All I want to do is eat- help!!

T

Tamii

New member
Okay, so I'm on day 6 of my diet. Although I used to constantly think about food, up until today the lack of food hadn't really bothered me at all. (I say lack because I'm not eating that much differently, but eating a lot less. I realized I was hugely over eating once I wrote it all down.) BUT, today, I feel like I'm famished. It is taking everything I have not to go into that kitchen melt some cheese on a tortilla and devour it LOL. Seriously though, what do you do when you have a serious craving or feel very hungry but can't eat anymore without wrecking your progress? I'm having a weak moment here any advice would be awesome!!
 
If you are on day 6 and lost 9 lb (as per your ticker) then you just might be cutting your calories too severely. If that is accurate, that 9 lb weight loss could be mainly water and muscle, as you cannot lose 9 lb of fat in 6 days. You should shoot for 1 or 2 pounds a week.
 
No I didn't lose 9lbs in 6 days (i didn't know that was even possible?). I started working out consistently about a month ago, I just started counting calories 6 days ago. I've lost 1-2lbs since I changed my diet (depends on when I weigh myself). The rest of the weight came off from the change in my activity level.
 
Hard to say w/out more info.

What do you currently weigh? How many calories are you eating? What type of food are you eating?

You say that you want to go melt cheese on a tortilla and devour it - so the biggest question is are you really REALLY hungry, or are you just craving comfort food or junk food or the type of food that you've cut way back on?

Emotional hunger is a huge part of learning to eat differently to lose weight. Many people eat not out of true hunger, but because eating has become a habit; something they do when they're bored, something they do when they're watching tv or working on the computer, something they do habitually.

The first few weeks of a diet most people don't realize those habits/cravings because they're still kinda "high" on the whole healthy life change thing. It's not until a few weeks have gone by that the old habits start pushing in again and the urge to eat becomes an issue.

So look at what you're eating and how much you're eating. If that's correct for your height/weight, then most likely it's emotional/mental/habit, rather than true hunger.
 
Tamii said:
Okay, so I'm on day 6 of my diet. Although I used to constantly think about food, up until today the lack of food hadn't really bothered me at all. (I say lack because I'm not eating that much differently, but eating a lot less. I realized I was hugely over eating once I wrote it all down.) BUT, today, I feel like I'm famished. It is taking everything I have not to go into that kitchen melt some cheese on a tortilla and devour it LOL. Seriously though, what do you do when you have a serious craving or feel very hungry but can't eat anymore without wrecking your progress? I'm having a weak moment here any advice would be awesome!!
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I'm new at this so take it for what its worth.

I have only been at this for less than a month. And I am not trying to break records or change overnight.....I just want to be comfortable doing what I am doing and not get all bent outta shape over it.

I eat alot more healthier than I ever did. And when I am hungry, I try to make sure its not just a craving. Will power is the key...but if I have to give in, I make a healthy choice.

Grab something healthy to eat when you crave junk food. If you go over in calories....it will be minimal compared to the cheesey tortillas you considered having. At least you'll be in control of your eating. You put thought into your healthy choice, and you just didn't give in to the junk that got you in trouble in the first place.

Again, this is just something I would do. I hate being hungry....but I also love thinking healthy. Most of what I eat has some thought into it. (I want to put a spice jar in the rack that is labelled "Thought"...as a reminder that it has to go in everything I eat.)

Good luck on what ever you find works for you!
 
Grab something healthy to eat when you crave junk food.
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Yup. Here's something that someone from another forum said to me once and I have taken it to heart: If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you're not really hungry.
 
Thanks all. I would imagine it's just wanting to eat food I like instead of acutally needing to eat because my body is hungry. Not that it makes it any less uncomfortable lol. Ah well, I imagine this will get easier as my body gets used to not over eating. I was browsing some of the other posts and saw someone say they realized they weren't hungry they just weren't satisfied. That clicked, makes all kinds of sense to me.

Kara since you asked. I'm 205lbs, I had been eating 1200-1300 calories but after some advice on the nutrition board about BMR I'm going to up that 200-300 calories a day. I have been watching my fat intake too, but from what I've been reading on here it sounds like I might not need to be as concerned with that as long as I'm monitoring my calories...

This is an average day:
Breakfast: 1 Egg, 1/2 banana, Coffee w/ Creamer (If I can make myself avoid the caffine for the day I have 4oz of either milk or OJ)
Snack: 1/2 C Cottage Cheese, Water
Lunch: Flatbread wrap, 3 deli thin slices of Ham, 1T Hummus, 1/2 C Watermelon, Water
Dinner: 8oz grilled chicken with Cajun Spice rub, 1C Veggie Soup, handful of Baby Carrots, 8oz skim milk

I haven't varied much too much from these foods beause I know I like them and they will keep me in my calorie range.
 
Tamii said:
Thanks all. I would imagine it's just wanting to eat food I like instead of acutally needing to eat because my body is hungry. Not that it makes it any less uncomfortable lol. Ah well, I imagine this will get easier as my body gets used to not over eating. I was browsing some of the other posts and saw someone say they realized they weren't hungry they just weren't satisfied. That clicked, makes all kinds of sense to me.

Kara since you asked. I'm 205lbs, I had been eating 1200-1300 calories but after some advice on the nutrition board about BMR I'm going to up that 200-300 calories a day. I have been watching my fat intake too, but from what I've been reading on here it sounds like I might not need to be as concerned with that as long as I'm monitoring my calories...

This is an average day:
Breakfast: 1 Egg, 1/2 banana, Coffee w/ Creamer (If I can make myself avoid the caffine for the day I have 4oz of either milk or OJ)
Snack: 1/2 C Cottage Cheese, Water
Lunch: Flatbread wrap, 3 deli thin slices of Ham, 1T Hummus, 1/2 C Watermelon, Water
Dinner: 8oz grilled chicken with Cajun Spice rub, 1C Veggie Soup, handful of Baby Carrots, 8oz skim milk

I haven't varied much too much from these foods beause I know I like them and they will keep me in my calorie range.
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maybe im looking at your avg food per day idk just doesnt seem like you're getting enough food actually
 
Yeah. That seems really low. Here's what I ate today - a little over 1400 calories, which is within my range of 1400-1600 per day. (For comparison, I weighed 171 as of this morning.)

Breakfast: smoothie made with blueberries, chopped spinach, greek yogurt, protein powder - a large black coffee
Snack: V8 juice
Lunch: albacore tuna salad on wasa crackers, an apple, a Diet Coke
Snack: some pate on a baguette, baby carrots
Dinner: sirloin steak, a couple of roasted baby potatoes, a big mixed salad with tomatoes and a balsamic vinegar dressing

Cals: 1468
Protein: 126g
Fat: 39g
Carbs: 148g
Fiber: 25g

That works out to 41% carbs / 34% protein / 25% healthy fats, which for me is an almost perfect split.
 
KaraCooks said:
Yup. Here's something that someone from another forum said to me once and I have taken it to heart: If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you're not really hungry.
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Does that mantra still apply if the apple is dipped in caramel and then rolled in peanuts?
 
Tamii said:
Seriously though, what do you do when you have a serious craving or feel very hungry but can't eat anymore without wrecking your progress?
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When I get very hungry (that is to say, after having already eaten the proper amount of calories for the day), I think back to the night I had what I refer to as a food epiphany.

For a very long time, I was eating hundreds (and often thousands) of calories over what I needed to maintain my weight at the time (not to mention spending 16 to 20 dollars a day on food). There were some days I would eat an entire family size pizza for breakfast, a foot-long meatball sub for lunch, and a triple cheeseburger/Large Fry/20 chicken nuggets/40 oz soda from Wendy's for dinner. Yet, the more I would eat each day, the hungrier (and poorer) I would be in the long run.

Then one night a while back, I was hit by an "epiphany" so obvious that I felt downright stupid. Quite simply, I realized that whether I ate normal amounts of food (2000 calories a day), or massive amounts of food (2500-5000 calories a day or more), I was ALWAYS going to be hungry within an hour or so of my previous meal. Once I realized this, it became apparent that I had to confront the hunger itself, instead of simply masking the problem by constantly eating more and more food.

So, now when I get hungry or have a craving, I simply remind myself that A) I will just be hungry again soon even if I give in to temptation, and B) my wallet will likely be worse off if I give in to temptation. :)
 
There are lots of healthy things that satiate hunger. Water and green tea help me and have zero calories. If you ate three medium apples you'd have eaten maybe 250 calories. Hunger is not bad, it's what you do with the hunger that COULD be bad.

If you end up sitting on the couch hating yourself after scarfing down a large pizza and a quart of Ben and Jerry's you have made a choice that's going to take 3-4 days of careful eating and exercise to reverse.

A friend of mine lost 75lbs last year and he said he always wanted to go to bed just a little hungry. He ate well and enjoyed life and lost a lot of weight.
 
When I'm in the "zone" - working out/exercising regularly and eating healthily (and usually after a week of NO chocolate/sugery stuff so I kick the craving for it completely), I get into a mind set where I almost enjoy being a little bit hungry. Its weird and difficult to explain, but its like, being a tiny bit hungry all the time keeps me edgy and awake, ready for action and feeling like my stomach is tighter and trimmer as opposed to bulging, stuffed, sleepy and processing food!! I still eat proper meals and reguar snacks but don't look for that FULL feeling. Going to bed a bit hungry isnt the end of the world, you still get to sleep and you enjoy your breakfast when you wake up.
 
jjjay said:
When I'm in the "zone" - working out/exercising regularly and eating healthily (and usually after a week of NO chocolate/sugery stuff so I kick the craving for it completely), I get into a mind set where I almost enjoy being a little bit hungry. Its weird and difficult to explain, but its like, being a tiny bit hungry all the time keeps me edgy and awake, ready for action and feeling like my stomach is tighter and trimmer as opposed to bulging, stuffed, sleepy and processing food!! I still eat proper meals and reguar snacks but don't look for that FULL feeling. Going to bed a bit hungry isnt the end of the world, you still get to sleep and you enjoy your breakfast when you wake up.
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I think too.. along those same lines.. many of us who were overweight would typically over eat, and by over eat I mean eat until we felt so-super-full we'd explode maybe. And be reducing the amount we eat we "think" we feel hungry, but only because we don't feel so full we can't move anymore.

..but for the record, I'm the same way. I feel lighter and like I'm ready for more action!
 
I know what you mean Tamii. Its like I will eat a balanced meal, and then an hour later feel so hungry and will want to eat more (an usually my craving is for something bad).

I dont know if this is going to work for you but the past few days I have been going to bed early. I am the type of person that likes to eat at night, so because of this I will take a shower at 8pm and be in bed at or before 9pm. I know that is sort of weird, but I figure that is better than going to the fridge and eating all night. I know you have kids so maybe that wont work for you, but thats sort of what I am doing now when I get the mid-night-snack-attack.

I think we are used to eating (those of us who are overweight) and its sort of a bad habit that needs to be broken. I encourage you to keep pushing because it will be easier after a month of this if you stick with it.
 
Make sure you're eating enough calories to fuel your body. Try eating ice if you just need something to much on..it helps me. Or you could try something like a few carrot sticks? If you just can't get your mind of food, try going for a walk or taking a shower. Maybe even a nap. I hope this helped.
-SOAB
 
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