Please help me to bear being hungry!!

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I am not following any diet or other, just have for my entire life tried to eat less than I (feel I) need, and have variously failed/succeeded/apparently beat the system. I know I need to just be able to put up with being hungry a lot of the time if I am to maintain an ideal weight. No especial question, just invite comments - how do you cope with hunger/not give on/revel in being strong?!!!!

start small and drink lots

stretch the gaps between meals by an hour at a time
and have a BIG drink of water or tea every couple of hours
(the old WW trick of a pint of water before a meal)

also realise that hunger pangs tend to pass after about 20 minutes as your body goes "oh well, better pull some stuff out of reserves"

What do you mean by an ideal weight?

You DON'T have to be hungry much of the time to maintain a healthy weight.

If you are fasting you will feel hungry sometimes. Just think of it as a physical sensation like any other. It's not painful or even particularly uncomfortable. It's just a harmless feeling and it passes within minutes.

Drinking water/tea tip is a good one. Really don't I have to be hungry all the time if want to lose a bit of weight? So I had a wholemeal pitta, small, with low fat houmous at 7.30am and by 9 am hungry again. Always the same. I am 5" and roughly 50kg so by no means big, but on a small frame am a bit wobbly/chunky. It shows when you're short I'd like to lose 5kg and not feel I am constantly obsessing about what snack next!

I think Lizzabadger that I have to get used to the feeling of hunger and just ignore it. I suppose it isn't the worst thing in the world but feels so pressing like I have to get it to go away! There is an urgency to it!

I get much hungrier if I don't eat much protein and good fats, and eat lots of carbs.

After that breakfast I would be hungry by 9am too.
The sort of things that keep me going:
A boiled egg, or a scrambled egg.
A small full fat Greek yogurt and a few berries and nuts.
A chicken drumstick with skin and a big handful of salad leaves with olive oil and lemon juice and herbs.
Some smoked salmon strips spread with full fat cream cheese and raw spinach, then rolled up.

I exercise first thing on an empty stomach, which kills appetite til later and then have one of the above as late as possible as brunch / lunch, sometimes not til 2pm, sometimes as early as 11am. The longer I leave it without 'breaking the seal ' the easier as starting to eat sets off stronger hunger pangs whereas just water means my digestive system tests and stays quieter, with just the odd wave of hunger that quickly passes.

Drink fizzy water and green tea or herbal tea all afternoon

Tough it out til 6.30/7pm and have big bowl of chicken and veg soup which completely fills me up.

Early night.

Eat breakfast later. A cup of tea is enough at 7.30, breakfast at 9-10 is better as it prevents mid morning snacking and means you can delay lunch. Lunch should be low carb, avoid sandwiches. High protein will keep you full longer. A big dinner bulked out with veg and salad. In theory that's a full day's food with no snacks and no hunger. That's the theory anyway!

Ehric
Out of interest, I find skipping food all day easy - I've done it twice or three times a week for nearly a year
but I need to drink every couple of hours - a huge mug of tea or a pint of water.
How do you get used to the not drinking during Ramadan?
Do you drink masses before sunrise?
Genuinely interested (as I'm pretty sure a lot of the weight loss people should not be sipping all day)

Hmm well yes it's hard and it isn't. I only had one day where my mouth was dry as the Sahara and that was out in the park with DS on one of those 30* days. Mostly it's just an awareness of being thirsty rather than a dry mouth. You get an energy slump in the afternoon which I'm sure is dehydration rather than hunger, fasting til 9pm is a very long time. I drink loads of water in the evenings and take two pints to bed, down one before bed and down the other when I wake up for the inevitable 10 couple of wee breaks. I must drink around 3 litres of water in a few hours and that seems to be enough to tide me over.
Do you mean that it's detrimental to weightloss to drink all day? I don't agree with that, but I think people should be careful drinking anything other than water. The calories in tea and coffee do add up!

Ehric
I'm not sure about the sipping - but is seems to be that people who are constantly telling their system to be ready for 'incoming' struggle to lose weight more than those who have nothing at all for several hours at a time (even water).

Afternoon energy slump - yup that makes sense, but as you say, a couple of pints during the night, and none of that lovely to dehydrate the system and its OK.

Amusingly the worst alcy I ever met was a Muslim Somali Chiefs son - but I think being Somali in exile was the main reason.

I've met lots of Muslims who have problems with alcohol tbh, in my H's country most young men drink but they do it covertly which leads to ridiculous binging and rushing to get it drunk rather than enjoying the social aspect. Macho culture also contributes! Can't turn down a drink and look like a weakling...
I've always found drinking plenty of water to help weightloss. It might be psychological though!

Soup is excellent for staving off hunger pangs, it actually takes longer for the stomach to empty after soup than after eating solid food. A spoonful of Swiss bouillon powder in hot water is a good, low-cal emergency drink.

I absolutely avoid any bread on fast days, you just don't get nearly enough sustenance for the number of calories it contains. And carbs leave you feeling hungry, sooner.

Drinking plenty of water is good too, you don't need to go mad but you just feel better if you are properly hydrated.

Your BMI is 21.5 so there is really no need to go hungry unless you want to.

If you do want to I would suggest changing the way you interpret the sensation of hunger.

Instead of interpreting it as something you have to act on immediately just stay with it, describe it to yourself without judging it, notice how long it takes to pass.

Really, though, be careful of overdoing it. I am concerned that you may have weight and shape issues if you've felt the need to be undereating your entire life.