To think I'll never lose weight!

[DanHumphreyIsA]

So a few weeks ago, I made a decision to start to lose some weight.
I've been doing healthy dinners, lots more veg than normal, more fruit. Fryer hasn't been on, cut back on the sweet stuff.

And for the time I've been trying, I have not stopped being hungry. No matter how much grilled chicken and fish and veg I eat, no matter how many breadless meals (I eat so much bread) I'm just hungry.
And not only that but I'm hangry 😩. So I'm very rarely satisfied.
I know i'm not going to lose anything yet, but I just can't get rid of the hunger. It's not like starvation hunger, but just a hole that needs to be filled.
I'm snacking in between (fruit, nuts etc). I'm distracting myself with MN but honestly, I don't think its worth it!

I'm a size 14, but an odd shape (middle heavy ffs ). The only time I was a size 8 was when I worked in retail, on a diet of redbull and chocolate. Sadly I know better now.

My diet has always been stodgy, it was all I knew as a child. Bread, burgers, fries, pies, bread, cakes, soft creeamy cakes. I can't stomach salad (it honestly makes me feel queasy when I eat it, I'm not just being a brat) I've always lacked food discipline, growing up in a family of feeders, it was important to eat, eat, eat!

I've tried several times to change my diet.
AIBU to think years of poor food habits won't change? My body is so used to a certain type of food that it just doesn't seem to accept 'healthy' food as a meal!

Help me

Eating a small amount of fat helps keep a feeling of fullness, but about a teaspoon of fat per meal is the right amount.

Probiotics really can help you feel more full.

Vegetable soups (no potatoes or corn, just low carb vegies) are a great way to feel more full without adding many calories since you don't like salad.

Protein is important for fullness and weightless. Make sure every meal or snack has some protein.

Eating often is better for maintaining or losing weight than going for a long time between meals. Think of having 6 mini meals rather than just eating once or twice a day.

Portions matter. They really do.

I started Noom (app on iPhone) 2 weeks ago today and I have lost over 9 pounds. Not bragging - just demonstrating how it is effective.

:)

It uses calorie counting to start off with, but rewards you for having healthier options, gives you more calories per day if you do more exercise, and has a very good psychological basis and motivation. Quizes, helpful notes on breaking psychological issues with food (which I have plenty).

Highly recommended. :)

Thanks @blobby and @overnight, I am drinking less water since being on nights, thinking about it. There are times when I drink half of a small bottle during a shift, and about the same before or after sleep. Need to work on that I think!

If portion sizes are a problem, weigh everything first or get a diet plate?
I'm currently learning to eat more healthily and increase my exercise and I've lost just over 2 stones since May.
I definitely got my portion control wrong in the past but I now know how much food my body really needs to live on and not add pointless flab.
No magic solutions.
You have to want to change.
Looking in the mirror and whinging won't help. It will mean feeling uncomfortable from time to time and ignoring the munchies but only you can make the decision to become more healthy.

Oh and I agree - soup is the answer!

Oh and taking unflattering photos of my body was a motivator!

I'd ditto to the how much are you drinking?

Drink water first thing in the morning, and drink plenty through the day. You brain could be confusing your hunger for thirst.

Also, when dieting, you will feel hungry, but after 2-3 weeks your body gets used to it.

You just need to get used to it. When you are tempted into wanting to eat that chocolate bar/crisps. Go to it, and throw it back saying 'no'.

@Tooextra every time I read up on dieting, I'm always seeing 'snacking, snacking, snacking' (healthy though obvs), to help cravings

Really? That's not my experience with dieting.

Write down what you are eating in an approx day. I wonder if you need to look at portion control too? I'd steer clean of nuts (and dried fruit) -loads of calories there.

I'm thinking of trying team RH fitness, i have had a look online but havent actually joined yet. Might be worth a try and its only a few pound a month. I feel your pain. I lost 4 stone with sw but i have lost my mojo after paying £5 a week for months and basically staying the same for months x

I have been low carbing and tracking everything on MFP.
Eating 3 reasonably big meals a day is fine. I appreciate this wouldn't suit you, because you hate salad, but I like : youghurt and blueberries, salad and fajita chicken, courgetti and meatballs.

Feeling hungry is an odd sensation. I have fasted on occasion, and at first I hated the feeling, but soon I got used to it, and actually really enjoyed feeling hungry. I know that sounds ridiculous, but you really change your mindset about it, allowing yourself to see it as a good thing, or that you are in control/beating it, rather than it controlling you. Ifyswim.

To the few who have mentioned the calorie apps, I struggle with those when I'm cooking my own meals. For eg, I use lots of different seasoning for different meals, cumin, coriander, cardamom etc so I really don't know what to put for the calories in that? Does seasoning make a big difference?

Try Paul McKenna I Can Make You Thin app. Do the self hypnosis. It's a bit unconventional, but it can help change your mindset and turn you off the things you crave.

Or try a gastric band hypnosis app

Herbs and spices are pretty much nil calories as far as I know. But you can make your own recipes in the MFP - add all the qualities and how many portions it makes and the app does the rest. The info is then stored for the next time you eat the same meal too.

And I don't see it as a diet. I see it as a 'woe' a way-of-eating. If you see as a diet something you've got to do for six weeks, it will make you feel miserable.

because I'm a diabetic, I will never go back to eating quite as many carbs as I did before. yes I will still have treats/ what I want : French stick or a bit chocolate.

but if you see it as something that needs to change, like forever, then you're probably do it better/easier, rather than just doing a diet for a few weeks - then you're probably find it easier, long-term.

Eggs eggs eggs 🍳. Good luck

To be honest, it does help me to think in terms of greed. I agree it isn't a word with positive connotations but greed is what leads to obesity (with exceptions such as weight gain due to medication and so on.)

Mfp has everything on it. Spices(zero or minimal carbs), pastes, everything.

@Appuskidu yes, I mean for managing cravings and hunger between meals, rather than snacking pointlessly. I've always read, and been told, its best to snack on healthy things when you need to, fruit, nuts etc.
I guess thats one of many places I'm going wrong.

@oblomov I have also fasted, and whats weird is I can manage that. It's just when I'm eating, I'm more hungry if that makes sense.

I think its discipline for me, once I know what I should and shouldn't eat, I need to just find a way to ignore cravings.

I genuinely don't think its portion sizes, its the 'in between'. I get full quite quickly, but get hungry quite quickly, so I think its the actual food, I'm having.
I definitely don't eat enough healthy fats, from what others have posted.

I think hot beverages are great, a cup of tea or coffee (no sugar) or even stock/soup for taking of the edge

A VLCD might suit you then, OP?

Yeah good shout on cup of stock/oxo/boullion for sating cravings for something savoury.
It's hard on night shifts I put quite a bit of weight on when I was on nights a few years ago so you have my sympathy

spices are generally zero calories. Use lots :-)

Oils/butter/fats/salad cream are high calories so you need to measure those and track them carefully.

Condiments are an iffy area. Ketchup has a ton of sugar, so I count it, but I know people who don't. Vinegar is zero calories. Pickled vegetables like beet root often have sugar in them, check the labels.

tea and coffee are zero calories, but any milk, sugar, cream you add counts, and it can really, really add up if you have a lot of these daily.

And there is a difference between "healthy" and "helpful for weight loss." Nuts are healthy, but they are still very high in fat and calories and therefore not particularly good for weight loss. Some things are both healthy and helpful for weight loss, like non-starchy vegies.

Nightshifts can make you fatter. Fucking about with sleep patterns affects the hormones relating to hunger- ghrelin and leptin. This may well be why you're so hungry.

I've lost weight a few times but I've always eaten quite a bit of bread. I find it much easier to cut back on pasta, potatoes and rice than bread. I just incorporate bread into the calorie count or weight watchers points.

Eg 2 slices of bread is 4 points out of an allowance of 27 a day so a sandwich is ok for lunch or work out how many calories that is and deduct that from your daily allowance.

I just couldn't not eat bread.But the only times I've been truly successful is when I've written it all down and counted the little things like every spoon of oil that is used.