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Nutrition Hunger management strategies

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WhatWouldHulkDo

WhatWouldHulkDo

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From personal experience, I believe that, unless you have a lot of excess weight, you can't drop weight without spending a good portion of the day hungry.

And, from personal experience, being hungry sucks.

Do you have any particular strategies for coping with being hungry? Things you do to help you "ride the hunger" a bit longer?


As a bad example - at one weight loss attempt, I said to myself, "whenever you feel hungry, do a few pushups to distract yourself". As it turns out, pushups do very little to make you feel less hungry.
 
I try to think of grumbling tummy being the point where I'm running on storage. I know that's not really how it works, but you're right, if controlling your weight with force you're going to feel hungry. I actually look forward to feeling hungry as opposed to eating.

In practice the feeling comes and goes in waves, once you ride a few of them the mindset eases a little (for me anyway).
 
WhatWouldHulkDo said:
From personal experience, I believe that, unless you have a lot of excess weight, you can't drop weight without spending a good portion of the day hungry.

And, from personal experience, being hungry sucks.

Do you have any particular strategies for coping with being hungry? Things you do to help you "ride the hunger" a bit longer?


As a bad example - at one weight loss attempt, I said to myself, "whenever you feel hungry, do a few pushups to distract yourself". As it turns out, pushups do very little to make you feel less hungry.
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I bring microwavable bone broth to work with me. I usually don't eat until noon so if I get hungry after my first morning meeting I heat it up and start sipping. Only 45-50 calories so no big impact there and takes the edge off.
 
Keep busy, drink plenty of water, eat fibre-rich vegetables.

None of these are especially fun, unfortunately.
 
I think the mistake a lot of people make is equating hungry with something negative.

Being hungry is beneficial, and necessary. Our brain and gut only do certain things (like release ghrelin, the "hunger" hormone which also contributes to mental focus). It's also important for proper gastric emptying and normal insulin function.

From personal experience (I always have 5-8 hours gap between meals), you get used to it and it no longer feels like hunger - it just feels better. If I go back to snacking, I can see a drop in my attention. YMMV since I do lots of yoga.

Also, sometimes the feeling of hunger is compulsive, not actual hunger.
 
I'm ALWAYS hungry.. I drink a lot of water too, I don't even eat sweets, so its not like I'm craving them. I'm 190lbs, trying to drop 10lbs, and its hard because I'm constantly hungry and I eat a lot.

Come 11am, at work I start to crash. For breakfast its, 3 eggs, a meat of some sort and vegetable bowl of healthy cereal with peanut butter powder, greek yogurt and protein shake.
 
Some of us find that our hunger can be trained. I’ve been doing variations on intermittent fasting for a year and a half, I currently have an 18 hour fasting window and a 6 hour feeding window that allows food starting at 1pm and ending at 7pm. And I start to feel hunger at.... 1pm. Back when I had a 4 hour feeding window from 3pm to 7pm, I would start to feel hunger at... 3pm.

My body gets used to relying on stored body energy during my fasting windows, so it doesn’t bother me with hunger.
 
Not all hunger is significant. One of the reasons for my Potato Hack was to work on this. There is the true, physiological hunger as need for food, then there is also a hunger of the brain to be amused. Potatoes produce incredible satiety, but they're kinda boring. It leads to feeling "hungry" and yet *not* hungry at the same time.

If you're not hungry enough to eat a cold, plain potato, you're not truly hungry.
 
A low calorie meal/snack for me is nuts and hummus.. if I'm working (physically) the beast must be fed something or it gets surly.
After the nuts/hummus I'm not hungry for several hours..

and don't skip the coffee!
 
WhatWouldHulkDo said:
Do you have any particular strategies for coping with being hungry? Things you do to help you "ride the hunger" a bit longer?
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Ori Hofmekler (sp?), the Warrior Diet person, thinks of the day as a period of under-eating followed by a period of over-eating. Under-eating seems better to me than fasting.

-S-
 
When hunger strikes:
- Renew intentions. Remind yourself of your goals.
- Distract by keeping busy. Walk, chat, focus on tasks etc.
- Small sips of warm liquid (water, coffee etc)
- Discipline equals freedom (from appetites)
 
I'm usually fine not eating, but I find if I do grab something it's go time. My wife calls it "oh oh, the flood gates open". I'd have to say though stay busy. If I get bored or am not doing much it seems to trigger FOOD TIME.
 
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