I'm losing weight but I'm so hungry 😭

[Clemopesea]

I've been about a stone to a stone and a half overweight for pretty much all my adult life, yo yo-ing back and forth on various diets (I've tried them all including keto). After a shit time and 3 back to back miscarriages I comfort ate my way into oblivion and had a nasty shock when I realised I was now nearly 2.5 stone overweight and had just tipped into the "obese" BMI range. at 5ft 3 with a desk job my TDEE is 1700 cals so a 1lb loss requires me to eat no more than 1200 calories a day. I've been doing this for 8 weeks (that's the longest I've ever stuck to a diet) and I've lost nearly a stone which is obviously great. However, I'm starving all the time and I'm finding it is seriously affecting my mood. I follow a Mediterranean style diet with plenty of protein, healthy fats, fibre etc (which I always did, just ate too much of it) and I am just starving. To the extent that I'm often so hungry it wakes me up at night. I eat two meals a day, 400 cals for lunch and 600 for dinner with 200 left for milk in tea or a small snack etc. I cannot do any high impact exercise due to a knee injury but I walk 10-15k steps per day and do some yoga. I'm completely healthy otherwise. My thyroid is normal (not just within NHS normal ranges but genuinely completely normal).

I would have thought after 8 weeks I'd be getting more used to the smaller calorie allowance but I'm so hungry I can't bear it. I tried upping my calories to 1400-1500 but weight loss completely plateaud. With all previous diets I've felt hunger like this but always assumed it was because I hadn't stuck to them so hadn't adjusted. Am I destined to just feel starving forever now?

I found a low carb diet impossible to stick to, but did well with a low fat diet.

Unless you have loads in a day, I'd stop counting the milk in your tea and add a protein shake or 2 to your day

Whenever I have tried protein shakes they have completely fucked my stomach up, I don't know if there's a different sort I could try? I don't have a sensitive tummy at all but for some reason protein shakes make it feel horrible, all gurgly and acidic.

Can't bear low fat yoghurt, cheese etc, skimmed milk, spray oil - tastes awful to me.

I'm short and also to loose weight I need to stay at 1200 cal. It is really hard.

I think you could be cleverer with you meals. Turkey rashers are less than 30 cals per rasher with poached egg is very low cals.

Apple and spoon of peanut butter before bed with a cuppa should keep hunger at bay.

I had a mini wrap today with a small tin tuna and sweet corn lettuce and little bit of mayo was coming in at about 260 cals for me today and it was super filling.

Porridge could be a good filling brekkie.

I’ll probably get shredded for suggesting it, but get yourself a prescription for Ozempic from an online pharmacy
It will kill your appetite stone dead and you won’t feel hunger

I don't eat breakfast, only lunch and dinner, because my eating window is 12-8 and I do stick to that quite religiously (though I do have a tea first thing and last thing).

I have just had a nicely satieting dinner consisting of meat loaf, green beans and broccoli, but I have gone over my calories for the day in doing so.

So I used to take ADHD meds which had the same effect, and I had to stop them because I found that without an appetite I found it impossible to meal plan or to cook for others - I'm the main cook in my family so this caused a big issue. I found the whole thought of food revolting - was struggling to get in any nutrients.

In any case I don't meet the NHS criteria for weight loss injections and I certainly can't afford them privately.

from what you posted above, I’d cut out the fat. No bitter or crème fraîche etc. Try using low calorie seasoning and fry light.

Use the extra calories on protein so ham or chicken, chickpeas etc

Fair enough, some of it does taste awful, but I did find some stuff that was fine. I found it the lesser of two evils! I just couldn't stick to low carbs because of feeling hungry!

I can't stand stuff that's artificially low fat, it all tastes chemical to me.

I do have carbs occasionally in any case, but if I have carbs I don't combine them with loads of fat and so on. I generally stick to low carb because there was no difference in hunger levels between that and eating carbs, and I get more for my calories when I stick to low carb.

OP I'm sorry to say most slim people I know just put up with hunger.

I tend to lose a few pounds when smoking but otherwise I'm like you. I actually stopped lifting heavier weights because I was starving all the time, my then boyfriend and my sister had the same issue.

My sister has stuck with low carb, heavy weights and is slim and fit and bursting with health and stamina. I wouldn't be surprised if she climbs a mountain next. But she is hangry a lot of the time and there's no room for flex in her meals, if I miss a meal due to meetings etc I can cope. I think she's lucky that nothing stops her sleeping as well. I used to wake up hungry too.

I think a lot of it is about deciding mentally what you're happier with.

Honestly, OP?

You’re here once. Eat sensibly, enjoy your food, move about, and if your weight set-point is a bit high, so what? It’s not a crime.

@Spring45Mermaid I'm curious, why did you cut out gluten?

I'm where you are op, though i've not yet lost what you have. I'm just finding it all so....depressing. Endlessly depressing. I honestly hate "eating healthily", I'm so hungry and miserable all the time but can't go on as overweight as I was.

OP, I had the same when I was counting calories...so hungry I could chew my arm off! I'm now following WW which is also calorie controlled but there's a range of zero foods you can eat too (fat free cottage cheese, berries, green veg etc) so I fill up on that stuff. I'm never hungry and seem to be losing at 1 to 1.5lbs a week. I am similar height and TDEE to you.

I need to lose between a stone and a half but I am such a nightmare when hungry. Argh!

I just kind of feel that a) diets like that are low fat and I don't like low fat things that aren't naturally low in fat - fat free cottage cheese tastes revolting to me; and b) I'd still be stuffing my face on a diet like that and I don't want to be eating for the sake of eating iyswim. I accept that to lose weight I have to cope with being peckish. I can cope with that. I'd just like to not feel ravenous.

Try psyllium husk fibre

You mix it with water and it turns to a sort of liquid gel

Holland and Barrett sell it in a powder form

My diet has always been healthy - I've always eaten lots of veg, healthy fats, legumes, protein - I'm mediterranean myself so I eat that way and I cook from scratch always. But I use food as a comfort and always had huge portions, as well as lots of home baked cakes and bread etc. I eat good quality, home cooked food, not junk - but I ate too much of it, and that still makes you fat.

Honestly, maybe this is taboo on a weightloss board but this is no way to live is it? Any any weight loss you do achieve is going to have to be maintained and this is how you will have to eat for the rest of your life.

I'd rather be a bit fat thanks.

I would recommend weight lifting, eating more and enjoying life a bit rather than measuring out milk for tea.

If you are low carb anyway why not do keto? That will encourage your body to use fat as fuel more efficiently so you can eat more fat to feel satiated. You don’t even really need to watch the calories as much.

I know from experience keto isn't sustainable for me (for a start, I can easily binge on fatty things - I could drink a 300ml pot of double cream no bother), and I will give up and gain the weight back. I find it a really dull way to eat and I also was still hungry on it.

I felt like this when I was a stone overweight but 2.5 stone in the obese category was pushing it for me. A stone I could probably live with as I don't drink or smoke.