How do you control your hunger?

I usually distract myself with other things —just keep my mind busy. Drinking lots of water helps, too. And, chewing gum.

I eat five small meals a day and I make sure to drink plenty of water. If desperate, I will grab a handful of dry roasted almonds – about 150 calories for 28 almonds. That will hold me for an hour or two.

Drink lots of liquids. Really lots. A full stomach doesn’t feel so hungry.

By gorging myself on cheese. Is that bad?

@Darwin about 150 calories for 28 almonds.

That is lower that the almonds that I am familiar with. All nuts are extremely high in calories. If you use Fitday it will rate the calorie count as much higher.

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities By gorging myself on cheese. Is that bad?

No, not if your diet is for the purpose of gaining weight. (As mine used to be when I was young – could never put weight on.)

What does your diet entail exactly? What are you eating? And how often?

@DarkScribe – 28or slightly fewer almonds is equal to just about 1 ounce, and 1 ounce of dry roasted almonds runs about 150 calories. 120 calories of that is fat, but it cuts your hunger pains quickly.

This is confirmed by various sites that list calories, such as this one

Almonds also have the benefit of being cholesterol-free and being high in vitamin E.

And then there is this from the Journal of the American Medical Association, Nov. 27, 2002:

“Women in a Harvard School of Public Health study who reported eating 5 or more 1 ounce servings of nuts/peanuts per week reduced their risk of Type 2 diabetes by almost 30 percent compared to those who rarely or never ate nuts.”

I eat something.

Find a task and work on it, which distracts your mind from wanting to eat. For example, I have been busy cleaning my room and I don’t have the ugre to want to eat. Good luck and just keep your mind busy.

I tune into my hunger and feed myself with what I want before it turns into being ravenous/starving. I tend to gravitate towards my ideal weight by doing that, and also taking walks when my body wants me to exercise.

I chew gum. Fruits help…plus they are healthy

@Darwin

I eat almonds everyday – as a part of an attempt to maintain weight, not lose it. I don’t eat them for the Omega three, I use Flax Seed oil for that. Our packaging labeling laws require accurate labeling with huge fines for misleading information. The dry roasted Almonds that I buy are labeled at 195 calories per ounce.

How interesting – mine are all labeled between 150 and 160 calories per ounce, and that seems to be the numbers I find on the internet as well. We, too, have package labeling laws with punitive fines.

I love how this conversation has gone from hunger to dueling almond opinions it’s funny what tangents fluther causes lol

@live_rose…If the almond discussion took your mind off your hunger for just a minute, I say it was a tangent well visited.

Water. Have a big glass of it before you eat.

I fill my diet with fruits and vegetables. (I try to make it more vegetables than fruit.)

@Darwin How interesting – mine are all labeled between 150 and 160 calories per ounce, and that seems to be the numbers I find on the internet as well.

It is probably a matter of “Best case// Worst case”. We have had some nasty negative publicity with companies who publish “Best Case” nutritional information. Some of them, major companies, were even shut down for not meeting standards. They are now possibly playing it safe. Also, there is difference in roasting, slow roasting will remove far more oil than conventional roasting.

I play it safe too, always look at worst case, never best. Don’t get any shocks that way. One thing is certain, I don’t trust any company to voluntarily provide information that is negative to its product.

Drinking water helps. Every time you feel your stomach gurgle from hunger, down a full glass. Keep doing it every time it happens. Works wonders. Try lemon water if it gets too boring.

I don’t

You may try eat some low calory food that takes your body time to digest. Vegetables will do good in that sense. (Fruit contains a lot of sugar.)

You might also consider to not go to sleep – as you seem to do – but rather exercise or take walk around the block. Bring your bag of carrots and you’ll kill your hunger while burning calories :-)

Just one thing – if you are always hungry, perhaps your food selections are poor. A high fibre meal is very filling. I learned how to make omelets filled with vegetables, to prefer peas to rice or potatoes, to eat an apple instead of nuts (nuts are good, but they are high in fat) etc. etc. What works for you: experiment and find out.

Frozen grapes! They take forever to eat and they taste like delightful little popcicles

This diet business is enough to drive me crazy. Because the more I think about losing weight, the hungrier I get.

The only way I cope is to keep busy. I always have lots of projects going so it is not difficult.

Plan ahead and have something you like all lined up to occupy your mind the next time you are tempted to jump off the diet wagon. They say a craving will only last a limited amount of time so if you can outlast the urge by distracting yourself, you will be fine.

I also think something like Weight Watchers would help because for me the power of a group all dedicated to a similar goal is a good thing. Gives you someone to call when you feel tempted and a sort of a responsibility to the group, you don’t want to let them down.

Depends why you want to eat. I often eat when I’m emotional—so the first thing I do is try to calm down enough to figure out why I’m hungry. Do I really need food or do I want something comforting? Could be just me but figuring out why I want to eat helps.

You can use psychology. Most people who overeat are not really hungry they are fulfilling another need. Keep a stock of something healthy and nutritious but something that you don’t really like. Whenever you are hungry outside your set mealtimes, try that. You will find that after a short period of time you don’t eat it.

You have to work out why you do things to stop doing them. It is very seldom hunger that is involved. When I take someone to sea with me for a few weeks, they invariably come back much lighter and far healthier. The yacht is stocked with healthy food, not tasty food. We eat fish we trawl for, crabs and fish we trap when anchored, rice, sprouts, dried vegetables, beans, jerky. etc. It is certainly cooked in a tasty manner, but only by the addition of seasoning and spices, not commercial sauces.

Phil, my closest friend who I mentioned in another posted a while back, will come and stay with me for a few weeks whenever he feels a need to lose weight and get fitter. I do all the cooking and purchasing in our household, my wife seldom cooks.

with food.

does the trick most of the time.

Do you want to live your life like this? Constantly dealing with hunger pangs.

It might be time for a complete overhaul. A better diet and exercise. My mom tried the starving herself thing. She didn’t have the energy to walk.

Even simple stuff will help. Grab some small dumbbells while you watch tv or play on the computer. I played with a 3 pound weight while reading your question.

@DarkScribe

I totally agree with you there. Psychology plays a bigger role with diet and food than many realize. In our culture, many people have twisted relationships with food so it’s no wonder that many cannot lose weight or they do but then gain it back. It’s sad, really. :(

I have psychological food cravings (who doesn’t?) but I distract myself when I get a craving. Cravings do not last long at all. I also make myself some lemonade Crystal Lite. :)

@johnpowell has the right idea really.

sarcasm aside I’m a health nut for the most part. join a gym, buy apples and bananas instead of chips and such for when you want a snack. if you have a sweet tooth fat free pudding is good as long as you don’t gorge on it. when you’re lounging around just do some curls/situps etc. The only hard part about it is getting yourself to do it the first few times, but once you get used to it it’s no problem at all and it really does make a big difference.

Cucumber has negative calories (it takes more calories to disgest it, then there is in it, plus its full of water) As does lettuce and few others which have escaped my mind/

But starving yourself does not help you lose weight – you should be eating lots of food, as long as its the right food! Stock up on fresh food, lean meats and vegetables!

@Sariperana

Yep, cucumber and celery have “negative” calories as well. :) raw that is.

@eponymoushipster I’m right with you there. I really do not control my hunger. Sorry…

i think the trick is not to starve yourself or put off cravings, but to indulge in small portions of them. for example, if you really want chocolate, don’t eat the entire chocolate bar. chances are, you’ll be happy with just a bite. wait a little while, but not too long, and have some. your craving will at least be mildly satisfied, and you won’t deal with wanting to just eat the entire thing in one bite after putting it off for hours.

if you work out late, you’ll be too tired to eat and just want to sleep. plus you’ll lose weight.
but i hear it’s better to work out in the morning. this helps your metabolism and also your weight.
do you eat breakfast? it really does help me not be so hungry by lunchtime so i eat less.

By eating.

Stick with it. Find one of these suggestions that works for you and stick with it. When you get down or off track, that’s okay. If you are a woman, be good to yourself especially during that once a month time. If that applies to you. Tell yourself that your body needed a break from the diet, and then get back on the horse. As my crazy athletic mom says, “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”. Yikes. But true.