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?

Water is your friend here. Most feelings of "hunger" are actually feelings of dehydration it's just the brain can only give one signal.

If you feel hungry drink a pint of water and see if the feeling goes away after ten minutes, If it doesn't you are actually hungry but good news you'll eat less because you now have a pint of water sloshing about inside you 🤣

You should be feeling hungry but not attaching to the point you'll binge. We should all feel hunger at some points in the day.

Yep, this is how it works. You’re hungry for a week or so and then your body starts to get used to it with just the odd hungry day now and then. Try to increase your protein. So swap out your chips for loads of veg and use those calories for protein spread more through the day.

This is why I can’t face dieting tbh. I really hate the feeling of hunger.

When I was young I was very slim but didn’t need much food to jot feel hungry. I’m a 14 now which I don’t like but I also hate hunger

I did lowish carbing recently (sort of lapsed over christmas!) and found my body needed around a week to reset itself and get used to not eating loads of carbs. After that I was barely ever hungry. I'd see if your body gets used to the new reality!

Everything in moderation. This "advice" is recipe for failure.

It’s a recipe for losing weight. I successfully lost 20 kg on low carb and have kept it off for more than ten years. And I was never hungry.

I found doing keto for a while shrunk my stomach (as in the organ). I’m not as strict any more but I definitely can’t pack away as much food as I used to; there’s just no room!

Having been overweight most of my life, I have discovered that running a slight calorie deficit is what has worked for me. Maintenance is aiming for calorie balance over a week now. I always used to feel starving on unsuccessful diets but now at a healthy bmi for 2+ years I don't. Taking action if I drift up more than 3 pounds is also important to me. I could not lose 5 stone again!

I have realised two things recently.

Firstly, eating sugar and refined carbs makes you feel hungry within a couple of hours. For example, if I have a protein/fat heavy breakfast like eggs scrabbled in butter I get through to lunch without feeling hungry. If I have the same eggs scrambled in butter, but then have some chocolate mid morning I'm ravenous by lunchtime.

Secondly, it is perfectly normal, as PP pointed out, to be starting to feel hungry in the hour or so before your next meal. It is not normal to never feel hungry at all.

These two realisations have really helped me get my diet back on track. I've tried really hard to cut back on as much sugar/refined carbs as I can and also learned to appreciate the slight feeling of hunger knowing my next meal is imminent.

• Should always feel a bit hungry by the time you eat
• Being hungry and feeling hungry aren't necessarily the same thing
• Fizzy water (I add PLJ) helps

Also I'd have had carrots and peas with the steak and chips, but that's moving on from calorie-reducing to more general healthy eating - perhaps once you've reached your target weight you could simply add vegetables to the level you've got used to.

No, you don't have to go hungry.

You do have to learn to live with a little dissatisfaction, and not always having what you want, or as much as you want. But it gets easier the longer you do it.

I know personally I don’t often feel hungry ever … I just feel bored and want to eat rather than needing to eat. Once your body is used to that it is hard to stop that way of life.

You don’t need to starve yourself but generally, as a society, we’re used to being full all the time. Snacking being the worst culprit.

Being a bit hungry is perfectly normal, then eating enough food at mealtimes to stop that feeling (not keeping eating until you’re full though, as it takes time for the brain to register satiety). Portion size is key, too.

My Fitness Pal.

It will help you make better choices with your food so that you feel fuller for longer and don’t feel like you are starving yourself.

Why in earth does toast have to go?

@Blossomtoes

That’s a diet? What on earth do you eat normally? Chips, toast, Jaffa Cakes all need to go.

That's what I was thinking.

I stay at the low end of normal weight and if hungry in the evening I snack on things like seeds, nuts, dried prunes, figs.

I don't agree that you need to be hungry or that it's all about calorie deficit. Not all calories are equal.

When you've been overeating the feeling of hunger isn't true hunger. In normal times I can happily not eat until lunch time, over Christmas I've been eating (constantly...) from the moment I wake up, my stomach and appetite have increased. When I go back to work I will be hungry in the morning as I've been used to eating (a lot...), give it a couple of weeks of eating normally again and my appetite will decrease. I find my appetite is often "reset" after illness or being really busy for example.

So yes I think a degree of hunger isn't a bad thing and it isn't to be trusted as a marker of not eating enough.

@WishIwasElsa

Why in earth does toast have to go?

Refined carbs, ie empty calories.

Yes - unless you're very lucky, you will need to feel hungry to lose weight. Hunger isn't anything to be scared of (though it's obviously annoying and distracting!). It would have been a common experience throughout human evolution and there are physical benefits to be gained from short-term fasting.
I found I'm more tolerant of hunger at the end of the day, so I tend to eat my calories earlier when I'm more active. I also found I'm more tolerant of being more hungry for a short time (than less hungry for longer), so I find very low calorie diets are most effective for me.

@TooWicked

I always feel hungry in the hour or two leading up to my meals. I assumed that was normal for most people.

Agree with this.

You won’t stick to it if you’re hungry so up the protein and liquids - what about eggs for breakfast and something like soup for lunch?

Calorie counting is a really outdated way (not to mention unhealthy) way to lose weight. You need to change your way of eating, cut out processed foods, as much sugar as you can, refined grains and everything made from them and eat lots of fibre rich foods (vegetables, pulses). If you eat food rich in protein and fat you will feel fuller than if you eat calorie counted junk food.

Read 'Why we eat too much' - a fascinating explanation of how our hormones and tha balance between them (leptin and insulin mainly) affect our weight, metabolism and appetite.

But in a nutshell, yes. Your body absolutely regulates based on what you're eating so if you suddenly decrease what's going in - it will compel you to eat more ie hunger and it will take a while to balance out again.

Warning though - the other thing it does when it thinks there's a sudden shortage of food is increase the 'store fat' hormone which can make it even harder!!

Lower carb, higher fat & protein is what works to keep me very full and maintain a reasonable weight.

Yes, there will be a little more hunger involved. Eating lots of protein (eggs, fish etc) seems to help me feel less hungry but I still feel a vague emptiness a lot of the time when trying to lose weight.

are you certain that you're hungry, and not feeling the need to eat out of boredom or habit?
Not being facetious - but that is 99% of my "hunger"

Yes you have to accept being hungry. You have to eat less food than you need to lose weight.