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.

Protein. You need 20-30grams with every meal. I worked with a nutritionist and PT and she explained you need this to keep full and have less hunger spikes. I preserved for a week or so, 25grams roughly every meal. It works.

16:8 fasting. I find that I'm hungrier by 11a.m. if I've had breakfast than if I haven't, or at least no less hungry. I've done IF before and it gave me digestive issues, but I'm being careful to drink plenty of water and herbal or black tea in the morning this time. I've only been doing it for two weeks, but my trousers feel a bit less tight already. Once I've had dinner I don't eat for 8 hours. I find it so much easier than restricting what I eat.

Drinking loads of water helped me fill up but I was constantly running to the toilet 😂

Do you only eat one meal a day whilst breastfeeding? Don't you get really hungry or fund it affects your milk supply? I am breastfeeding my toddler twins and trying to do IF, I did it before and lost weight but I've recently put half a stone back on. Im a bit shorter than you and I feel like I put weight on so easily now

You can always eat upon waking but stop eating early. When I IF, I eat until 2pm and then stop.

I did OMAD for much of last year and my nails and hair stopped growing. I did lose 70lbs though, so I guess there are no solutions only trade offs.

My main thoughts around weight loss aren't really about the food, it's about learning to say no (or later) to myself. I think I eat my emotions so to lose that emotional crutch was very hard. It's about the denial of comfort for me. It's more comfortable for me emotionally to graze and eat chocolate so that's what I did and I got to 226lb.

Don’t drink your calories. Black coffee, water, green tea.

low GI food. I eat tonnes of full fat Greek yogurt, berries, brown rice, oily fish and veg, pulses etc. Releases the energy slowly and I get hungry eventually but never that starving, low blood sugar have to eat now now feeling.

I work shifts so tend to eat only 2 big meals a day and maybe a light snack when I get home from work. My BMI is 22.

You get used to it. The first week or two is hard because your stomach is stretched out and you're used to eating excessive amounts, more than your body needs. After the first couple of weeks you really do adjust and start feeling full from smaller amounts. Stick with it, the benefits to your health will be wondrous. You can do this!

I have always managed it by intermittent fasting, which I naturally always did as can't stomach breakfast and then realised it's a 'thing' - by the time you get to mealtime, you can then have a much larger meal with higher calories and volume, and finish feeling very full despite not overdoing it with the calories.

Quite simply, less (or no) carbs, more protein and fat.
Eggs rock the world.
No flour, no bananas, no rice, no potatoes.

I find it easier to do it combined with IF, so I'm only eating lunch and dinner. For some reason, if I eat breakfast, I'm starving by 11am, whereas if I don't I can easily go till 2pm for lunch.

So I'm around 300 cals for lunch, max of 600 for dinner, leaves enough calories for a few snacks.

I cannot lose weight without cutting my calories to 1200 due to age and height.

1600 per day just to maintain weight without gaining must be normal for so many of us

I wanted to get onboard with IF, and I did for a couple of weeks, but I really missed my cup of tea in the mornings. I tried taking it black, but it really wasn't the same Sad I only take a splash of milk - no sugar.

I feel the same about a proper cup of tea with milk in the morning, but I decided that making that small sacrifice to enable IF is still preferable to and far easier than having to constantly restrict what I can eat.

I wanted to get onboard with IF, and I did for a couple of weeks, but I really missed my cup of tea in the mornings. I tried taking it black, but it really wasn't the same Sad I only take a splash of milk - no sugar.

I definitely need a couple of mugs of proper tea in the morning. I did the Zoe thing with a CGM, the tea (with a decent amount of skimmed milk) had negligible impact on my blood sugar so I decided to be pragmatic rather than purist.

You are much better off having a good breakfast and fasting at the end of the day for your health. Dr Satchin Panda has interesting research on the benefits of working with your body's natural circadian rhythm.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/24BjEcfOzEsNTpYVXWDsR6?si=8QX-JbhdQK2WL2AawWQYWQ

I dont know how people manage with IF or OMAD, I need to be eating every couple of hours....plenty of food too!
I just stick with whole plant foods mostly though as its really hard to physically over eat fruit and vegetables! Im kinda eating from 9am to 9pm, pretty sure my calorie deficit is only a couple of hundred calories as well.
But its working for me, managed to lose 100Ibs without ever feeling hungry or deprived. Im aiming for long term sustainability though and being hungry or really restricting myself just wont work for me long term.

Less carbs works for me. For breakfast I have 0% fat yogurt with strawberries, for lunch I have a salad - sweet chilli chicken, cucumber, tomato's, 30g cheese and some light mayo with some sweet chilli rice crackers then I have a smaller portion of what I'd normally have for my tea. This usually leaves me with enough calories left to have a small treat after my tea and stops me from being hungry/craving sweet things. I am currently due on though, proper hungry and craving anything and everything sweet!!

100lbs? That's amazing! Well done 👏

Lots of great advice.... it's inspiring me - thanks to everyone!

Can you exercise too OP? A lot of my PT clients struggle badly with diet alone, partly because of hunger. Working out more, means they can eat more too and still lose weight. Also, exercise controls leptin which is a hormone that can make you more hungry. It's generally 4 times more effective to lose bodyfat if you combine diet with exercise, as opposed to diet only.

This is great, very much a healthy and very effective approach, high fibre, high natural foods, etc. So nice to read!

I dont know how people manage with IF or OMAD, I need to be eating every couple of hours

Once I get used to it, it feels perfectly normal (16:8 IF, not OMAD - I couldn't do that!).

Yeah I would do intermittent fasting- drink shit loads of water until about midday, you'll find the hunger passes if you're hydrated (I actually do have milk in my tea and coffee so I'm not properly fasting). I've been having fruit and Greek yogurt with honey for lunch then a normal meal for dinner but just make sure I don't eat after about 5:30. My weight has been coming off nicely surprisingly 🤞🏻

Fill you plate up with loads of veg, it fills a lot of volume and is low calorie.

You are much better off having a good breakfast and fasting at the end of the day for your health.

Not if it makes it harder to stick to though. For many people (like me), there's not much time in the morning before work and they would not want to forego sitting down for a proper evening meal with their family. Aside from the social aspect, the last thing I'd want to do was give my teenage dc that skipping a main meal was a good idea.