To think you need to go hungry on a diet?

[username30473]

I didn't want to use the word diet it was just for the title. The last couple of years my diet has been appalling to say the least. I have always been a size 10 but now a size 12 touching 14. From the way I have eaten I actually think I could be a lot larger.
Anyway I am now trying to change my diet back to what it used to be and lose weight.

I actually started on Boxing Day so I am a week in and I am hungry all the time. I am not massively restricting myself either. Yesterday I have had yogurt/fruit for breakfast, beans and scrambled eggs on toast for lunch, fruit for afternoon snack and steak and chips for dinner with a couple of Jaffa cakes for dessert. I just think I am so use to eating so much now I just have to get use to be hungry until my body gets use to less food again.

Do others find this to be the case?

Aubrey 17. Good tip.
I fill a pitcher with 2 pints of water each day, leaving it near the kettle as a reminder, helps alot.

I agree. I am used to eating a lot - big meals with hefty snacks in between. Even having fruit instead of cake between meals leaves me hungry and irritable. I'd have eggs for breakfast at 8 and be starving by 11am. But it is normal to be hungry - the problem is I always ate at the first hunger pang, so have to get used to feeling hungry between meals. It's an uncomfortable feeling for me but my own fault for getting into such bad habits.

@SallyWD what is 16/8 please?

I haven’t read the whole thread but if you are reducing yr calories and still adding unhealthy food but staying under your calorie intake to lose weight then I think you will not increase yr energy levels. If , instead you focus on healthy foods, (more veg, legumes, fibre, fruit) then you will increase yr energy, move more which in turn will shift the weight, have more energy to do more and you will burn off any excess naturally. This way you will retain the positive changes, not have to be ‘aware’ of everything you eat, your cravings will change and you won’t want the heavy carb food (pizza, etc so much).

If however, you just reduce from one packet of Jaffa cakes to 2 a day to stay under yr calorie deficit you aren’t getting the nutrients that will give you energy. I think you’ll get sluggish and find it harder to quit the cravings.

Of course, it’s easy to know, another thing to do🙂

Surely being hungry is normal.
I'm hungry when I wake up.
I'm hungry by lunch time.
I'm bloody starving at tea time (but that's usually about 7 or 8pm)

Calorie calculators are iffy too. According to my age and weight, I burn 2000 per day.
According to my watch, I burn more like 1600 after a day with exercise (10k run) but usually 1200.

Try out the Joe Wicks plan. Seriously I ate more than I did before and it takes the emphasis off diet and weight and onto getting stronger and fitter. Great support network too if you want it. I was so unfit before and lost weight but most importantly gained muscle and my clothes fit better. I think the word diet makes people crave food.

@CozmicBee

I completely agree. The moment you say you are going on a diet, your body hears ‘deficit’ and goes into build fat mode. It’s small changes in a different direction.

Get yourself to slimming world.
There’s no need to think this way. Whilst experiencing hunger is important…eg, you should feel
Hungry before a meal…you shouldn’t need to feel hungry all the time tk lose weight.

I think the very idea of “dieting” is a gimmick. I think the better way to be is to streamline your diet (everyone is “on a diet”) over time to cut out what is bad for you and keep what is good, or add in what is good. In my mid-twenties I realised I was tired all the time, looked tired, had bad skin etc. I changed my diet. I'm 40 now and look better now than I did then. I have no excess fat that I don’t want. I eat junk but my diet is mainly healthful foods that I know will keep me healthy. I know this is going to sound sanctimonious but it may help some. I don’t get sick anymore. I had a very healthy pregnancy at 34. Scars heal fast, you can hardly see my C-section. I don’t have wrinkles, I have boundless energy. I supplement with what I can't get from diet, I take high dose Vitamin C and D and use things like kelp and alphalipoic acid and MSM. I enjoy taking care of my health and I never go hungry or deprive myself. What we put in our bodies is so important and yet so neglected. If we're constantly thinking ‘oh I need to go on a diet’ instead of ‘I will improve my diet’ we'll never get where we want to be. I want to be healthy, look good, and live long and I believe this all begins with diet.

Just by adding a big green salad to your meal would fill you up with little calories.

@KarenTheGammonRemoaner

Spot on

Yes I feel hungry a lot when I’m trying to lose weight but once I’m in a routine the hunger pains aren’t that frequent. The body has been used to lots of extra calories so it’s definitely going to feel the effects when eating less

I managed to lose a stone by just halving my portions and keeping busy.

I’m on day one of my “trying to reduce my fuck ups over the last two weeks but can’t do more than remove snacks and uptick exercise as I’m pregnant” but I have remembered there is a half eaten bag of skittles downstairs.

Help.

Drink at least 2L of water a day helps with hunger

I think, OP, that your sugar and carb intake is what's making you hungry. There's so much good nutritionist advice out there now about how constant high blood insulin levels (in response to sugar and refined carbs in the diet) keep you hungry. Yogurt ( bet it was low fat, therefore high sugar) beans (sugary) toast (standard loaf?) Jaffa cakes ( sugar).
Fat isn't the enemy, it's sugar, all the way.

Nope, I’m shite at dieting. But have to keep my weight down to ride horses.
Only usually have around a stone or stone and a bit to lose, but I can eat like it’s a competitive sport and I’m in training for the Olympics…….
I’m now in my mid 40’s and spent the past almost 20 years dieting yearly to keep my weight down (I’m tall and broad, which doesn’t help)
I’ve been keto now for the last 3 years. Easiest I’ve ever found and stops me eating like a sumo wrestler.

I had my pre-checks for knee surgery and it was discovered that I was diabetic. I had to get my blood sugar levels down before surgery. I completely changed my diet - cut out carbs, ate a diet high in protein, healthy fat (ie full fat yoghurt, avocados, nuts) and lots of vegetables. I nearly two stone on three months, got my blood sugar down to acceptable levels and can honestly say it was the first time I have ever dieted without feeling hungry.

I recently learned (don't judge me) that carbs are responsible for keeping your insulin level high which is why so many people can't lose weight because high insulin reserves sugar in your body and we all know where that leads. You just need filling foods not carb related which can seem tough and why you are hungry probably, because your used to feeling carb full. I'm going through the menopause so stuff I used to eat no problem are now a massive problem I've ballooned to a size 16 from a comfortable 10, no change in diet no change in exercise etc just the way it is. Hormones play a massive role in weight maintenance aswell as diet. It's All a rollercoaster tbh, gotta ride it and figure it out through trial an error, but a diet done right shouldn't leave you hungry. However having said that a feeling of hunger isn't a bad thing, it's a signal we've lost over time a genuine signal 'hey I'm hungry fuel me properly please' rather than oh it's lunchtime I'm going to eat now 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don't actually be have any decent advice but I wish you the best of luck

Oh and just to mirror what others have said, it's not fats/oils that are the enemy it's sugar, sugar is officially the devil every bit that salt is!!!

@Suzypoo10

Did you have any

Bread
Potatoes
Rice
Wheat
Veg

I thought a small amount of carbs was ok?

@MammaMacgill87 same here , I’ve really thickened round my waist and my eating habits haven’t changed, I am on a mission to get back into shape , so have reduced carbs and upped the veg and am walking every day.

I’ve lost 33 pounds since I started on my diet, I’ve not been hungry at all. I plan my whole days food intake the night before and calorie count.

Do slimming world properly. Ignore the no carbs option, as people have great results for a week but don’t sustain it. Just do their normal programme and the weight falls off. If you do it properly, you don’t get hungry.

"That's a terrible diet all round - where are the fresh vegetables?"

Rubbish. It was healthy until dinner time.

"yogurt/fruit for breakfast, beans and scrambled eggs on toast for lunch, fruit for afternoon snack "

There is nothing that says fresh veg is better than frozen or tinned for weightloss. Granted, tinned baked beans usually come in an unhealthy sauce, but in general veg doesn't have to be 'fresh'. Yogurt is good for you, fruit in moderation, beans for iron and protein (sauce probably not good), egg for protein and other good things.