms and weight to do with insulin resistance (not suggesting you should take, just that I've found it works for me)

Milk in coffee is good thing, that will definitely get the protein levels up nearer a healthy level. All that caffeine would keep me awake, I wonder how OP copes.

This thread is so confusing: "Eat avocados, eat more protein!" Er, avocados don't have any protein worth mentioning.

"Don't diet, don't fast, don't count calories! Instead log every bite you eat in a nutrient calculator." Yeah coz that's not like dieting at all.

Hope you can find a way through, OP. I tend to choose the cheapest easiest options to try first.

Why do people always assume tea and coffee has caffeine in it, I only drink de caf tea and coffee, always have.

Where do you get this? I really want to try but nervous about it being illegal/fake and killing me

Wow how small minded. That's my favourite breakfast. You know, some people like that, I hate porridge and most people I know love it. Its called being different HTH

I wanted to ask bellac which decaff tea she has, but since she never tried the full-caff stuff, she can't know what it tastes like & how wrong the decaff can taste. Full-caff sales heavily >>> decaff sales, so not unreasonable to think most people are drinking full-caff.

forcing down a protein-heavy yoghurt just now as a sandwich accompaniment - little experiment to see if it keeps me full for the afternoon.

also got my bottle of fizzy water instead of my coffee. Little changes today.

Avocados do have healthy fats that are satiating, that's why people have said they are a good option.

Omg, how can anyone find this thread helpful. OP has literally been bamboozled with 20 different pieces of advice, often contradicting each other.

You need to work WITH your body, not against it. You are starving yourself, and your body is rebelling. Stop trying to force this or that on yourself, be it yogurt or whatever else.

You have to start with your current natural way of eating. Before you started starving yourself that is. Yes, it's probably quite unhealthy and it's what lead you to being overweight. But it's YOUR starting point. It's what you do naturally, and by making small changes you can gently change that. But it takes time.

So stop dieting, and go back to eating what you were naturally eating before. Track everything. You can use an app, paper diary, up to you. Then after a week or two have a look at what you're eating. What jumps out at you that's probably not helping with weight loss? There will probably be a few things. Pick the one that is the easiest to tackle.

Say you eat 3 packets of crisps every day. Over the next week, pick 3 days where you'll only eat 2. Pick the times you won't miss them. Make a note if you achieved your goal that week. If you've been sticking to it, move to the next step - 2 packets every day. And so on, and so on. Build on the success you've made ONE SMALL STEP AT A TIME.

You don't even have to cut out crisps completely, just go down to a level that you're comfortable with and won't feel deprived and have an urge to binge. If it's a packet of crisps 4 times a week, that's fine.

Obviously crisps is just an example. It can be anything - Biscuits, sugar in coffee, Fizzy drinks, too much bread, etc. Pick the easiest thing and go from there.

While you're tracking your eating for that first week though, I would work on sorting out your sleep. That alone will have huge impact on your hunger and energy levels. Your body is in constant state of stress, so will be clinging onto every ounce of fat there is.

@DonnaRix sympathies also struggle with my weight.

I intermittently fast and am currently calorie counting and trying to reduce my carb intake (difficult as I'm a carb monster). My fruit / veg intake was also dismal.

Cooking more is really helping me though - I bought the quick roasting tin book and have been experimenting with vegetable packed salads for lunch, veggie/ vegan curry for tea etc.

I LOVE apple segments and peanut butter for a snack. It's also really filling.

This weekend when i didn't cook a decent meal but tried to eat out I ended up raiding the cupboards for snacks..... today I'm back on the healthy food and I've not been that hungry.

Intermittent fasting?

Lots of books and website about it but the basics are you only eat in 8 hours of the day (for example). Your body doesn't start used 'stored fat' until you haven't eaten for 12 hours.