If you are watching what you eat, losing weight but managing to not feel hungry or obsess about food all the time, please tell me about it!

[frillyfairylights]

I'm not very overweight but would like to shed a few pounds.
Every time I attempt to restrict my calories, I just feel hungry and can't stop thinking about food! It's probably psychological as I haven't ever severely restricted my calories, but obviously the end effect is the same (ie I still feel hungry).
So if you have any recommendations as to plans or ways of eating that somehow avoid this, I would be very grateful to hear them! (Or is this just wishful thinking?!)

I low carb and exercise. No counting calories so it's not restricting amount I eat.

Low carb high fat is reputed to be the best for this as the fat and protein make you feel full and the lack of sugars and carbs reduces cravings.
Look at the Bootcamp threads on here for more info

Thank you, I had tried low carbing before but struggled without bread and pasta etc. Maybe if I do some more research and plan my food a bit better I will have more success. I'll head over to the bootcamp thread and try to find some inspiration.

I don't low carb as such, but when I manage to go cold turkey on sugar (biscuits etc.) it makes a huge difference to cravings. When I lost weight recently I did have to go through a couple of weeks of feeling hungry a lot of the time, but your body does adjust and you get used to eating less and you realise that the first hunger pangs do go away if you don't immediately reach for a snack.

My theory on weight loss (not particularly groundbreaking) is that you have to feel hungry to some extent, because that's when your body starts using its energy stores.

Low carb high fat is reputed to be the best for this as the fat and protein make you feel full and the lack of sugars and carbs reduces cravings.
Look at the Bootcamp threads on here for more info

Sorry don't know how I've posted twice!

How much are you restricting by? I'm on 1400kcal per day, and with a little bit of care and planning it's fine. However, when I first started, and any time I have a few days eating shit and boozing, I've been ravenous for up to a week. I'm sure it's the sugar that destroys my hard-won equilibrium. I follow low GI principles most of the time.

I agree with JJ that some hunger is OK. Like the kind of hunger that makes you relish your next meal, as opposed to the kind of hunger that makes you help yourself to a stranger's leftovers.

Stopped eating breakfast - make sure I'm busy and keep going till lunchtime. At the moment it's working for me. I reckon it's saving me 500 cals a day by avoiding cereal and elevenses which is 3500 a week or one whole pound in weight loss.

My appetite at other meals has decreased.

The thing I can't get my head round is how long it will take to work off my excess ignores eight years of stuffing face, wishes for quick fix solution

I'm doing whole30. No grains no dairy no sugar no legumes for 30 days. After a first tough week of sugar cravings its great. Little restriction within the food groups and if you are hungry you eat. As a result of no sugar I feel So much more in control. So right now I'm a bit hungry but I know I will eat a 3egg veg omelette soon and it's ok, rather than a slightly panicky feeling and stuffing bread in my mouth if you see what I mean. Also, you can do lots of lovely cooking and planning and I love that, so I am indulge that side, just keeping it in the food groups allowed. Hoping that this is a generally sustainable lifestyle change rather than a short term diet. An example of what I eat would be three egg omelette with avocado for breakfast, Thai veg soup with prawns for lunch, salmon with veg, new pots and ghee hollandaisw for dinner. Snacks of veg fruit and nuts. Lost 5 pounds in three weeks which isn't loads but never been hungry and skin and hair looks great! I want to lose 10 pounds total so not bad I think!

Thank you so much for all your messages.

I typed a reply yesterday and posted it but it isn't showing up so don't know what happened there! I have tried to low carb before but really didn't do it properly, and have spent a large portion of the last 24 hours with my head in the boot camp threads!

I feel inspired to try it properly, the recipes look fantastic and hopefully if I can get through the needing sugar stage then this will be a sustainable change. My oh is diabetic so it would actually be really good for him too, though he is moaning that there's no way he will be able to manage without grabbing toast in the mornings!

Am now sat meal planning while ds naps, think preparation will be key to making this a success.

I do a daily 16:8 intermittent fast, so I essentially only eat during an eight hour "window" each day. For me that mean no breakfast. I also avoid all added sugars and most processed foods.

I just bought a size 10 dress today! Last June I was a size 18/20. :)

Slimfast coupled with using my fitness pal to count the calories. The plan is to slowly transfer to just using mfp to count calories. But atm I find the shakes fill me up more and for longer

Lots of swimming so I can have a few extra calories on a occasion.

I read 'why we get fat' and 'the Dorito effect' a few weeks ago. Haven't eaten pasta, bread or puds since - totally easy as the books left me so motivated. Have lost about 7 pounds!

I've not really restricted my calories as j find it makes me want to eat more. Instead I've just made a consious effort to limit my portion sizes, swapped 'bread' for the thins (100cals) and pasta/spaghetti for shredded courgette. So far it seems to be working and I'm loosing aprox 1-2lbs a week.
Oh and Saturdays were always a takeaway, now I've been making my own knowing roughly how many calories it is.
Good luck