To wonder why I get so ridiculously hungry?

[Pinkwintersocks]

Not sure if this is normal.

On an average working day I eat;

Bowl of porridge or 2x weetabix for breakfast (don't have time for anything more substantial)
Banana at 10 o'clock
Sandwich at 12, either egg or chicken or some pasta salad.
Then a small orange and a yoghurt or a packet of crisps.

By half 3 I'm so hungry I feel weak and I struggle to wait until 6 for my dinner.

Also if i don't eat my sandwich at 12 I can't concentrate on my work and get the shakes.

It's embarrassing because everyone has their lunch at 1.30 but I just can't wait.

I have tried having eggs for breakfast but it makes no difference and I don't have time anyway.

“I find I need to front load my eating - close together meals in the early part of the day, but nothing within 3 hours of bed”

I’m sort of the opposite. Like you, I don’t really eat within a few hours of going to bed, but I need to eat a fair bit in the middle of the day. If I eat breakfast, I get hungry again sooner. This goes against all conventional wisdom but it’s true. Without breakfast I can happily trundle along till 11 before I start feeling hungry.

Swap your calorie load around. Eat most calories at breakfast, moderate lunch and light dinner.

Do you walk a lot? From what you have listed it doesn’t sound like you eat a lot at all.

Breakfast try and have whole rolled oat porridge made with whole milk and folllow with some multigrain bread with peanut butter and banana or kippers and eggs for example. Increase fat and protein.

At 3pm I'd have a mug of soup with crackers and cheese. There's a gap of six hours between your lunch at 12pm and dinner at 6pm.

t00 I think the problem was I probably overdid the Greek yoghurt and nuts. It’s the only thing I can think of. I need to nibble though sadly.
Anyway I’m back to low fat and trying to do low fat low carb but high protein now.

I agree with more protein in there. And veg instead of fruit, fruit won't fill.you up- it makes me more hungry! A sandwich is no good for me either - I need to have soup or a salad, not bread. Cheese and tomatoes are good for snacks.

If you worry about your weight try upping exercise rather than eating less.

Low fat stuff is usually packed with sugar which messes around with your blood sugar resulting in hunger spikes.

Far better to eat full fat.

I'm the same as you OP, need to eat like a horse through the day!

Irealised that whilst everyone I know seems to be a slave to dinner, it just doesn't suit me. I eat the vast majority of my day's calories before mid afternoon then just have a really light supper - toast or whatever. Makes sense to me, I don't do anything after dinner except sit around so why do it with a load of food in my tummy? And why starve myself through the busiest and hungriest part of the day just to stuff my face at an arbitrary point later on?

Not for me, I'll stick with my giant lunchbox.

Sound very similar to me pink
Have you had your bloods checked? Particularly blood sugar levels? I’ve been borderline hypoglycaemic all my life and have to eat every 2-3 hours or, like you, I get the shakes and can’t focus. I’m gluten free, so it isn’t a carb issue for me usually. I’ve tried loading up on protein etc, but I just need to eat little and often. I don’t think your daily intake is excessive though.

I wish I could feel hungry. I have no appetite at all. I eat to stay alive and that is usually home made soup, soda bread, full fat Greek yogurt and mashed potatoes with butter and cheese. I have to force feed myself.

But I am not skinny by any stretch either! So don't worry about eating disorders, it is just something that happened over the last year or so. I reckon it is grief, won't go into it, but that's what I put it down as.

I look longingly at people in a restaurant who can pack away four courses no bother, but me? I feel full looking at them.

Had it checked, and it is just one of those things. To lose your love for nice food is incredibly sad, well for me it is.

I’m the same. I’m not overweight. I feel ill if I miss breakfast, get shaky if I have lunch later than 12 or dinner later than 6, and need a substantial snack around 3/4pm.

I’ve found drinking lots of water and making sure every meal is protein rich has helped.

I can’t face eggs for breakfast on weekdays, but add chia seeds and nuts to porridge for protein.

I have a completely carb free lunch - a big salad with a substantial portion of lentils or chickpeas, 2/3 eggs or 6/7 falafels (currently vegetarian) - which over time seems to have massively helped with hunger, fatigue etc.

I have a banana and a dessert spoon up of peanut butter or Greek yoghurt with nuts and fruit mid afternoon.

Low carb dinner - protein, veg and if I add carbs it’s sweet potato, brown rice, quinoa etc.

If I eat like this I feel so much better.

It doesn't make any difference to me whether I eat breakfast or not, I'm still starving at 11 o'clock. So if I want to lose a pound or two I skip breakfast. Then fruit all morning until plenty of protein at lunch. Still struggle to get to dinner without a snack though, tbh!

I have just started to try and not eat any carbs unless they are 100% whole grain. So brown bread, pasta, rice etc. Its a bit of a PITA and I was doing it for health/weight loss reasons, but I have found that I am not as hungry as I used to be. Brown and wild rice cakes for snacking are also v filling and not many calories, so you can eat a few and feel full.

Try a low GI diet (lifestyle rather than weight loss) I used to get the shakes and cold sweats until I started it, felt really weird for a couple of days but then felt so much better than I did before I started the diet. No shakes or hunger pangs

Put some nuts dried fruit and seeds in your porridge and buy some protein shake powder?

Can you delay eating breakfast until 9 / 9:30? I find if I eat breakfast early then I am constantly hungry where as if I have yoghurt and granola at my desk at 9:30 I'm less likely to feel hungry. Dried fruit and nuts, maybe some cheese chunks. Soup and salad for lunch. I'm cutting out bread, rice and pasta at the moment. The soup and salad combination seems to be working for me for lunch.

Thanks for all the advice and tips.

I probably should have said, I got home and ate cheese crackers and pineapple, still felt starving, but once it had gone down I didn't really want my tea.

Not hungry at all now, first time in the day I've felt full.

I'd love to bulk up breakfast or eat it later I'm not sure if it would work. I need to leave at 7.30am, so don't feel like eating much more than a bowl of porridge. I could eat it at work but don't really get time once my day starts. Unless I made some granola or something.

Will try some more inventive snacks and lunch.

I haven't had my bloods checked for a while.

Are you eating low fat foods? Making sure you’re eating more fat may help curb your hunger. I only started not feeling hungry when I went low carb high fat and ironically - started some fasting.

I need to eat quite a bit. I used to suffer from low blood sugar too. Try snacking on nuts. The graze packs are quite good. I think some people just need to eat little and often that's all. Could you add a smoothy to your breakfast? I have a nutribullet and love it.

More fat, more protein

Cereal doesn't work

Have a cheese omelette for breakfast. Add ham and spinach if you like

Big chicken and cheese salad with oily dressing for lunch

Cauliflower cheese and a steak for dinner

Porridge just raises your blood sugar.

I have pondered a fasting diet regime - as much as I fear I’d pass out - as I’ve read that it’s a good way of retraining your body to release insulin more steadily. Our diets are so high in sugar that our bodies lose the ability to regulate sugar/insulin unless we have a long period of nothing being digested. For the same reason it is recommended by some that you don’t eat for a 12-14 hour period - usually overnight.

Fasting is amazing at sorting out your insulin. I found I used to get more hungry if I ate breakfast as it started my body on “eating” mode. Just not eating breakfast is an easy way to start some fasting.

All food for thought, I really don't have time for an omelette on work days, I have to leave at 7.30, that's after getting two kids ready.

I've been brought up to believe 'breakfast is the most important meal of the day', though to be honest, I doubt it would make any difference to me because I'm starving by 10am anyway!

I was the same as you OP until I cur right down on carbs. Eat full fat products and more protein. Cut out all white carbs and cut down on bread, cereals, potatoes etc.