This past week I have been hungry all the time. I have been eating more than I think I should but I lost weight this week. If I'm still losing weight should I eat when I'm hungry even if I know that 1500 calories should be enough? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to beat the hunger? Here is what I ate one day this week:

B- cheerios with skim milk, sip of juice to take vitamin
S- donut
L- 1 and 3/4 grilled cheese
D- 2 slices low fat lasagna, low fat granola bar
S- lasagna, club crackers, and granola bar

Thanks for any suggestions
Jennifer

quote:

Originally posted by My Name Here:
I want to add that cutting back too much too fast can also make you hungry. Your body will ask for the amount of food you have been giving it and if you drastically cut that you will be hungry.


I find that if I am truly hungry, as in hungry enough to go eat some carrots or broccoli (they're not "fun"), then I need food.

I'm always hungry for a couple of days after vacations or holidays when I'm eat out more and eating more calories. But after a couple of days my appetite/hunger return to normal.

Yeah, that "Apples don't look good... but cookies do!!" so I must not really be hungry is a great test. If I'm really hungry apples and salad and soup all sound good. If I want to eat (but am not physically hungry) chocolate, cookies, cake and cheese only sound good.

Great advice! I am impressed and will think about some of these things myself. I want to add that cutting back too much too fast can also make you hungry. Your body will ask for the amount of food you have been giving it and if you drastically cut that you will be hungry. You said you still lost weight so you must have cut back from what you were eating before. I find that if I am truly hungry, as in hungry enough to go eat some carrots or broccoli (they're not "fun"), then I need food. You really do need to consume enough calories to support weight loss, and that is higher if you weigh more. You don't have to starve to lose.

bump for Melissa

You guys are so great. Thanks for all of the feedback. When I look back over what I ate last week I can't believe I lost weight. I guess the exercise helped more than I thought it would. I'm not really trying to lose weight I just want to eat better to set a good example for my daughter. She is starting to eat table foods and always wants what my husband and I are eating. I'm going to try to ask myself "would I let Hannah eat a bite of this?". If the answer is no then I probably don't need to answer it either. Today I did much better. I ate fruit with breakfast and a big salad for lunch. Thanks again everyone for the support.

Jennifer

Jennifer,

First of all, Hi I haven't "met" you yet...I only read a couple of postings per day....

Anyhow, I haven't read anyone else's responses, and I'm sure this has been brought up already, but just in case it hasn't, I noticed that you don't have any fruit or vegetables on this day. The fruits and vegetables are a great way to fill that empty spot in your tummy, as well as getting necessary nutrients and fiber. AND they are really low calorie.

An average 1500 calorie day for me looks like this:

6 am: 1/3 of 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites, 2 oz. of diced ham or turkey bacon all scrambled together
1 slice of toast with 1 tsp. all fruit jam
cup of coffee with stevia and 2 T. skim milk

9:30 am: 1/2 an apple, 1/2 an orange, 1/4 mango all sliced
hot tea

12noon: 2 slices whole wheat bread
2 oz. turkey or ham, or 1/2 can of tuna mixed with Smart Choice mayo and mustard
a HUGE salad with lots of veggies

3:00 pm: carrots and salsa, a couple of whole wheat crackers and sometimes 1/2 ounce low fat (or full fat, depending on what I have in the house) cheese

6 pm:
2 1/2-3 oz. lean meat
1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup steamed veggies
1- 1 1/2 cups salad with homemade vinaigrette

8 pm:
cup of tea with sweetener and milk
a cookie or a small (1/4 CUP)scoop of ice cream

I hope that helps.

Edited to add: I just reread this, and realized that it looks as though all I drink is coffee and tea...that is not the case. I am a HUGE water drinker. I commonly drink a gallon of plain, clear (or with a lemon or lime slice) water per day. I haven't been getting this in every day recently, which I think is why I've got more tea in here than normal, but I do drink LOTS of water in addition to the tea and coffee.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lori4squaremom,

quote:

Originally posted by Sheltieguy:

quote:

...cheerios with skim milk...

I add (IQF-frozen) raspberries/blackberries to my Cheerios, for a more substantial meal. I guess all those little seeds count as filling fiber.

I am hooked on the IQF raspberries. I add them to my yogurt and cereal. The flavor is BURSTING in my mouth.

quote:

They recommend 4-5 servings of fruits AND 4-5 servings of vegs a day (so does DASH and the USDA pyramid). That might be kind of overwhelming... and I don't know what it would do to your GI track to go from virtually no servings to 8-10. Personally, I've got Teflon coated guts and never get bloated or gassy or anything... but some people do if they increase their fiber a lot.

You may want to add a serving of fruit/vegs to every meal and a snack.

Excellent point! You definitely want to baby step your way into this. I wanted to encourage you to educate yourself but definitely agree that you don't want to try and plunge in and radically change everything at once. Heck, I don't come anywhere close to that many fruit/veggie servings 2 years later...I'm still doing good to get my 5 a day in.

I saw your plan for today in What's for Dinner and it looks like you are headed that way with the new fruit additions and the carrots at lunch. Good job!

Peg

quote:

Originally posted by p7eggyc:
2. Do you know what appropriate serving sizes and numbers are for the various food groups? If not, you might want to explore some various eating plans to discover some of that. Options might include looking at the American Diabetes Assoc or the DASH dietwhich both give sensible eating plans.

The Mayo Clinic Weight Loss Pyramid is also easy to use. You can fool around with the "Increase you daily calorie goals" link and get plans for 1200, 1400 and 1600 cals per day.

They recommend 4-5 servings of fruits AND 4-5 servings of vegs a day (so does DASH and the USDA pyramid). That might be kind of overwhelming... and I don't know what it would do to your GI track to go from virtually no servings to 8-10. Personally, I've got Teflon coated guts and never get bloated or gassy or anything... but some people do if they increase their fiber a lot.

You may want to add a serving of fruit/vegs to every meal and a snack.

www.mypyramid.gov is also a good resourse. MyPyramid.gov and DASH will give you calorie counts based on MAINTAINING... not losing. MyPryramid.gov doesn't ask your weight and it suggests too many calories for me since I'm shorter than average.

I also echo Alli's post that when I'm eating a varied diet and meeting all of my nutritional needs... I'm not hungry.

It is also hard to figure out that sweets thing, like Peg said. You don't want to be deprived but you don't want to over do it. Some people do better having a treat every single day and some do better having dessert a couple times a week. I fall into the second camp, but everybody has to figure it out for themselves.

Jennifer,
Wanted to echo Denise's support of you posting your food...it was a great action to take! That's exactly what the board does for us.

I wanted to suggest a few questions you might want to ask yourself. Feel free to post the answers if you're so inclined.

1. Which fruits and veggies do you like? How do you like them prepared? What stops you from eating fruits/veggies?

2. Do you know what appropriate serving sizes and numbers are for the various food groups? If not, you might want to explore some various eating plans to discover some of that. Options might include looking at the American Diabetes Assoc or the DASH dietwhich both give sensible eating plans. Another idea might be to go see a registered dietician.

3. One of the things that Alli mentioned is that you are going to have to figure out how often a donut (or whatever treat) is going to be part of your eating plan. This is one area that sounds easier than it really is. It's a constant question of how much is too little = deprivation vs. how much is too much = hindering weight loss.

HTH!

Peg

I want to add my voice to the "eat more fruits and veggies" crowd. You may be hungry because your body wants more in the way of vitamins and minerals--calories are not the only thing we need.

You should be shooting for a minimum of 5 servings of fruits and veggies daily. Adding fruit to the cereal, carrot sticks or apple with the sandwich, a salad with the lasagna...all these will fill your stomach more and give your body what it needs.

A trick I use is to count variety of fruits and veggies, rather than just servings, and I shoot for eating 10-15 different plants a day. I also try to think of it as eating across a rainbow...get some green, some red, some orange and yellow, maybe some blue in each day.

Another way to feel fuller is to slowly change the grains you are eating to whole grains. Whole grain products are higher in fiber, and fill you up longer. Oatmeal instead of cheerios, whole bread bread with that grilled cheese, whole wheat crackers... that sort of stuff.

And lastly, mix up your protein sources...this day here the only protein I see is dairy, though there may be some meat as well as cheese in the lasagna. If you eat meat, try some grilled chicken or fish with a salad for dinner. Try tofu, too. You can buy pre-cooked flavored tofu that can be tossed with steamed veggies or sliced and put on a salad. And beans are a great source of protein, as well as trace minerals.

I've had great success, too, with trying to make my calories count nutritionally. The donut, for example, has little to offer beyond calories. So something like that I would make a very rare treat that would count for pleasure (which can be as important as nutrition, but needs to be indulged in sparingly). Calorie splurges like that have an honored place in my plan, but not daily. If you want a "heavier" snack, try a palmful of nuts (trace minerals and essentail fatty acids), peanut butter (protein), or dark chocolate (anti-oxidants).

One final thing I noticed...you've got a lot of after dinner snacks, but a fairly modest breakfast. Try switching that around. You could find that eating a larger meal at the start of your day will better regulate your appetite throughout the day.

quote:

...cheerios with skim milk...

I add (IQF-frozen) raspberries/blackberries to my Cheerios, for a more substantial meal. I guess all those little seeds count as filling fiber.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Today I will try to eat more fruits and veggies and less sweets.

Jennifer

You have already gotten good suggestions. The only thing I would add specifically is to suggest white grapes.
They are bite sized and make a good snack. When you get them home from the store pull them off the stems, wash them and put them in a container that is easy to get into in the fridge. That way you can grab a few when you want a quick snack or just want something to chew on.
For quick veggies I buy brocolli, cauliflower and baby carrots (the carrots are in the little snack pack bags). When I get home from the store I chop the brocolli and cauliflower very small and mix them together 2 to 1. They will store in the fridge that way a day or two (sometimes 3). When I want to cook them I put 2 or 3 cups in a sauce pan, run one bag of baby carrots in the mini chopper and add that to the pan. I also add some freshly grated ginger (oh, about a tablespoon, I guess) and some salt and pepper to taste. Put it on high heat for just a minute or so (stirring) then pour in about 1/4 c water, turn the heat down to low and put a lid on it. Let them steam 10-15 min stirring occasionally. Sometimes I add just a smidge of EVOO when I am stirring in the carrots & ginger.


This days worth of food whould have left me hungry also.
Just curious, what brand of granola bars do you use and is the lasagna home made or store bought?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BrenauMom,

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GoingSkiing:
Hi Jennifer,

You've got no fruits or vegs in your day.

I also know that if I ate that much cheese sandwiches and lasagna, I'd have to eat SMALL portions since cheese is high in calories. You're also eating a lot of saturated fat with all that cheese, which may cause cholesterol issues. Lean protien or tofu or beans would be more filling than cheese.

I do better when I skip donuts and granola bars and crackers most days. When I eat that kind of thing... I end up hungry for more and I mentally crave more even when I'm not physically hungry.

I do WAY better when I eat fruit, veg soup or salad or a whole grain with little/no sugar for a snack.

You're brave to post what you eat and ask for feedback. Good for you!![/QUOTE

Ditto to everything Denise said.

When eating only 1500 calories (that's what I eat too btw), it's really hard to get in all the vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay healthy if the majority of your calories are coming from sugar and fat.

Whole grains and veggies will fill you up and keep you full longer as well as providing lots of nutritional bang for your buck.

Not enough protein. You need balance in your diet and protein is digested slower than carbs. Carbs are quick fuel, so they satisfy you for a shorter time. Add protein to either your morning or lunchtime. It will get you through the day better.

Hi Jennifer,

You've got no fruits or vegs in your day.

I also know that if I ate that much cheese sandwiches and lasagna, I'd have to eat SMALL portions since cheese is high in calories. You're also eating a lot of saturated fat with all that cheese, which may cause cholesterol issues. Lean protien or tofu or beans would be more filling than cheese.

I do better when I skip donuts and granola bars and crackers most days. When I eat that kind of thing... I end up hungry for more and I mentally crave more even when I'm not physically hungry.

I do WAY better when I eat fruit, veg soup or salad or a whole grain with little/no sugar for a snack.

You're brave to post what you eat and ask for feedback. Good for you!!

Hi Jennifer!

Congrats on the weight loss and a Hi from a fellow Coloradoan.

I would also advocate for some more fruits and veggies. A few suggestions:
B: Add a piece of fruit to your breakfast
S: Skip the donut and choose a protein/carb combo...peanut butter on ww bread, string cheese and crackers, carrots and hummus or I usually just have straight fruit for my morning snack.
L: Less sandwich, add some veggie sides...a salad, a broth based veggie rich soup (watch the sodium if that is an issue for you), carrots, celery, one of KD's slaws (the spicy carrot one in book 1 is awesome)
S: Put a snack in the afternoon...your granola bar might work although you have to be careful of empty calories on those. See my suggestions for morning snack but I find it more important to do the protein/carb combo thing in the afternoon
D: Again, less lasagna, add some veggies. Perfect meal for a salad, steam some frozen peas or some broccoli.

Overall, even though you are getting 1500 calories done, you aren't getting much volume for those calories. Choosing fruits, veggies and whole grains (barley, brown rice, whole wheat couscous, whole wheat breads) will help fill you up better for the same number of calories.

HTH!

Peg

PS) You didn't mention water intake but water can help fill you up too and it will help flush the 'stuff' you are shedding as you lose weight.

Looks like you could use some fruits and vegetables. They add a lot of volume without too many calories. They will help you feel fuller longer.

I am a bad one to comment on this one since I have tried for over 20 years and have not learned to eat more then one meal a day. But are you sure it is actual hunger and not the need to chew or drink some fluid? I don't get a hunger signal but sometimes I just want to chew. A few pieces of dried cereal works for me. The other thing is are you going through and emotional pull. Stress job change, loss of a family member? Some of those things can trigger the munchie need even when you feel full. Hope this helps some.