How to eat in a calorie deficit and not be bloody starving!!

[flossie232]

Trying to eat in a calorie deficit of 1600. I have at least 1.5 stone to lose. I'm finding it so hard to keep to 1600, I'm just hungry all the time. I try to make good choices, today for example I had granola, Greek yoghurt and berries for breakfast thinking it would fill me up. By lunch I was starving again and had a hearty soup for about 300 calories which filled me up at the time but by the evening I was hungry again so ended up having a massive pasta dish that will have probably tipped me over my calories. Even with sensible meals it seems really tough to eat 3 satisfying meals a day and incorporate the other little things I like (like a few coffees, maybe a biscuit in the evening etc) without going over.

I know this method will work if I can find a way to eat within a deficit sustainably. Does anyone have any tips or maybe recommendations for low calorie but filling food? It's astonishing how quickly calories add up and how calorific certain things are.

On my working days I used to have a cereal bar and a coffee for breakfast, then a sandwich/crisps at lunch and something from a Gousto box for tea. I genuinely didn't think that was a lot but logging it all on MFP has made me realised how many calories are in things like supermarket sandwiches. It's all just such hard work.

I stick to 1500 calories and as an example, ate this today:

Breakfast = Nothing (16:8 fasting)
Lunch = 1 x tin tuna, 1 x packet salmon, 100g cottage cheese, tomatoes & grapes
Dinner = Chicken breast in yoghurt & spices, rice, brocoli
Snacks = Protein yoghurt, protein shake (with milk)

I go to the gym 4-5 times a week and try to ear 100g protein a day (yesterday was a particularly protein-filled day!) Luckily I like fish for lunch as it's so easy to take to work.

Lots of people have said protein already so I’m going to talk about fibre and roughage.

First thing in the morning take a psyllium husk tablet with at least 650ml water. This will fill you up.

Try to make your main meal lunch if you can and eat a lighter super. But for both or either focus on lots and lots of vegetables. Get a big bowl, no bigger than that, a wide big bowl not a deep one ideally. Then make a mega salad, you can fill it with a bag of salad leaves to start with then add sliced peppers, mushrooms, spring onions, carrots, spiralised courgette, sliced cabbage or kale, roasted chickpeas (not too many of those), tomatoes (it’s okay to have a lot) and add your protein of choice.

That protein can be chicken or fish if you eat meat, if you’re veggie then eggs, Quorn, tofu (but be aware it’s high in fat) or beans.

You can dress your salad with vinegar but steer clear of oil.

This will fill you up full of roughage which should make you feel pleasantly replete while actually having a low calorie count.

A massive bowl of (frozen then defrosted obv) blueberry or other berries at breakfast. - much better for you than a processed cereal bar.

lunch - green veg salad like spinach, broccoli green beans, add a tin of tuna, balsamic for dressing, rice cakes to add a bit on the side. plums, more blueberry or raspberries.

or: I do a tin of tomatoes. Add turmeric and cayenne pepper, eat it like soup with rice cakes or ryvita. 160 kcal lunch.

tea - veg stir fry no oil, chicken breast.
pud: 55 cal yoghurt and a kit kat

thats 800 approx

Porridge fills me up at breakfast time and is fairly low cal. Lower than yogurt and granola is quite high too.

Try a salad with some tuna for lunch and have it with couscous. Fish is quite low calorie too.

3 egg omelette with loads of veg.

Also have a look at quorn mince and have it with veggies rather than pasta or rice

I find carbs, especially processed ones are high in calories, as is red meat. Make sure at least 1/3 of your plate are vegetables.

Oh I forgot to say that potatoes and rice are much lower calorie than bread. Try to avoid bread. It’s insanely high calorie and doesn’t really stop you feeling hungry.

I found I have to train myself to see hunger as healthy. I always make sure I go to bed hungry to get used to it.

This is good advice.

Cereal for breakfast, bread for lunch, pasta for dinner is an awful diet in so many ways, whoever was in charge of nutrition education when we were all growing up has a lot to answer for.

Vegetables, lean protein, legumes, nuts and seeds, a small amount of fruit and full fat dairy - that's what we should all be eating. Some whole grains but not every meal or the bulk of any meal. Try to avoid anything that comes already made up in a packet.

Low carb (try to pair carbs with a protein), low sugar, lots of veg. I find eating fats for breakfast keeps me fuller for longer. At the moment I'm having a couple of slices of low carb chia bread toasted with butter and full fat Philadelphia and a coffee for breakfast and that fills me up til lunch.

My favourite fast day meal is a whole big bag of stir fry veg, with some soy sauce and garlic, ginger (no oil) and a small chicken breast. Makes a huge bowl, but as there’s no rice or noodles it is very low calorie.

I have Greek yoghurt with no added sugar muesli for office breakfast and eggs on home days.

Just ignore the hunger for a while, you’ll get used to it, honestly! I always feel normal-ish after a week or so if I’ve gone into consistent deficit.

I eat 1400 calories a day and am rarely hungry

Breakfast: full fat Greek yoghurt, chia seeds, berries and cherries

Lunch: salad leaves, tomatoes, pine nuts, avocado, jalapeños, cucumber, protein (salmon, tuna, eggs or cottage cheese). Bit of oil and balsamic

Dinner: chicken with loads of veg (broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, courgette, onion) or scrambled eggs with avocado, tomatoes and spinach or stir fried prawns with the above veg and cauliflower rice

One square of dark chocolate after dinner

On heavy exercise days I also have a snack of a protein yoghurt or a protein shake

@flossie232 protein and salad .. guaranteed!

also I am having collagen throughout the day and due to it’s protein content it makes me less hungry

I lost 5 kg since May (strict in the week, no limits in the weekend)

finally hunger means you’re losing weight, so good sign if you can tolerate

Everyone's mentioned protein already so:
Water
Water
Water

And you need to retrain your body's response to hunger cues. I had this, I saw hunger as something that needed to be rectified immediately. I also wanted to drink more water. So, if I got those hunger pangs, I'd drink a pint of water and wait half an hour. If I was still hungry, I'd eat a snack. But a lot of the time the hunger receeded into an acceptable level where I could recognise that I wasn't 'hungry' I was just 'not full' or 'wanting to habit eat' because of time of day/boredom/saw something I fancied etc.
It's really changed things for me. You have to STEEL it out for a bit though!
I also personally don't demonise bread or pasta, I just reduce the portion and up the protein.

You have my sympathies op. I’m larger now but before I had a baby I was constantly hungry. And slim!!!! I realise now how hard it is to lose it once it’s on.. terrible terrible advice but I used to smoke and drink a lot of coffee. And exercise a lot. Wouldn’t recommend those methods now! Deffo drink lots of water. I find having a banana when I start to get hungry helps. And also just keeping busy and trying not to notice the fact I am starving Marvin!! Lots of luck to you! x

Hello! I agree with the above you are not eating enough protein - aim for 100g per day. Also drink 2-3 litres a day (a lot of hunger is thirst). No food after 7pm.

I can do 1300 calories a day and not be hungry. See below as example of what I had today:
Breakfast - Lean with Lilly daily greens + 40g porridge oats, 180ml protein milk
Lunch - M&S tuna shake a salad
Dinner - Quorn sausages, peas and carrots
Snacks - Arla protein yoghurt, tangerine, pickled beetroot, quorn ham slices, teas

Would highly recommend Rob Swaine’s Shred in 7 if you want some help with it all. I was a similar weight to you and lost 2.5 stone on his shreds. I learnt so much and feeling much better.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

Start the day with a high protein and high fat breakfast eg scrambled egg with chorizo. Will fill you up for the day so you will be satisfied with a small lunch and smaller dinner.

It sounds as though you enjoy good and the attachment is to the process of eating.

As someone else said, try intermittent fasting

The majority of people who are overweight eat more than they need to but feel they eat healthily

You'll have had lots of recommendations for eating more protein, fibre and veg already - so, combine those and you get beans, which can be an excellent replacemnt for pasta, rice or potatoes. Tonight we had a salmon harissa traybake, which is a tin of cannellini or butter beans and a punnet of cherry toms, tossed in a spoonful of olive oil, on a baking tray with fish coated in a mix of Greek yogurt and harissa. Served with green veg such as spinach or brocolli it's really filling and healthy.

Apart from that, doing 16:8 is a good way to limit calories...I don't have breakfast, just a milky coffee mid morning, that does me fine till lunch.

Because I'm small and 63 though, the only way I can get a calorie deficit while eating reasonably is to also do consistent exercise, ideally an 8km walk per day (hard to fit into most people's schedules)

I find what's worked for me so far is:

porridge for breakfast (the sachets are great)

fruit and cheese for lunch

and I make a big salad which lasts a few days, so I don't have to think about what to make for dinner : lettuce / mixed leaves / sugarsnap peas / mangetout / peppers (any/all colours) / onion / finely sliced cabbage (red and/or white) / grated carrot and add whatever I fancy to it along the way - broccoli, boiled egg, asparagus etc.
I toss it in grated parmesan and have it with roasted or marinated cooked chicken, steak, ham, fish , etc whatever you fancy.
It sounds boring, but surprisingly isn't!

I find that not having to think too much about what to eat, and then having to prepare and cook it, helps enormously - because it's there in the fridge already 3/4 prepared.

There's room there also for sweet things / snacks afterwards - I love a cornetto or some chocolate, a packet of crisps or a couple of biscuits. And I can have a couple of (much-needed! 😂) glasses of vodka and tonic too

I seem to have just fallen into this way of eating at the minute (mainly cos I really just couldn't be bothered with cooking and meal-planning) and surprisingly I find it really works.

Can I ask is that maintenance calories and training? are you training for something? Sounds really impressive.

Boiled eggs OP. They're cheap and 2/3 can fill you up enormous amounts

granola bar - a poor choice for breakfast.
granola, Greek yoghurt and berries - too much carbs & sugar
hearty soup for about 300 calories which filled me up at the time - lots of volume but probably lots of carbs
Pasta - more carbs

Up the leafy veg & protein, don't avoid fat altogether, cut down on the carbs.

Boiled eggs OP. They're cheap and 2/3 can fill you up enormous amounts
This

Green veg digest slowly so keep you feeling full for longer.

The protein and fat give satiety.

Boiled eggs. They fill you up

Im currently trying to do 1200. Day on an app. Breakfast am having fruit & greek yogurt or scrambled egg. , mushrooms, toms etc.Lunch sandwich or salad with fruit. Crustless quiche Dinner salad and chicken. But i have had odd takeaway and then just lower cal lunch/ breakfast. Some days i have gone over then next day been a little under. The app set me at 1200 , which I did think was a little low as I have 4stone to loose , so i don’t stress if I go a little over.
but its not easy thinking of meals,

As PP stated. Eggs eggs eggs.

Keep the sweet stuff for the end of the meal, as a dessert not a snack.

I make 5 seed crackers as well... bloody love them!

And drink lots of water.